House of Coffees = nasty

Here is the letter I sent them detailing my experience....
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Dear Customer Care, House of Coffees (and everyone else interested)

My wife and I decided to brave the madness of a end-of-month Saturday and came to Canal Walk to grab a few items as well as a bite-to-end. We were lucky enough to get a nice table in the corner at the House of Coffees, where I still currently find myself while my wife does a walk-about (she couldn’t wait for service any longer).

I am sad to say that our experience was not the best one.

Service was generally poor, with long times being taken between us sitting, our order being taken, our drinks arriving, and on request, the tomato sauce being brought to the table.

My wife’s food, a breakfast bagel of some sort, was cold, as was my toast as part of the Full House breakfast. The toast is staring up at me mournfully.

My steak was rather flavourless, and pretty much on the other end of rare, as I had ordered it on being given that choice.

I can also see your Cimbali coffee machine quite well, from where I sit, and sad to see that it is not kept clean – the milk steamer is covered with old dry milk, and has not been cleaned once since I have sat down. In Europe, as well as many other places in SA, I am pretty sure it is cleaned after every use.

In the time I have written this so far, our food has not been cleared away, and I wonder where our waitress is? I guess her tip will be rather low. It also would have been nice if a manager of some form had popped by to chat, but I guess that might slow down the turning of tables.

Your web-site proclaims “personal customer encounters”, but I haven’t had any of those today.

Anyway, I am sorry to say, I guess we won’t be back here.

Thank you

Frank Spencer MSc(Eng)

Chandani

Now this blog is meant to be about coffee. And it is. So even this review will mention coffee, despite the fact it is primarily about... and Indian Restaurant!

I have been watching the transformation of Roodebloem rd, Woodstock, with great delight. The latest addition to this up-the-mountain is Chandani, an "Indian & Vegetarian Restaurant". It looks pretty spiffy from the outside, so it didnt take long before Nada and I, and our good friend "Haych", decided to visit.

Leaving out the service, it was fabulous! The decor is amazingly authentic, as is the owner! Even the cutlery is stamped with Made in India. But of course that just sets the scene.

The food is to die for. I can honestly say that it is the BEST Indian food I have ever eaten, and I have eaten there twice now. Their mild dishes re genuinely mild, and their hot dishes are genuinely hot, but oh so tender and full of flavour.

But, unfortunately the service was a little slow both times, but I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt, and put this down to teething problems - they haven't been open very long at all, and are still training staff, while having to put up with the huge demand for their service - this restaurant was practically full both times we were there.

Now to the coffee - I had a double espresso. I am not sure what it was, but it was very good. Very rich and complex, and I would highly suggest you go there for a meal,and then try the coffee yourself!

Chandani is #85 Roodebloem rd. The owner is Jagdish, and the retaurant can be reached on 021 447 7887.

Champion Barista

Hey fellow coffee lovers!

Sorry for my long silence, but it has been busy in the world of coffee (and I don't even LIVE in that world - yet!). A lot has happened, including the barista champs at the CTICC, bad coffee at Cafe Creme (wont go there again), and smash-and grabs into my car!

Well, here is an interesting article for you to read: an interview with the world champion barista, Klaus Thomsen

Back soon

Frank

Good Food and Wine Show

For those of you who interact with me on Facebook, you will know that I have been looking forward to this show for sometime. I was fortunate enough to wrangle a few trade tickets for the opening day yesterday. So of course, despite the fact that a number of us are going to go on Sat, I went to the quieter day yesterday, with friends Hanlie and Marion.

It was great to spend a couple of hours wandering around, tasting a few delightful wines, checking out all the organic food suppliers, avoiding the immensely ugly Mainstay bar area, and of course, chatting to all the coffee connoisseurs.

My favourite moment was getting to chat to a few guys from Barista Underground (www.baristaunderground.com) and Origin Coffee Roasting (www.originroasting.co.za). Check em out - and I will definitely be visiting Origin soon!

The funniest moment was when one of the chocolatiers addressed Marion as my wife. We had a good giggle, as did my wife Nada a little later in the evening. Forgiveness was quick as I was bearing gifts of Chilli Chocolate!

Oh yes, before I forget, you must check out the amazing art at www.espressoporn.com - just a pity about the website name!

Stay tuned for more about coffee, shops, art and beans...

