4017 coffee odyssey

4017 coffee odyssey We're on a mission, a quest...... an odyssey! We are two blokes with nothing better to do; and we ar

TREATY OF PARIS - 104 Wakefield Street, Sandgate It's been a long time between drinks for 4017 coffee odyssey, but there...
15/03/2024

TREATY OF PARIS - 104 Wakefield Street, Sandgate

It's been a long time between drinks for 4017 coffee odyssey, but there’s a new café where the fish and chip shop used to be on Wakefield St, Brighton. Its name is the perfect excuse to go on a terrible French-city-themed pun run. So here goes:

Treaty of Paris is a Lille café, with outdoor seating and Nice coffee, great service, and excellent sweet treat(y)s. The pastries (we had pain au chocolat and an almond croissant) are properly delicious – we’d be Lyon if we said we didn’t enjoy them. (They also sell pies, milkshakes and Cannes of soft drink.)

It’s a great place to spend Calais-y weekday morning, but we were in a bit of a hurry – we didn’t stay Toulon. We can genuinely recommend Treaty of Paris, though. Give it a try – you have nothing Toulouse.

(Treaty of Paris fact, so you don’t have to google it: it was signed by the British and the US in 1783 to signal the end of the American revolution. Fun fact: since that day, there has been no more upheaval in the US, and everyone has got on really well.)

Score: 30/30

LE CAFE DE BRIGHTON - 20/353 Beaconsfield Tce, BrightonThere’s a new café in Brighton, with a slightly French name, whic...
09/11/2022

LE CAFE DE BRIGHTON - 20/353 Beaconsfield Tce, Brighton

There’s a new café in Brighton, with a slightly French name, which gives us the opportunity for the following dad joke: Q. Why do French people only eat one egg? A. Because one egg is ‘un oeuf’.

(The food at Le Café de Brighton isn’t particularly French, but to give their drinks menu more of a French twist, how about a straw-beret milkshake? Or a can-can of Coke?)

Le Cafe de Brighton is where the Thai restaurant used to be in Brighton so, if you were happy to make terrible puns, you could say that the premises have been un-Thai-ed.

It has a homely feel; excellent, friendly service; good coffee; and a well-priced menu which is so big, it’s hard to take it all in at once (ie, it’s a real Eiffel).

Service: 10pts

Macadamia slice: 10pts

Opportunity for French puns: 10pts

30/30

WUNDERBAR - 107 Brighton Road, Sandgate Wunderbar's owner, Andrew, used to be a professional tennis player, so it’s not ...
24/10/2022

WUNDERBAR - 107 Brighton Road, Sandgate

Wunderbar's owner, Andrew, used to be a professional tennis player, so it’s not surprising that the service is good.

Nearly two years – and forty-something cafes – ago, our first ever review was of a new horse-box-cum-café called Wunderbar. Now it’s been re-bjorn (Borg) as a bricks-and-mortar café – at the hole-in-the-(Ken Rose)wall near Capulet, where Mug Shots and Momo used to be. We needed caffeine, so we of course avoided fruit deuce, and steered clear of anything fizzy (we didn’t want Agassi drink). Instead we handed over our (Pat) cash and had a couple of faultless coffees. Plus, the smoothies are great and the décor is stylish: in short, there’s a lot 2-0*.

*(to love).

Coffee & smoothies: 10/10

Best lightshades in 4017: 10/10

Opportunities for weak tennis puns: 10/10

30 points: we plan to return.

[Editor: top spin!]

Wunderbar

THE BAY CAFE SANDGATE - 231 Flinders Avenue, SandgateThere’s a new café in town: The Bay Health Club – and if you think...
25/07/2022

THE BAY CAFE SANDGATE - 231 Flinders Avenue, Sandgate

There’s a new café in town: The Bay Health Club – and if you think that we’re going to use this review to make a (ham)string of weak fitness-related puns, you’d be abs-olutely right. When we heard a few months ago that yet another café was opening in 4017, we thought ‘yoga to be kidding me’. But was this café worth the (free) wait(s)? Let’s find out. (Okay – enough puns for now. Sorry.)

