Editor Pick
Cafe Puccinos
- September 11, 2003
- Rated 3 of 5 by
JayBroek from Edinburgh, United Kingdom
You can’t walk far these days in an English town or city before stumbling across a coffee shop. The major chains of Costa, Starbucks and co. crowd for your attention, offering a smart lifestyle choice. I blame Friends completely.
But you can’t get away from the fact that coffee is great – great when you’re at work with it’s in built excuse for a break and even better when you are on vacation. Sit on the pavement and pretend you’re in Rome living the Dolce Vita, or perhaps in a Parisian café, watching the girls go by to the sound easy listening crooners.
One of the smaller groups chasing this market in the UK at the moment is Café Puccinos. I say it’s a group because I’m sure that I’ve seen them elsewhere but the place in Oxford expresses its individuality. Situated in a small yard off the main pedestrianised shopping street that is the Cornmarket, Puccinos is a café with a perky, cheeky attitude that draws you in. It is spread over two floors with a cluster of tables out front in the shade of the yard. The menu is reasonably broad for a café, taking it away from the ‘standard’ coffee-houses, but not too far. Paninis, baguettes and cheeky tapas-type offerings are the order of the day with a full coffee list scrawled across the wall inside. Scrawling on the wall is something of an obsession with this place – all the notices and menus are written across the wall in black marker – tongue-in-cheek and sardonic in the main. Half the fun of this place is happening across little messages tucked away under window ledges and around corners – look out for the ‘secret Nescafe Pipe’ (a personal favourite).
Honeymooning as we were, the Blonde and I had been celebrating and so were in need of a caffeine and fluid fix. The espresso did what any self-respecting espresso should and gave me the coffee equivalent of a good hard slap in the face. The Blonde opted for Fentimans ‘Curiosity Cola’ – a brand we had not come across before but shall seek out in future. Fentimans produced a range of fermented mineral drinks (alcohol was a part of the Blondes cure, somewhat to her surprise…hair of the dog and all that) spiced up with gingerroot and other herbal extracts. Great stuff.
We also sampled Puccinos smoothies. They were tall, cold and thick although it was a little difficult to taste the difference between the flavours – we had to rely on colour for that.
It’s just a little café, not trying to be anything else, but Café Puccinos is situated just off the bust thoroughfares and I found it to be a great break from the crowds. A light lunch and a drink won’t cost over £10 (it is licensed) and the service is prompt and friendly so give it a shot.
From journal Oxford - spend and be damned!