Category: coffee

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Wet Sponge Cake

One of the things I quite like about Lidl and Aldi are their themed weeks, where they have limited stocks of different kinds of products based around a theme, usually a country such as France or Italy.

Recently, Aldi did an Italian themed week, I picked up some pasta, but also what was a Tiramisu dessert which was described (or translated) as Coffee-Wet Sponge Cake with Mascarpone Cream.

This did amuse me, but also got me thinking about who does this kind of translation, in this instance at the Balconi factory in Italy. Do they not check with a native (or at least a fluent) English speaker about the translation?

You sometimes get weird translations with Chinese, Korean or even Japanese products, but usually with European products, the translation is more accurate. 

So anyone for a slice of wet sponge cake?

Actually I quite liked it.

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Flat White at the Darts Farm

flat white coffee on a table

I had driven over to the Darts Farm Shop in Topsham, which has a bank of Tesla chargers available. After working out the best way to position my Funky Cat to charge I headed into the Farm Shop.

This was a lovely farm shop with lots of local produce. I was very tempted. I did though head over to the cafe to get a coffee and pass the time as the car charged up.

Unlike many other farm shop cafes this cafe had table service, which was nice. They had a lovely sounding menu, however, firstly I wasn’t hungry, and even if I was, they had just finished food service when I arrived.

I ordered a flat white, and it wasn’t long before it arrived.

It was a well made coffee and I really enjoyed it.

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Coffee and a Merveilleux

I was spending the day in Dunkerque. I wanted a coffee and I remembered a small patisserie and viennoiserie, Maison Vaucamps, that I had visited back in July last year when I was last in Dunkerque travelling back from a holiday in France and Germany.

Maison Vaucamps, as well as cooking some amazing cakes and French specialists such as pain au chocolate, traditional Flemish pastries have been Maison Vaucamps’ family specialty for many years. There was a wide choice of pastries and cakes to choose from.

I ordered a coffee and a merveilleux. The merveilleux is a traditional cake from the North of France and Flanders. I had the pistachio version, which was whipped cream with Sicilian pistachio paste, pistachio meringue pieces. My whipped cream was still a little frozen in the middle, but this actually didn’t detract from the eating experience.

My coffee was excellent, and I enjoyed my little bit of French coffee time.

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Coffee and a Doughnut

I was giving my car a charge at the Instavolt chargers and popped into Tim Hortons for a coffee to kill some time as the car was charged.

In the end I went with an espresso and a Boston Creme doughnut.  The coffee at Tim Hortons isn’t half bad, and I much prefer it over the coffee from Starbucks. In the past I would usually have a flat white, but more recently I have been drinking black coffee. I drink black coffee at home, so it isn’t too surprising that when going out for coffee now, I am choosing black coffee. 

The doughnut choice was limited, but then it was evening, so not too much of a surprise there. I went with one of the “simpler” doughnuts, rather than one of the premium versions. I do like a Boston Creme doughnut, and this was a nice doughnut. It was soft and fresh, the chocolate topping was good, and the creme was tasty. It wasn’t too sweet either, which is quite surprising for doughnuts. The coffee was a good contrast to the doughnut.

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Gail’s Flat White

flat white coffee

I had arrived earlier than planned in London and headed to Ealing. I went for a short walk and then went for coffee. I was going to go to Artisan, I had enjoyed a coffee there on a previous visit. It was though very busy, and it was also very warm (what with the hot summer weather and all).

However, in the end, I went to Gail’s Bakery and had a flat white. 

The service was friendly and warm. The coffee looked nice and I took a seat. Only downside was the cup had no handle and I had no tray, so I had to carefully carry the hot beverage to my chosen table.

Coffee was delicious.

Did like the cakes and snacks they had available, the bread also looked delicious.

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Time for a nice flat white

One of the reasons I like coffee from Caffe Nero is that the experience across the different branches is consistent. 

It isn’t necessarily the best coffee you can buy, but I like the coffee. It also helps that I have a regular Three offer a £1 coffee deal.

In Bristol in the Clifton Triangle is a branch of Caffe Nero which is deceptively larger on the inside than it looks on the inside.

I had a flat white, which was really nice.

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Great flat white

I kind of guess I am getting to be a bit of a flat white aficionado as it is my coffee of choice when I am drinking coffee out and about. At home I usually have an espresso or a lungo. 

My first experience of the flat white was out in New Zealand in 2009, and I really liked it, a more intense coffee experience than the cappuccino I was use to, and much nicer than an americano.

I had some time to kill at @Worle, a local gym in Weston-super-Mare. So I ordered a flat white. What I did like, was they let me take a seat and they would bring it over to me. I really like it when coffee places do that, much more civilised than waiting around for your name to be called. I once lost a coffee like that, so much so, that I rarely use my name, James, when asked for my name in a coffee place. Too many people called James who drink coffee, who would believe that.

My coffee arrived and it looked great. It was also an excellent coffee. Sometimes I worry about coffee places in places which aren’t coffee places, such as gyms. However this place knew how to make coffee and the coffee itself was expertly roasted as well, good strong flavours. I was impressed and enjoyed the coffee.

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Steak Salad and a Flat White

When working in our London office, there is quite a choice of places around Fetter Lane for lunch. One of my regular haunts is Coco di Mama, one of a chain of pasta and coffee places across the capital. Their mainstay for lunch is the pasta pot, however they also have a nice selection of salads. On a recent visit to London I went out at lunchtime for some food, it was raining, so I only got as far as Coco di Mama. I picked up a steak salad and a flat white. I hadn’t seen this salad offering before, so was intrigued to try it out.

It was a tasty salad, the steak was nice and tender, and there was a good ratio of protein to salad. I also liked the dressing. Good choice I think.

Oh, I also enjoyed my flat white.