I think I first heard of this place via John's blog and then The Boy and I kept driving past it on our way to "somewhere else". Every time we went by I'd beg him to slow the car down so that I could stare, longingly, at this petite little cafe. Often I'd sigh and say "this is the kind of place I want to own". It's seems small, and manageable for someone - like me - who doesn't know the first thing about owning or running a cafe.
This cafe is SO small that there is absolute NO seating inside. There's pretty much just enough room for the three staff working there and one customer at a time to step in, place there order, and then step back out onto the footpath to await their order. The ordering process reminds me a bit of the Soup Nazi episode from Seinfeld, except for everyone is really nice and the staff serve every customer with a smile and an hello.
I step in, place my order, step out and go find a seat at one of the mini-sized tables scattered along the footpath outside the cafe. I often worry about seating like this - I mean I'm no feather weight. What if I break the chair, or get down but can't get back up again - my knees don't work so well afterall (for the record, all was well on this occasion...I got down and up again incident free).
I'm here for a quick pre-working breakfast so a coffee is in order. They serve Campos coffee here and it's a really good cup. Not much else to say really - tastes like coffee, wasn't bitter and I didn't need to add sugar. Two thumbs up.
Food wise, the only thing on offer besides a few sweet treats is a selection of bagels. These are some of the flattest bagels I've EVER seen...but this smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel was also one of the most delicious I've had. I think the flatness makes the bagel quite crunchy and the texture is less chewy and doughy then regular bagels. I LOVE the toasted sesame seeds on top.
Coffee, Tea and Me is at 93b Redfern Street, Redfern.
