Monday 28 November 2011

Pulp Fiction [cafe under new management]

Edinburgh is known for its excellent supply of secondhand and specialist bookshops; many of these cluster around either end of the Grassmarket - on the West Port and now on Candlemaker Row - which led to the creation of the West Port Book Festival.

Into this literary melee comes Pulp Fiction. Located on Bread Street, and adding to the eccentricity of the area, it started out as a secondhand bookshop specialising in Sci-Fi and genre fiction. Steve, the owner, has great plans for the place however, and has already reorganised the space to allow for more seating, installed a remarkably good free WiFi connection and started selling tea and cakes. It's being used quite regularly as an event space, is often open later than anything equivalent, and there may be dramatic changes to come (perhaps involving the excellent view of the castle it would have if someone hadn't previously bricked up the windows).

It's worth bearing in mind that the place is primarily a bookshop and not a cafe. So while they do provide hot drinks at low prices, you shouldn't expect an exciting range of fine teas and single-source coffees. If you can't make it out of a kettle it's probably not going to happen but then, a lot of people care more about the space than the drinks and quite a few of them have nested here already.



So, in summary: it's fairly comfy; the drinks, while not terribly exciting, are cheap; there's good WiFi and a reasonable number of sockets; there is cake; you're surrounded by books. I think that's some sort of #win.

Friday 9 September 2011

The Institute [closed]

A new contender has appeared! Seated on Roseneath Street (opposite the Earl of Marchmont) The Institute is a tea shop with a difference. Quite a few, actually.

The Institute

For one thing, it's just tea. No coffee. Sure, this may change if the punters demand their morning ristretto loud enough but for the time being it's just a vast selection of teas and a small selection of very pretty cakes. Often served with teeny tiny cleavers.

The Institute

It's the brainchild of the 'provocative' photographer Gavin Evans and Kamikaze, a circus performer with a passion for tea. They wanted to have somewhere to hang out and hang nice art so they made one. Either as a gallery or a tea-erie it would be justifiable but having both together is most excellent.

At the moment the walls are peppered with Evans' work, but these are soon to be auctioned off and replaced with new work. One advantage of having such unusual pieces on display is that there are few 'yummy mummies' or gangs of children to be found in the shop.

There is WiFi to be had, and a few sockets which are free to use if you can grab them. The seating and lighting, while basic, does the job.

The place is open til 1730 or 1900 depending on the day and if you can guarantee at least 15 people they are bookable from 1900-2300 any night, which is rather exciting.

It's certainly worth a look. So far it's not too busy but this may change as word spreads. If nothing else you should pop in to see the art and have some tea.

The Institute

Monday 21 March 2011

Cameo bar (by the cinema, not in Leith)

It's potentially confusing because there is a place on Commercial Street called the Cameo Bar. But nobody would want to trek all the way down there when there's a nice bar/cafe attached to the Cameo cinema in Tollcross...

Cameo


I believe they do quiz nights sometimes and it can be a bit busy/noisy/crowded, but usually it's got a lovely atmosphere.

Important points? It's open late and if has free Wifi. Oh, and there are some secret sockets which aren't meant to be for public use but might be riskable. If I get bored of the Trav I may give this one a go...

Fredericks

The shiny new place upstairs on Frederick Street has a lovely view.

They serve Artisan coffee (which is lovely, if you like that sort of thing) and a small but pleasing selection of teas. There's also some food but I didn't try any...

There were a few sockets visible but appeared to be a complete absence of Wifi. And it's kinda small and busy.

Fredericks


Good for taking visiting patents for a nice pot of afternoon tea perhaps, but not for getting any work done.

Saturday 19 March 2011

The Chocolate Tree

I went in here for the first time today. It was, alas, a brief glimpse, as there were no chairs available. The place is quite small, quaint, and rather nicely adorned, but without chairs, it is just a hallway to the door.

That having been said, it holds promise. The chocolate sweets one can buy are amazing - I very much suggest the chilli and tequila. Also, the staff are completely awesome, and up for a ten minute chat about Linguistics. This may be because I know the staff, and she does Linguistics, but that's not the point.

I look forward to checking on a future date to see if they have wifi.

Monday 7 March 2011

The Trav

It occurred to me that the Traverse Theatre's bar/cafe has free WiFi and, being a bar, is open late. Time to investigate!

If you've never been, it's underground and very red. When it's quiet it's lovely; when it's busy you can't move for over-inflated egos. However, the staff are generally pretty civilised which kinda makes up for what the clientele sometimes lack.

