The Bookcafé In the Quarter — Restaurant in England

Sauntering over the threshold of the “Book café” evokes several pleasant emotions and memories. Old furniture and books do tend to have that effect. Chattering people, smiling faces and the chinking of a busy kitchen interacting with the whoosh of the coffee machine and smell of fresh bread. A sure recipe for an agreeable experience. Joining the queue my senses are on fire and my hunger is rising, I see it on the menu, eggs benedict. Decision made, Latte and freshly squeezed orange juice, looking over my shoulder a window seat calls out to my ears, Sun. Will somebody get to it before me? I will fight to the death for it. Should I go and put my bag on it. No somebody will nick my bag. Do the tables have numbers? How will the waiter know where I’m sitting? “Can I help you sir” Thank you “ medium latte, freshly squeezed orange juice and eggs benedict please” “oh and I would like that at my table within five minutes” He laughs pleasingly understanding that my sense of humour is welcome in his busy stressful day. £11.80 please and he gave me a lump of wood with the number 24 on it. I collected my cutlery, sugar, napkin with my bag and lump of wood. Running in slow motion towards the sun floodlit table, I made it to one of the most sought after tables in the world/café, etc. Just what is it about old books. I opened the one on the table “While it was still dark the little cargo boat came into the Gulf of Iskanderun and cast anchor” The title “Through Lands of the Bible” I read on and was not only having a good “café” experience but was captured by my imagination as I deep-dove into the first page of my adventure and was now a world traveller. “your eggs sir” Oh yes, food, now I have experienced eggs benedict on more than a few occasions and this was one of the least memorable. A reasonable pleasant plate of food but lacking in love. The non “in house made” hollandaise sauce was frankly disappointing. Out of a jar? The coffee just did not have that coffee experience BUT the freshly squeezed juice, yes they nailed that one. I took a few photos of my food (Blind Colour) and the very large Ferris wheel in the window. Would I visit...

I had tried to find somewhere different for Christmas Eve afternoon and thought this place looked lovely. I booked the table for 12pm and we arrived about 11:45am. Having not been there before we wandered in cautiously, not quite knowing the system. There was no one greeting at the door and the manager looked more occupied with serving and helping what looked like an understaffed team.

We wandered over to the counter and mentioned that we had a reservation. I gave my name and we were eventually taken to our table.

I asked if we could look at the menus, nope! We weren't allowed to look at them until 12pm. I can understand not being able to order from them until a designated time, but to not be allowed to lay eyes on them was bizarre!

At 12pm the menus were given out and we ordered at a counter, service was generally slow and staff seemed too few with too much to do. We were asked to leave our bank card behind the counter, something which we were not prepared to do so had to pay for each part of our meal as we ordered it.

After ordering some drinks after finishing our main meal, they took a really long time to be prepared but we could see on a table next to the counter what looked like our order. The staff basically had no idea who to take it to so it was left. I went over to confirm if they were our drinks, they didn't know and looked confused but said they would bring them over in a minute. After waiting a little longer, and knowing that we already paid I took it upon myself to bring the tray over to our table myself.

After the fuss with the drinks we decided it would be best not to order desserts after all.

It looked to us as if the manager should do more managing and greeting and there should be more staff to improve the levels of service.

Not somewhere I'd return to, a shame really as there's the potential for a great atmosphere if the stress of poor service had been removed, maybe we visited...

I think this place has become a favourite of mine, without a doubt! Never even realised it was here until earlier on today. After finishing in town, I fancied somewhere to sit and people watch for a bit, while enjoying a drink and maybe a sweet treat too. I looked at a couple of cafes close by, but The Bookcafé stood out the most to me. Well I'm glad I chose this place, because it's awesome and super quirky! A shame I didn't bring my journal with me, as it's a great place to either catch up on some writing or get stuck into a good book for a while. There were plenty of seats to choose from, so I ended up going by the window, so I could people-watch and simply enjoy the world going by. The staff were lovely, being greeted with a smile by one of the young ladies who worked there. There's a choice, to either order at the counter or from the table which is handy. It was simple to use, and you could pay through Google/Apple pay or even PayPal. The young lady I mentioned, kindly came over to inform me that they hadn't got any of the ginger cake. However, they did have a selection of other great-sounding cakes and treats. So after refreshing my memory and having a look at what they had, I went for the coffee marble cake (deliciously moist, with a subtle coffee taste... Not too overpowering!) 👌🏻I also ordered a large cappuccino and they didn't take long at all to arrive. Another lady who brought them over, was super friendly and pleasant, which just enhanced the overall experience so hats off to the staff, for being fabulous! It was nice to sit and relax, listen to the music playing and watch the world go by. Such a great place, if you're looking for somewhere to unwind for a while from the hectic...