Since they've taken over from the Belmont Cafe on Alderney, I've passed by Coffee Street many times…read moreon my commute and finally made the effort to check them out back in warmer days.
My first visit saw me lured in with an Instagram post of their affogato. I'm not typically one for coffee after the work day is done, but a shot of espresso isn't a ton of caffeine, and it's OK when it's diluted with ice cream, right?!
Although I was eating-in, my affogato came in a take-out cup and was much less flashy than social media would have had me believe, as the caramel and crumbled pistachio rim from the Instagram reel was replaced by a sprinkling of decidedly-less-flashy, chocolate curls. And it's really, really hard to complain about getting too much ice cream, but the standard affogato ratio was way off and it was more like a sundae with some espresso poured on top.
All things told, it didn't live up to multiple expectations, but it certainly wasn't *bad*. Ice cream and coffee is still ice cream and coffee, after all!
Office cafés can be strange beasts; they're anchored by the businesses in their building, and that often leaves them (literally) catering to the lowest common denominator of soups, salads and sandwiches, with some deep fried stuff and basic hot foods thrown into the mix depending on their kitchen's capacity.
With an innocuous name like "Coffee Street", I didn't really know what I was getting into when I showed up for a coffee-focused drink. Their menu, as it turns out, is *extremely* broad. You've got the hot and cold café drinks that you expect, as well as a smattering of baked goods to go with them. Then there's the large assortment of breakfast options - four different forms of sandwich bases (croissant, English muffin, bagel and toast) and the typical breakfast proteins to multiply your options by. There's also a big breakfast, pancakes and French toast.
*deep inhale*
Don't worry, we're not even close to being done. For lunch (and dinner/late evening options since they're impressively open til midnight), they have several deep fried apps, and chicken sandwich/burger options, although given the breadth of the menu, I would wager that these are all coming out of a Sysco freezer bag.
Much more interesting to me, and the path I chose for my second visit, were the Indian street food-style snacks. There's several different items like vada, bhaji, samosas and pakoras, and I opted for the samosa chaat.
Chaats are the epitome of a hot mess, and Coffee Street's is no different. Coming topped with no less than three sauces (tamarind, mint and yogurt), papdi, diced red onion and sev (crisp, chickpea-flour noodles), things got ugly-delicious quickly once you dug in. The variety of flavours and textures is always the strong point of chaats, and Coffee Street's hit a lot of the right notes, especially with the crisp bits of either papdi or the edges of the samosas. Bright flavours abounded, and your taste buds will not be bored with this dish!
I rounded out my meal with my favourite south Asian drink - a mango lassi. Smooth, creamy and just the right level of sweetness, it's great for cutting through the frequently spicy dishes of its native region, although the chaat wasn't particularly hot.
On my next visit, I had their Indian food in mind once again. Taking a scroll through their online menu had me targeting the sambar vada, which has lentil vada in a lentil sauce, and the sandwich board at the entrance enticed me to their aloo tikki burger special as well.
I had arrived after the lunch rush, so my food came pretty quickly. The sambar vada was larger than I thought it would be, as the vada were much heftier than I've had in the past. This wasn't a bad problem to have though, and I really enjoyed the dish. The dense vada sopped up the flavourful sauce, and I ended up taking one of the three vada home with me.
The aloo tikki burger had a breaded and very crisp potato patty at its core, but it wasn't overly Indian, as the cheese sauce and standard burger toppings (cheese slice, red onion, lettuce and tomato) stole the show.
It all made for a carb-heavy meal, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Coffee Street's menu and business model might be different from the norm, but you won't go wrong with their Indian foods if you're looking for a more substantial meal beyond café baked goods.