Firstly, The BAY HC Café has got the perfect position – an outdoor area that looks right out onto the bay. Secondly, we were expecting that the menu would be super-healthy – granola, or steamed carrot, or whatever it is that healthy people have for breakfast. And there were healthy options, but also muffins and pastries and a tasty bacon-and-egg roll.* The coffee was nice (we were tempted to have a fizzy drink but didn’t want to be burpee) – and the service was fast and super-friendly. There were lots of people there post-workout who had properly earned their breakfast, but we didn’t feel too out-of-place in our inactive-wear.

(*Some ideas for additions to the menu:

French pastries that are actually healthy: (Croiss(fit)ants.)

A meat-filled pastry, served with two milky coffees: (pie, lattes.)

A series of pies, served minutes apart: (Pie-Intensity Interval Training)

The view: 12/10

Service: 10/10

Justifying ‘carbo-loading’ for the short walk back to the carpark: 8 points.

30/30

THR SANDS SOCIAL - 50 Keogh Street, SandgateUnless you’ve been living on the moon (or in The Full Moon), you’ll know tha...
19/04/2022

THR SANDS SOCIAL - 50 Keogh Street, Sandgate

Unless you’ve been living on the moon (or in The Full Moon), you’ll know that Sandgate RSL has re-opened: it’s now The Sands Social. We’re pretty anti-social ourselves, but we thought we better give it a try.

The Sands is open daily for lunch and dinner and has a wide menu (which, like the tower of Pisa, is Italian-leaning). There is also regular entertainment: bands, singalongs, a trivia night, mud-wrestling, plus bingo and raffles, and classes for yoga, knife-throwing and Zumba. (Only two of these things are made up.)

Their social media account has a decent pun-game (which is really our thing, but we’re happy for the competition).

It’s also the only place we’ve visited so far that has billboard advertisements, and curtains. Also – coffee. Happy to report – the coffee was good, and so was the service. The brownies and scones were tasty, and prices are discounted for members (only $5 to join).

Coffee and food: 10/10

Comfy chairs: 10/10

Service: 10/10

Bonus point for their social media puns.

Minus one point for the menu not calling a sandwich a ‘Sands-wich’.

30/30

The Sands Social

CAFE AT REGIS AGED CARE - 1 Ward Street, SandgateThe 39th café on our odyssey was our most memorable experience by far, ...
11/03/2022

CAFE AT REGIS AGED CARE - 1 Ward Street, Sandgate

The 39th café on our odyssey was our most memorable experience by far, for a few reasons. Firstly, we significantly brought down the average age of the clientele, which is not what usually happens when we walk into a cafe. (We’re both in our mid-40’s – if you can call 47 ‘mid-40’s’, which might be a stretch: next year we absolutely promise to say ‘mid-to-late-40’s’.)

Secondly, the café at Regis Aged Care is run by Kevin and his partner. They used to run Salad Days at Sandgate, back when there were only a handful of cafes in 4017 and people ordered things like 'a coffee' and not 'a skinny-latte-half-strength-extra hot'. When breakfast was a fried egg on white sliced toast, with no avocado in sight, or sourdough, and if anyone had suggested drizzling it in a balsamic glaze, they would have quite rightly been ridden out of town.

And, on Saturday mornings, when my oldest daughter was a toddler, I used to take her there for milkshakes – some of the happiest times of my life. Now my daughter has just got her driving licence, but Kevin remembered us – and our order – at least 12 years later. (I have a face that is hard to forget, no matter how hard you try, but even so, that’s pretty incredible work.)

The other memorable thing: as we placed our order (coffees and hot cross buns), an elderly resident shuffled over to us with her walker, looking distressed:

‘Have you heard the news?’ she said. ‘A famous American movie star has been stabbed.’

‘No,’ we said – and it seemed like she was searching desperately for the name. ‘Reece...’ she said.

‘Witherspoon?’ we said.

‘No,’ she said. ‘With a knife.’

Followed by a wicked smile. So, by far the funniest joke of our odyssey, and an unexpectedly lovely experience all round. The café is open to the public and you’ll be made to feel very welcome. Highly recommended.