Trav


The WiFi seems to be an okay speed. There are many various seatings for the placing of bums on. A few sockets are dotted around the edge of the main bar area - not sure whether they're meant for public usage though. I had intended to have a mocha to test and was quite excited when I spotted a big tin of illy but it seems the coffee machine was turned off around 8pm. They offered filter coffee but I went with cola, which was only £1.50 - not bad for such a generally swanky establishment!

I'll have to come back to see how it pans out during the busier months (and to see if they make me unplug, which would be a bit of a dealbreaker) but for now I'm quite impressed.

And for those of you who don't frequent this sort of place, it's here.

Saturday 26 February 2011

Chocolate Soup [closed]

...this place is alright.

IFF (That's logic for if and only if) you like overpriced food, glaringly bright colours (which really destroy the otherwise lovely quietude of a hangover, I might add), weird tables/booths, and lots of tourists and yuppies.

IFF.

But it's not all that bad. I mean. It serves hot drinks. See?



I didn't check the wireless because I wanted to get out of there as soon as I could.

Monday 21 February 2011

Coffee Names

In a shocking move, this post has nothing at all to do with any café in Edinburgh. Rather, I want to highlight another post on Brown Pundits about hard-to-pronounce names. Razib Khan mentions how a friend of his was upset when he failed to pronounce her name correctly, even though both of them were Indian in origin. He points out correctly that a) he's from an entirely different section of India (Bengal), and wouldn't know anything about the pronunciation of names in Southern India b) it's perverse to take pride in having an unpronounceable name.

More relevant to this blog, however, is a note in the comments. Basab Pradhan writes:
At Starbucks, after a few hand offs, the name that the Barrista shouts out can be unrecognizable. So I started giving “Bobby” as my name. Easy that way. I know a lot of Indians who similarly have a “Starbucks name”
That's pretty interesting.

So, in the interest of being more culturally and linguistically aware, I will now be marking cafés on whether or not they manage to pronounce my German (and Lithuanian and Jewish) name correctly. If I hear one 'Mr. Lituer?' for 'Littauer', I am going to start giving my name as 'Dr. Prahandeeninadeshnakali' and see how they manage it.

Wednesday 16 February 2011

Free wifi map

The Edinburgh Reporter has a map of venues with free wifi. It includes things like Starbucks and libraries where you can't just get at it, but it's still potentially useful.

http://www.theedinburghreporter.co.uk/free-wifi/

Beanscene (Nicholson St and Grosvenor St)

When Beanscene first arrived in Edinburgh about ten years ago it was quite exciting. Open til 11pm, regular live music, CD sales in association with Fopp (RIP) - and in an unconventional move at the time it was non-smoking! I remember more people complaining about not being able to smoke than applauding the move... how the world has changed.

The coffee was never terribly good, at one point the decaf was actually nicer than the real thing. But people liked it there with the big sofas so they went anyway.

Over the years the business has opened and closed around town and there are currently two branches. The CD sales have dried up, there's not much live music and there's an air of desperation about them now. The only thing which kept the places going, as far as I could see, was the lure of being open til 11 with free wifi and sockets aplenty. Students who didn't want to hang out in the library could hang out and drink their soy chai lattes in comfort.

And then something changed. The opening hours went into flux. The sockets got sealed up. Now the Haymarket branch is open til 8pm (if you're lucky) and the other til 10pm (when they feel like it). And there are no sockets. And the wifi isn't all that. And the coffee still sucks.

Beanscene #fail

Sunday 13 February 2011

Espresso Mondo

On the corner of Lothian Road facing Starbucks and the Odeon, it looks lovely and cosy whenever I pass.

It's very warm.

They have no wifi.

There are few sockets.

It's generally full of awful people who are very noisy.

And get this: they put one shot in a small or large coffee and charge 50p for an extra shot.

Not going back there...

Friday 11 February 2011

Black Medicine - Marchmont [closed]

Sadly, I am not always happy with the Chaplaincy. Why? Because I go there every day. And the coffee, let's face it, is completely awful.

So I went to the third Black Medicine I know of. It's in Marchmont, on the hill. It's a long way away, but if you're a student, you probably live next to it.

I don't like this one as much as the others. They do a good hot chocolate, but there are never enough seats, when there are seats they are too tall. I didn't check on plugs when I went, as I was reading a book.

