Ma Provence, Grey Street

Gray day, Grey Street, what better than a little Provencal warmth to liven up the afternoon?  And it was handy.  I was accompanied on this excursion by the francophone, and unashamedly francophile Polyglot who informed me that the tea we ordered lived up to French standards (go figure). 

The bijou cafe is decorated in just the right shade of orange, with upholstered chairs to match, and cushions and a curtain, and a waitress (not in orange but very chic in black and caramel with just a hint of gold in the scarf to set off her complexion, and a pleasant absence of Ugg boots).  There are two petite tables and an alarmingly high window seat and a busy view of the Theatre Royal and (at this moment) the Christmas market.  P assured me that the music playing was authentic French - someone called Renaud apparently.

To go with the tea I had a spiced muffin which I have to say was the best muffin I have tasted - in fact it was more of a bun texture than muffin and none the worse for that.  Polyglot settled for a small blue cheese and leek tartlet which was judged to be good too.

And then came the best bit - eavesdropping!  Naturellement, two French people (waitress and customer) could not conceive that two English people (well, one of them) could understand their conversation!  Polyglot got most of it, I got a snippet (£70 for a shirt - ridiculous!).  And with that we bid them au revoir and slunk off to Blakes (qv) turning the grey afternoon into a cafe crawl.

The beginning of the end

Just a short musing as 2011 draws to a close and with it the first New Year's resolution that I have kept ever!  Even if I stop now, I have never kept a resolution this long.  But then, I've never made one involving food before (well, only one - Wombat will remind me if I don't mention our monthly forays down Ocean Road, South Shields a few years back.  Yes, a different Indian restaurant a month - we nearly managed it).

I'll save the full post mortem for the year end, but at this time I just feel I want to set a few thoughts down. 

Firstly, for those of you who keep up to date with the news, I was not offered anything other than chips at the Happy Chip, nor did I suspect anything else.  Hope the condition of the lady in hospital improves soon - what a worry for her family.  Legal highs?  Stick to tea and coffee I think.

Secondly,  for those of you who browse the businesses for sale section of The Journal, have you noticed how frequently cafes come up for sale?  Is is always like this?  Or is this a result of the economic downturn or whatever it is we're having right now?  And wow, how tempting!  Grace's High Class Tea Rooms - I can see my name in lights!  But would I have what it takes to run a tearoom?  What theme would I take, where would it be?  As I'm typing this, I'm imagining a 1940s/50s look - carpet, square tables with white cloths, proper teapots and cups, waitresses in black dresses with little white caps (dresses to be of below-knee length before you get ideas).  Perhaps a bit of swing or jazz in the background.  Flowers of the table.  Civilised.  Nothing loud.  Oh, what the heck!  I don't have the cash anyway!

The Butterfly Cabinet, Heaton Road

I've never intended that this blog be about me, it's all about the places I visit, but today due to the grumbling of the general public, tardiness of public transport and general Mondayness (life as an assassin isn't all it's cracked up to be, you know) somehow it had to be The Butterfly Cabinet.  Must be the thought of nailing creatures to boards that did it.  Even the presence of an unvisited fish and chip cafe just down the road couldn't sway me (maybe next week...).

And do you know, as I found a parking space right outside I knew that this was the visit to turn the day round.  Yes, free parking right outside, plenty of seating inside - and what an inside!  Glorious ceiling and chandeliers, mismatched tables and chairs as we would expect, wooden floors and a fab collection of bits and pieces.  I spotted a display case of butterflies (naturally), one of tobacco pipes, old scales, coffee grinder, telephone, oven, fireplace, shelves, confectioners display case, vintage packaging and ephemera.  Did any of this come from Chic Antique at Longbenton, I wondered?  So what with the slightly alternative background music we are talking about an independent, hippyish establishment.  As if the Tiny Tea Tent of blessed memory had landed in Heaton Road and taken root.  You could get to like it, and people do as several customers were obviously regulars and were greeted and treated in a happy friendly way.