Service: 10/10

Prices: 10/10

Octogenarian stand-up comedians: 10/10

30 points.

GREEN FIELD - Shop12/162 Barrett St, Bracken RidgeA new week, a new café in 4017. Just as the old Seaview Hotel didn’t r...
05/03/2022

GREEN FIELD - Shop12/162 Barrett St, Bracken Ridge

A new week, a new café in 4017. Just as the old Seaview Hotel didn’t really have a view of the sea (though it did have an excellent view of some local characters), it may be possible to see a green field from this café: but only with a crane/binoculars/a good imagination. It’s in possibly the least leafy part of Bracken Ridge, not far from Woolworths, next to the pool shop. But what it lacks in lush rolling meadows, it makes up for in all-round excellence. It’s brilliant. The coffee’s very good, there’s a big menu, and the muffins are works of art (and come on a slate – after more than a year, the first slates on our coffee odyssey)! (Better slate than never.) The service is great and attentive. Also, they’re giving 5% of sales to organisations affected by the floods – so you get to feel good about yourself while getting caffeinated.

Food 10/10

Coffee/service: 10/10

10-point slate bonus

= 30 points

https://www.facebook.com/Green-Field-bracken-ridge-100970909100638/

MADMACS COFFEE - everywhere in 4017Gogh. Halen. Camper: Classic Vans, all of them. And now we can add MadMacs to that li...
16/02/2022

MADMACS COFFEE - everywhere in 4017

Gogh. Halen. Camper: Classic Vans, all of them. And now we can add MadMacs to that list of great vans – our second top-quality man-with-a-van in as many weeks.

Some MadMacs Facts:

1. The man behind MadMacs, Rory, actually seems quite sane (although he does get up very early, which is always a worry).

2. He moves around to different businesses, but he can definitely be found outside Nash St Kindy between 6.15 and 8.30 on weekdays...

3. …and it’s worth a visit, because the coffee is really good – and comes with a bonus Mintie. Who doesn’t like a free Mintie?

(Actually, when we mentioned to Rory that we were reviewing every coffee place in 4017, he said, ‘Are you those people who give everyone 30/30?’ ‘Yes,’ we said. ‘Yes we are.’ And then he gave us the Minties. We’ve overheard young people talking about ‘social media influencers’. Maybe the Mintie was our influencer fee. Maybe this is the start of something big...)

Coffee 10/10

Service 10/10

Serving much-needed caffeine to parents with very young children: 9 points.

Mintie: 1 extra point.

Total: 30/30

Madmacs Coffee

Happy Valentines Day!
14/02/2022

Happy Valentines Day!

MY COFFEE GUY - Flinders Parade, Brighton, near 19th Avenue At the start of last year – 2021, back when people were stil...
05/02/2022

MY COFFEE GUY - Flinders Parade, Brighton, near 19th Avenue

At the start of last year – 2021, back when people were still trying to bake sourdough bread, back when Omicron was one of the more obscure Transformers, and when people were still using social media to post things other than how brilliant they are at Wordle, we gave ourselves a mission. To have a coffee (and ideally a pastry) in every café in 4017. (Actually, every café without the prefix ‘Mc’ – not an anti-Scottish decision, honest.) And, reader, we achieved our goal. 35 cafés. 70 coffees. At least 20 muffins. 4 biscuits. And probably an extra 2 kilos. Each.

So – we’ve been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. (Or – and I really can’t help myself, sorry: we’ve (Bangin’) Bean there, Dunne (and Dusted) that. And we didn’t actually buy the T-shirt, but Capulet do sell them.)

But just when we thought we were finished, new places continue to pop up. It may be that soon someone opens a café within a café, or a podiatrists-café-combo – or there might, one day soon, be one café for each adult in the area.

Which brings us to My Coffee Guy. It’s a new van along the waterfront, near 19th Avenue. With 'Wunderbar' and 'Cocoa Biscotti', that makes three man-with-a-vans (men-with-ven?) from Shorncliffe to Brighton. This latest one has – unsurprisingly – an excellent view. It also has friendly service, really good coffee and has the big bonus of sheltered seating nearby. Highly recommended.

30/30

Address

Sandgate, QLD
4017

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