Most importantly, though, I'm just not sure about it. It's never caught me like the others. I know Dylan Moran has gone here, though, so that's something going for it. Go if you want a BlackMed experience.

Wednesday 9 February 2011

The Chaplaincy

The Chaplaincy is part of the University of Edinburgh. But not really. It's technically in Potterow, but anyone can come in. They have a donation box for tea and coffee, that I mostly ignore.

I spend most of my days and hours here. Like, all the time. Like, every day. Part of the reason I made this blog was to find different places to have coffee. But in the past couple of weeks, I couldn't be bothered.

Wireless: uni, good. Coffee: bad, free. Plugs: plentiful. Friends: everywhere. Heating: yes. Chairs: the majority of the time. Verdict: home.

Monday 31 January 2011

The Forest is not the place for me [closed] [reopened in Tollcross]

It's a lovely concept, I'm firmly in favour of such a venue as it is a vital part of the arts community and I know many people who hang out there for one reason or another... but It's not the Grail.

Inky Fingers


As a small venue for music, poetry etc. there's the (fairly dark and intimate) space in the cafe downstairs. Here you can get, um, a variety of teas and some coffees and juice and bits of food which are generally suitable for non-meat eaters - all served by volunteers.

Jason Webley


Upstairs has a large space which is used for the slightly rowdier events.

Forest


There's an unexpected piano at the bottom of the stairs which is sometimes the source of some entertainment, although it's not always entertaining for the anticipated reasons.

Forest


There's even a small dedicated art gallery in the front, which often features people sitting around either working or socialising.

Ryan's book launch


But anyway.

As long as you avoid the occasional puddle the front of the cafe has a number of sockets, and I've never had any difficulty getting to an empty one.

The place also has free wifi, but as it's being shared by at least a dozen hippies at any one time (and it has one of those maddening preachy pop-ups when you first log on - asking you to be considerate and not hog the bandwidth - which replaces all 30 tabs you had open and at least some of which you never manage to retrieve) it's not terribly reliable.

The seating varies hugely; I've been in armchairs, on benches, in upright chairs and even perched on the floor at times.

The hot drinks are... not amazing.

If you're wanting to do some work or have a nice relaxing time I wouldn't recommend it. If you're looking for a 'wacky' community-led venue for arts and music then this is the place for you. Just don't leave your valuables unattended (as the staff keep telling me)!

And while I appear to be firmly dissing the place, this is just my dislike of using it for work. It's great for lots of things and needs saving from the threat of closure...

Sunday 30 January 2011

We miss the Lady Roxy

I realised a while ago that in order to Get Work Done I really need to be away from the house. Not being a student of that big ol' University in the centre of town, the library is pretty much out so I'm down to cafes mostly.

During the Festival last year Tea Tree Tea was open late, which was most awesome, and I got into the habit of working til late. August left the building and I was adrift. Thought of Beanscene, who are known for their wifi and sockets, only to discover that due to some Health & Safety fiasco they no longer have sockets. And they are more likely to close at 9pm than 11pm as used to be.

Light appeared on the horizon, in the form of the Roxy Art House. Bar open til late, sockets, wifi (which I had access to since I knew half of the staff)... as long as one could ignore the stream of pretension it was heaven. Until the Edinburgh University Settlement, who owned the building and the business went suddenly bankrupt. F**k.

Roxy


And so I join the cause. There can and will be a place where those of use who like to sit at laptop until late while sipping hot drinks can find succour. One day.

Saturday 29 January 2011

Fruitmarket Gallery Cafe

Fruitmarket Gallery Cafe has the benefit of also being a modern art gallery. There's also one of those typical museum bookstores with tons and tons of cool looking books that you place on your living room table and never actually read.

The hot chocolate in the cafe is pretty good, and the person I went with didn't complain about the coffee which I guess is a good thing. Sadly we didn't try using the wi-fi, since we weren't there for 'work'.

But the place had a nice atmosphere, played excellent music (like, really man, excellent music), and while it was all chairs and no couches, I would definitely consider working there.

SX Café

Southern Cross Café. That's apparently what the SX stands for.

It could also stands for 'sucks.'

Why? Because there's a sign in the window: £1 = 30 minutes of wifi.

I didn't even bother looking at their plugs.

Friday 28 January 2011

Coffee Etc.

