I came here one morning, when I was working from home and didn’t fancy actually being at home. Packed my laptop, charger, phone, jumper, stole the wireless mouse from my son’s laptop and drove upto Whiteladies road. Walked by a few cafes and settled upon this one. Its nicely located where a side road meets Whiteladies, and has work benches lined around the large glass windows facing the road. Ideal if you want to work and idle time watching the busy road, or even the lovely bath stoned Everyman cinemas.

Settled down on one such section of the work benches and looked at the menu. A Buttered Bourbon drink stood out at me. Bourbon, butter, sugar, spices and honey.. hmmm. Could it be the right thing to start the day?

Went to the counter that is neatly lined with a good selection of cakes and some nice looking pasties and found depressingly that the bourbon is actually bourbon, with alcohol and all. So eventually after a lot of deliberation, settled on a Turmeric Latte with some misgiving. Just about to pay, and noticed a nice looking pasty. It turned out to be a vegetarian risotto pasty with roasted mushrooms. It can’t go very wrong, can it?

Went back to my corner and set the work things up while waiting for the food and drink. It arrived in no time, and to be fair, looked delicious. The actual taste didn’t let me down either.

The Turmeric latte had turmeric. No surprises. But not too much that you feel you are smothering down an Indian curry. It tasted nicely of mild turmeric, milk, spices and was easily drunk without any additional sugar. I loved it. Its not often that a non caffeinated drink meets my approval.

I ignored the pasty while I attempted to fix this blog site, the username of which I had forgotten. Not to mention any sign of the password. But luckily, I had used the one email ID I am still using. So with some effort, resurrected this account from the ashes. Looked to my right and saw the pasty looking sadly at me. Taking pity on it, I picked it up and realized that it was hot! And actually hot from being made fresh, not from being re-heated. Oops. I am a sucker for hot, fresh food. So took the first bite out of it quickly. Aww. So fresh and crisp. The mushrooms were succulent and perfectly roasted. The risotto inside was well done, with the right taste of rice, cheese, mushrooms and salt. The whole pasty was over before I knew it, and frankly, it was wonderful. The touch of parsley on top was the icing on the cake of a flavorful, crispy morning snack. Or brunch or even breakfast.

Would I come here again, definitely I would. The little of what I ate and drank has just whetted my appetite. The atmosphere is busy, with music competing with the chatter. Its around 10.26 on a Thursday and the place is full! Something to say for its popularity. Its nicely homely without the industrial impersonality of the cafe chains. Its located well, with nice views across two busy roads. The food is innovative. They also seem to specialize in sourdough bread. One day, I will skip breakfast and come in for some brunch.

And will let you know how that went..