Now food.  I had a latte that was just warm and a piece of chocolate fudge cake that more than made up for the grumbling general public encountered earlier.  The couple that came in after me were offered menus, so I guess there is an extensive range of food available.  There is also a quiz night and an acoustic night so plenty to fill up the social calendar.

Yes I liked it, yes I would go back but if I'm honest, can we lose the cabinets of dead butterflies?  If the place is world famous now, surely we don't need them.

Moorside Community Primary School Community Cafe

I doubt I would have found this one at all if I hadn't been working in the building and it hadn't been pointed out to me by colleagues who work there regularly.  There doesn't appear to be any advertising off school premises and you have to walk across the school reception area to get to it - not everyone may be comfortable with that - yet it appears to be open to the public and there's quite a range of very reasonably priced snacks available.

The cafe area is brightly lit and decorated with displays of the children's work (I think it doubles as a breakfast club before the school day starts).  There are plenty of tables and chairs, very close together, all new beech-effect tables and plain but comfy black chairs.  No sofas is definitely a bonus for me! 

I ordered a cheese toastie with salad - it was freshly made and the salad of lettuce, tomato, sweet peppers and sweetcorn was fresh and crisp.  Then I fell off the wagon (was I ever on it?) and had a butterfly cake with lashings of buttercream icing and a cup of tea.  It came in at under £3 so that makes it probably the best value I've had so far.  Everyone else eating there appeared to be staff, the teachers seemed to be taking theirs back to the staffroom.  Someone had a mighty slice of flapjack which will make a second visit inevitable for me next time I am working that way.

It seems that the schoolchildren are involved in the running of the cafe and on that basis I'd say the next generation of Newcastle cafes is in safe hands!

The Hippo House, Collingwood Street

I abandoned the hit list for a week to do this one.  Mainly because I thought it had a kind of balcony about the shop where you could sit and thought it would be quite cool to sit overlooking Collingwood Street.  In the event the balcony is out of bounds to the general public due to steep stairs, so I had to sit in a comfy old leather office chair downstairs and admire the facade of Revolution from there. 
Coffee great, malteser slice ditto and the takeaway menu looked good too. Service excellent.  Ideal for your sandwich lunch to go!  I'm still sad about the balcony though...

Flat Caps cafe at Elula, Ridley Place

Finally got to this one after nearly a year of trying!  I'd seen advertisements for it right at the beginning but it kind of slipped down the list.  Then Wombat and Hamster suggested it again, but it isn't open on a Sunday which is our best meeting up day.  Then Polyglot spotted it, but was put off by the new age-y look of the shop.  So in the end I decided to go it alone and blazed in on the cusp of lunchtime before I lost my nerve.
Actually, the shop isn't that bad (and I will make time to explore it more thoroughly with Christmas presents in mind) and the cafe is, well, different - let me explain.

From what I'd read and seen, I'd imagined a largeish, stainless steel ultra modern outfit, maybe too posh for the likes of me.  What greeted me at the bottom of the industrial spiral staircase, was a cosy, homely space.  The tongue and groove wall cladding was painted a bright bottle green, an upholstered bench ran round the walls with the upholstery taken up the walls in circle and leaf patterns.  There were comfy cushions too.  Blue and cream tiles on the floor had me in mind of a ludo board, and the whole thing I decided at last made me think of a gypsy caravan.  I sat at a table with the name Maxine on a brass plate, other tables had other names (why?), and because the cafe is square I could look across to the business meeting in the far corner, the two groups of friends chatting, the visitor clutching his tourist map of the city centre, the girl curled up on the bench scribbling in a notebook (the next J K Rowling perhaps?).  All the while new age music played from the shop above, but it was quite relaxing.

As you would expect from an award-winning barista, the coffee was good, my latte was served with a neat little pattern in the foam.  And they served fudge!  Yes, alongside the scones and cakes you could buy a whole or half a bar of fudge!  I had half of vanilla honeycomb and it was fab.

So, this week's lesson is never judge a cafe by its advertising. Without a visit I would never have known what it was really like - very much in the spirit of the blog, really.  I may not be out in the Amazon but I'm finding myself in Newcastle cafe by cafe.