I went to Coffee Etc. today. It's one of the two nearly-identical falafel places across from Appleton tower, the other being Nile Valley. I was supposed to meet my friend at the latter - the problem is that they have difficult seating options. Either you're stuck next to people standing to order, or you're in a basement. Coffee Etc., on the other hand, has a back room. And it has comfy chairs in the backroom.

I didn't check the internet. Nor did I check the plugs. I assume that there is wireless from the University. But I was here purely for coffee and a wrap and chat. And, at £1.50, the mocha was damn cheap. But good.

I also managed to speak to the person making the wrap in Wolof, so I guess my linguistics degree is good for something. Basically, if you want a nice African vibe, good, cheap coffee, wonderful humous and falafel wraps, come here. Bring a girl if you can, it's a lot more fun than working.

Tuesday 25 January 2011

Starbucks (Lauriston St. and Bread St.)

Starbucks' are great. You walk into one, you've walked into all of them - all over the world. So if working in a Starbucks is what you do, you sure won't be disappointed.

But we're not looking for the comforts of a familiar stomping ground. We're looking for accessible wi-fi, seats, and access to plugs. Oh, and decent priced mocha apparently. The Starbucks on Lauriston had no plugs available, the one on Bread St. had no seats. And I've been told that Starbucks in the UK charge hard currency for access to their precious precious wi-fi.

So fuck that.

P.S. Our friend Chrisdonia reminds everyone that:

Most Starbuckses are shit for sockets.

And the wifi is only free if you have a registered Starbucks card, cards which are nigh impossible to register.

Monday 24 January 2011

Black Medicine - Bruntsfield

This place is chill. It's smaller than the normal ones, which are bit crowded at times. The window seat is perfect - great view of the links and the best street-gazing of any café I currently am aware of, after perhaps the Elephant House. The mochas is awesome. The wireless is free and has never failed me. It's open until six every day.

Black Medicine (Barclay Terrace)


I also like the staff. Well, I would, as one of them is one of my good friends, and often has company, who I also know. So. Yes. Biased much?

But no, really, this place is great. The music is also good.

If you were to come, I would suggest walking over in December at around 3 when the light is failing. It's beautiful walking across the golf course at that time.

Black Medicine


Saturday 22 January 2011

Tea Tree Tea [closed]



If you didn't know already, as I didnt - chai latte is amazing. Or, at least it is here. Tea Tree Tea is on Bread street, over new Tollcross. It's a really light, airy café with white walls with cool pictures. I kind of expected more hipsters, but there's a whole circle of girls knitting behind me, so I guess I can't really complain about the lack of atmosphere.

There is wireless, and the password is easy, and it works. WPA, 1-8. And it's not even BT, as far as I can tell. There's also a massive Wifi symbol on the window, which is useful in case you doubted me.

Chairs are good. There is a nice plug next to a wide window seat with a long couch and a slightly water-stained Ikea table. This place is a total win.

Did I mention this chai latte is amazing?

Thursday 20 January 2011

Beirut

I went here the other day. It's across from Double Dutch and relatively new, in St. Patricks Square. I went for a full birthday lunch with some friends from Linguistics, and that's pretty much what I got. It's a bit expensive for the 'let's-go-study-and-sit', but if you want a nice lunch, perhaps with a partner and aubergine, I would totally suggest it.

The coffee is great. I love Lebanese coffee.

I didn't check the wireless. Mostly because I feel this is kind of a restaurant as opposed to a café. However - it looks very, very promising. Why? Because on the way out, at the tables outside the door, there was a guy smoking shisha.

Shisha is awesome.

Sunday 16 January 2011

Olly Bongo's (v.2)

Not, in fact, the Bongo Club.


I went here the other day. My esteemed colleague has already given his opinion. Let's be brutally honest with you: we're not here to review cafés. We don't really care, most of the time, about the wallpaper or the taste of the caramel macciato. We're here to review our experience of cafés. Which means how we, as students, broke, poor, informatic students, feel about a place.

Olly Bongos? I like it. It's damn close to the university. 1 point. It's got not one, but two really nice window seats. 2. They have plugs. 3. There is wireless in the form of edinburgh uni wireless. (I'm not sure about in-house; ask if you want to know.) 4. They have really, really good tea. I haven't tried the coffee yet - rest assured, I will. 5.

I can't really think of any drawbacks. My voice resonates: I think the person next to me got annoyed by that. But that's not the establishment's fault. The table is a bit too low, and you have to bend your neck a bit. Again, not really that much of an issue.

Verdict? Win.