Yours in coffee

Barista Frank

Sounding an off key Piccolo

Alas, it is always such a problem to be popular. Strangely enough, I am not talking about me this time, but rather our favourite Sunday coffee shop (for the moment), Cafe Creme, was TOTALLY FULL. Experience has taught me not to venture into murky molasses depths of other coffee shops in the Gardens Centre, but as a group was to be entertained, I succumbed, and we ended up at...

Piccolo.

Why this place is named after a high-pitched flute, I have no idea, unless the sound of exasperated customers often reaches a similar fevered pitch!

I have one word. Awful. OK, maybe that is over-stating it a bit, but when service is lousy it makes you feel as if you are drinking an iced coffee when you ordered a chocochino!

At a restaurant, one should never have to start LOOKING for waiters, er waitresses, er waitrons, er wait wait wait! At this coffee shop, you the customer are the WAIT-er! Anyway I have digressed again. They were just slow, understaffed, and vaguely friendly enough that you didn't walk out. Guarantee you this is not an owner run business!

So the coffees weren't that bad, and the company, as usual, was superb (I HAVE to say that - they read my blog!), but service left much to be desired.

But thinking back on the coffee and service just leaves me depressed. 1/10 for service. 4/10 coffee. We'll leave the matrix out of it completely.

BUTTTT, GOOD NEWS! Just when the thought of having to write on this unmusical interlude, I discovered FREE TICKETS to the Good Food and Wine Show at the CTICC sitting on my table! Addressed to "Barista-in-Review". I digg it. We are famous already!

(Ok, ok, I ASKED for the tickets in that name - I am just glad they arrived in time!)

See you all at a coffee shop near YOU!

Barista Frank

Catch me at Coimbra!

Landsdowne rd. That great highway connecting the decadence of Claremont with the flavour of Mitchell's Plain. Dotted along this slice of tar you will find anything from KPMG, to many a tyre wheeler and dealer, and the infamous Koehler Motors - loved by some and hated by others.

And of course the highlight on this little strip of Cape Town, is Coimbra.

About a year ago I had my first experience of Coimbra's coffee. I guess, as usual, I was waiting to collect my car from the above mentioned Koehler Motors, but let me tell you, Coimbra coffee is worth the wait!

Yesterday I found myself there again (yes, you guessed it, car back at the garage), debating who the "poor" are in the gosepl of Luke with my good bud Rob, and enjoying not only the Americano but a scrumptious breakfast too!

Dare I use the MATRIX at this point...

ACIDITY: 5/5 Deliciously bright aftertaste!
AROMA: 5/5 Just enough chocloate to have me interested.
BODY: 4/5 Earthy rounded texture
FLAVOUR: 5/5 Chocolate and sweet

Wow, good coffee this Buondi stuff!

To top it off you can fill youir bsket with delectible goodies from their bakery - Muffins, Danish pastries, Croissants, Doughnuts and Traditional Portugese Treats in all shapes and sizes.

Yummy! You had better check it out!

Enter the MATRIX

A few fellow coffee connoisseurs have suggested that I should use some form of rating scale when it comes to my favourite Americano.

So in future I will attempt to use the following matrix of scoring and notes to describe that which my tongue experiences when slurping over the brown gold.

Acidity - The sensation of dryness in the back and under the edges of your mouth. This is a desirable quality and not to be confused with sour (which is considered a bad quality of coffee). Acidity creates a lively, bright taste which without it, the coffee would taste flat.

Aroma – Without aroma, we could only taste sweet, sour, bitter and salty. This is where we get the subtle differences such as floral, nutty or fruity.

Body – The way the coffee feels in your mouth, its viscosity or heaviness. The best way to describe it is the comparison to how whole milk feels in your mouth compared to water. If you are unsure as to the level of body in the different coffees, add an equal amount of milk to each one and the one with the heavier body will retain more of its flavor when diluted.

Flavor – This is the overall perception of the three characteristics above. Flavor can be rich (full bodied), complex (multi-flavored), or balanced (no one characteristic over powers the other.

Now many might argue that I should, in fact, do it the proper way with black espresso coffee. But, that's not the way I drink coffee, so I'll stick to tasting coffee in it's natural environment - my Americano cuppa!

Exploding Espresso

Yesterday was a sad day.

Our espresso machine in the office machine EXPLODED!


This poor machine has been abused day in and day out by all the developers here (and me), until with a spray of coffee and water, the seal between the machine and the coffee holding device gave way.

