It’s Easter Monday and I’m looking for a coffee and a bite to eat in Coleraine. It’s as dead as a Dodo, but as every other shop was seemingly closed I see a shiny beacon of blue and yellow out of the corener of my eye that is Bob & Berts Artisan Coffee! Yaaayyyyy!
Bob & Berts are a local coffee chain that I’ve seen a few of around the north coast recently and have been meaning to try. I liked the look of its kooky looking exteriors in blue and yellow with little picket fences and outdoor seating (even in winter). So, with a rumbling in my tummy and an early baby feed making me bleary eyed, this seemed like the perfect time to try out this fine establishment.
The place was quiet but not dead as a few other lost souls had found there way here also, and I found the faux brick walls and inspirational hipster style word posters, leather seats, rustic wooden tables and indoor picnic table to be inviting. The menu is extensive running from breakfasts, to burgers and all in between. A full display of cakes, tray bakes and a rainbow assortment of paninis sit front and foremost.
I ordered a flat white and a spicy home-made sausage roll with coleslaw and then made my way to the built in Belfast sink to get myself some refreshing water. The presentation, like the surroundings, was excellent with the flat white coming in a fancy wee glass and finished on top with the wee fig leaf that clever baristas tend to do, like a tee-totalers version of a shamrock in the Guinness. The sausage roll was delicious and spicy with flecks of pepper visible throughout and a spicy topping. It was crispy and surprisingly filling, the slightly sweet and cooling coleslaw a really good food buddy to accompany his spicy friend. The coffee was very nice too, slight chocolatey tastes with a real rounded flavour that didn’t hang on after.
These chain style Coffee shops are never going to compete with the likes of Lost & Found or Established on taste of coffee, but as an everyday coffee and compared to your Costas and Starbucks this is head and shoulders above. The staff were friendly, the surroundings welcoming and the food and coffee were on point, and they Also accommodated a double buggy very well, as any parent with more than one child will know this is very important!
A good trip all round and I have to say one that means next time I’m in Coleraine I’ll be walking right past Starbucks and heading to Bob & Berts instead.
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