Saturday 15 January 2011

The Meadow Bar



So, the meadow bar is pretty awesome, besides the fact that it has those weird divided doors that are heavy and some how impossible to get through. It has an upstairs, a downstairs, society nights, a function room, and chairs. There's chairs most of the time, I've never seen this place full. It is also open late, which is a huge plus.

The music isn't bad, either.

And there is wireless.

Really, I don't see why I don't go study in here more often.

No, really. I should. The chips are awesome. No word yet on the coffee - but hey, there is beer.

Olly Bongos

Today was the first time I've actually successfully remembered Olly Bongos name (hold on, is there an apostrophe in there?). The name is printed so teeny on front, I think most people are under the impression that it's called "Cafe Bistro". Or maybe it's Cafe Bristo? That would be clever.

Anyway, I walked in, and one of the waiters helped me find a table with plugs, and I ordered some hot chocolate - cause lets be honest coffee tastes like ass - and a delicious apple pie. There wasn't much hot chocolate, and I don't really remember it tasting great, but the price was decent, and their Internet worked. It's also possible to access both the Uni's central and central-wpa wifi, so that's another bonus. The chairs were too high for the table though, so I spent most of my time hunched over, which got to hurting my back pretty quick.

Thursday 13 January 2011

Hotel du Vin

First off, I have no idea who thought up the company motto of "I think. Therefore I du Vin." But it is kind of weird. Just saying.

Otherwise - yeah. It's really, really, really classy. Like, leather chair classy. Like, finely polished wood classy. With fireplace.I'd kind of feel bad sitting in their café and doing work. (Is any one else annoyed by the use of é? I am. Too bad I can't stop.) But it's alright, because, as nice as the place is, and even though the gingerbread man was good - there's no way I'm paying £3 for that caliber of coffee. At the end of the day, it's just coffee, and I need bulk.

Go if you want to impress your parents, I suppose.

Oh, yeah, they have an outdoor fireplace as well. Kick-ass.

Tuesday 11 January 2011

The Elephant House

I changed my mind.

These guys don't have wireless.

Although, they do have one, really nice window seat (when it's free - read as: it's never free). And their coffee is a cheap with the discount, if you remember it. And they do have a nice view out the back, say, if you had friends to go with you and talk instead of merely going to the café to study.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty much 100% an exclusive studier. And without wireless, I'd be back doing a Greek degree. Plus, the Elephant house is normally packed, so although it is open late, I'm just not convinced.

Monday 10 January 2011

Café Jacques

The worst thing about Edinburgh is that it is so ugly that walking is around is a horrible experience. There's nothing worse than not knowing where to get coffee - Imagine the pain of having to trudge through the ugly, maggot-grey, victorian shite that is this pathetic slough of a hamlet. It's made worse the fact that when it snows, the blinding purity of white serves merely to accent the hideous architecture. At least the ice that results partially covers the cobblestones.

Of course, all of that is completely ridiculous. Edinburgh is lovely. Driven out of my flat by the cold on a sunday afternoon, I spent a full thirty minutes before settling down in Café Jacques (Yes, it actually does have an accent on the é, which is awesome.) Once there, I got on the wireless. I'm not sure how. It wasn't due to the password they gave me, so I'm assuming there is free wireless in the area (as well as a wireless called 'euan' - well done, Euan, for naming your wireless for yourself.) The coffee was alright, but I was a bit hurried along while drinking it. The place was a bit busy, being the grassmarket - but again, who cares? If I have coffee and internet, all is good. So - go here if you want a pretty walk.

Thursday 6 January 2011

The Coffee Mill

Right, I've gotten a few confusing remarks, so just to clear everything up - this blog is literally only judging mochas, plugs, atmosphere, and wireless. By atmosphere, I mean atmosphere after the headphones are put on. By mocha, I mean - can I drink it? It's not that I couldn't judge more, but that, realistically, that's all I really want to know. Does a café sell coffee? yes. Does it have wireless? yes. Does it have plugs near a window seat? yes. Are there screaming children? no. That would be my ideal answer.

Coffee Mill, in the West Port (past the Grassmarket) does pretty damn well. Sadly, they have BT internet - like most pubs - which often has issues. I spent ten minutes here trying to get on, again, because we had to ask the guy to restart his router and give us the correct password. Once that happened, everything was great. I wish I hadn't drunk the mocha - cheap, £2.30 - so fast, but that's alright. Awesomely, there is a nice window seat, in the Westport, where this place is. And there are not one, but two sets of outlets/plugs right next to it.