Guess productivity is gonna drop over the next few days.

The good thing is it might inspire me to go out for coffee at lunch - and you will get to have more reviews!

RE: Creme review

Heya friends and coffee-lovers (hopefully one and the same!)


Welcome to another addition of Barista-in-review, were I get to espresso my views on coffee! (Hmm, bad pun, I know I know, promise not to use it TOOO many times!)

It is a custom of some of us from the Holy Trinity community to find ourselves at the Crème Café and Espresso bar at the Gardens Centre after church. This is a favourite haunt, not only due to its proximity to our church, but because, as is most important, the coffee is pretty good!

Firstly, let me apologise for the wild antics of my friends in the photos. They are not normally like this, but it does seem that good caffeine has a certain effect!

Crème’s location is probably on the busiest route in the Gardens Centre, so it is hard to miss, and normally very busy. We normally add to the chaos, as the large number of people that follow in this Sunday tradition need to be catered for. This is normally not a problem. They boot customers from one table to another to make space for us, and eventually 10 of us are comfortably seated at the suddenly created large seating space.

Unfortunately today was not one of their best-foot-forward days, as the service was awfully slow, but the coffee did make up for it. As usual, the normal round of Americano, Cappuccino, Hot Chocolate and normal filter coffee orders when in. I normally try to educate my friends in the difference between filter coffee and Americano coffee, and today was no exception. Steve was a little disappointed at the bland looking filter coffee that arrived for him, when our Americano had such delectable coffee crème on the top! The final straw was in the tasting, and after Steve had tasted the Americano, I think he will put filter coffee behind him for good, and come over to the flavour side!

The Americano was delicious, with lovely caramelly chocolaty flavouring. Probably an Italian roast of a good bean.

The Hot Chocolate had a few jaws dropping too! A mug of hot milk is brought, with a plate of Belgian chocolate for you to add and stir into the milk. Raoul was definitely not complaining! There were a few murmurs of appreciation for the cappuccinos too.

Breakfasts were mediocre – I don’t know why people cook scrambled egg in the microwave – it is just yugg! But I guess my tummy didn’t know the difference. Irene dug into a cheesecake, while Lisa enjoyed her deep rich chocolate muffin.

The engineers let rip building a tower of jam ‘n butter, which “accidently” collapsed in Irene’s lap, leading to a torrent of flying marmalade. Fortunately there were no passersbys or patrons injured.

All in all, I think we’ll give Crème a 9/10 for coffee, but today a 4/10 for service.


Barista Frank

Review: "Simply Coffee", Pringle Bay

It's a long weekend for us (thank you Werkers!). Lucky us! And our parents are always happy to put us up (or put up with us) at their place in Pringle Bay.

Pringle Bay is one of those up-and-come holiday spots. I remember when we first used to come here back in the early 90s, there were next to no houses, and definitely next to no services, and DEFINITELY no coffee shops.

But there is one, now, of some repute, having stared in Getaway magazine, to but mention a few.


It is "Simply Coffee", and simple it is. Decor is rather bland, with lime-green counters, chairs and shelves, and bright art-work of no particular brilliance.



But of course, this is not why we came here. We came for the COFFEE.

"Double Americano and a Cappuccino please".


Cappuccino and Americano (left to right)

Well, Nada enjoyed her Cappuccino, although the froth did leave a little to be desired. My Americano did also not have the most stylish crema in the world, so I was a little apprehensive about the taste.

Aroma was a little nutty. Taste wasnt too bad. Rather earthly and mellow on the tongue, although the bitter aftertaste was a little on the sharp side.

The large variety of cake sections consisted of Carrot cake and scones. Nada enjoyed her rather dainty slice of carrot.


Carrot cake and dab of cream and mint

Although they had a state of the art sound system, nothing of note (meaning nothing at all) was playing.


State-of-the-art sound system....


At R38 for the lot, the verdict is.... 5/10. It is a pity that my first review must start at 5, but i am SURE it is bound to go up. Watch out for a review of a grrrreat coffee shop in Landsdowne rd? Can you guess which one?

CU latte!

Hello latte!

Hiya and welcome to Barista in Review!

On this blog I hope to keep you entertained! Oh, and also bring you a little info about coffee! Coffee shops, too, as I think many of us enjoy lurking in such environments, and there is a rumour going round that I might open a coffee shop myself sometime soon too!

So enjoy, and all your feedback is much appreciated!