This place is, so far, my #1 pick for places to work seriously this semester. The staff is nice, it's not crowded, it's near 6 bookstores.

"I call this a win." - Jayne, Firefly.

[No picture today.]

Wednesday 5 January 2011

Black Medicine on Nicolson St.

We have the same coat, too.

Black Medicine is the first place I bought a panini in Edinburgh, so you would think it has some sort of emotional significance. Not so.

I don't 100% get it. The food is delicious, maybe a bit overpriced. The staff are friendly and obviously get on with most of the customers. There are plugs at the window seat (what better way to procrastinate than people watching), and there's nearly always space. It's bam in the middle of everything, yet it's barely ever packed. All of this sounds ideal except... why do they have the most uncomfortable seats in all of Edinburgh? I guess there is some aesthetic value to them, but seriously. There are reasons humanity as a species has moved on from wooden blocks as chairs.

DSCF0893


The Internet was also kind of spotty, with major upload problems, but this is probably because it's completely open and everyone within a 50 meter vicinity uses it - even the people in nearby cafes (say, Spoon) who's own wifi is dodgy.

So Black Medicine: noble, but a bit silly.

Juggling barrista


Elephant House & Café Nero



Let's be honest with our readers: our only real basis for judging coffee shops is whether they have b) wireless c) plugs d) mild-to-bad cheap coffee. Of course, this depends on another prerequisite: a) chairs.

The elephant house didn't today. At least, not in the window seat, which is the nicest in the house. Given as the line was 5 deep, and the 'who's next please' was hidden among the chatter of the 30-something yuppie and tourist clientele, Simon and I deemed today not fortuitous for an elpahantine cup of coffee. Their student discount is fairly good, however, if I recall correctly. I once spent a summer here, reading a book on oceanography for a book I haven't yet written, until I flirted too much with one of the baristas. But that's another story.

Café Nero, next to Blackwells (and attached to it), also failed on the chair front. The tables are unattractively lined in two long rows in the middle, one long row on the wall, leaving around three options for those of us who'd rather not share a surface with anyone else. Of those three individual tables, one was free, with no plugs. Maybe next time.

As for now, I'm writing this in Black Medicine, my favourite chain in Edinburgh. But more on that later.

Tuesday 4 January 2011

Starbucks - Simpson Loan

Starbucks


Today I had the misfortune of running into my mate Sam, who immediately asked if I would create a website for him. I said yes, but at the cost of coffee.

We went to Starbucks.

You all know about Starbucks. Right? You've at least seen them. You've been to them. You've thought about arson. Well, maybe not the last one.

This Starbucks is individual, however. It's completely different from the other starbucks, in that it is situated on Simpson Loan, also known as that walkway down from Doctors to the Meadows. No one other Starbucks is situated here, although there is one around 100m up the road.

But in all honesty, the review. It has too many chairs, most of which are full, and not enough wall sockets. If you like Starbucks, it has the sort of drinks that Starbucks has. I liked the Mocha.

But we did spend around 10 minutes trying to get on the wireless. It's just too far away to get the CMB signal, and the normal Starbucks pay signal didn't work for some reason. I didn't have a mac this time, so this may have all been due to the PCs, and not the actual one.

And I guess that's all I have to say. A completely unspectacular experience.

Spoon

Spoon

So, we left Grindhouse due to the lack of good internet and went to Spoon, on South Bridge.

It wasn't much better.

The atmosphere is nice, and there were a plethora of plugs. But I spent thirty minutes trying to get on the WiFi, which was also BT, as their router had changed names and wasn't working for my computer. I finally gave up and went with Black Medicine's wireless, from downstairs. That worked, but it sure was annoying. The staff was also not helpful when I asked them about it.

Spoon


The mocha was too small.

And we were told to leave subtly once dinner time came around, even though there were four of us that were paying customers.

Verdict? Get better Wifi, and maybe I'll bring my computer here again.

Monday 3 January 2011

Grindhouse

image

Wifi: Free but incredibly slow and spotty at best. I wrote this on my phone.

Drinks: They were out of mocha at 2 in the afternoon. Lot's of cappucino though.

Atmosphere: Meh, a bit dark.

Plugs: Only 3 that we could find.

Seating: Couches and plenty of tables, but not much far from the door.

Conclusion: Let's just say we started this thing here.