Bikes and coffee and hipsters – seemingly unrelated things come in threes. Why? Who knows, who cares. As puzzling to me as Shirt Bar was the other week and no less delightful, Lonsdale Street Roasters (or LSR as it is known) meshes this triad of seemingly random objects (yes, hipsters are indeed objects) except to me, coffee roaster+bikes+hipsters=café, where shirts+whisky+coffee=scratching my head a bit.
I think it’s safe to say LSR in the only so-cool-it-hurts espresso bar in the ‘berra, a city renowned for it’s roundabouts, public servants and, oh hang on a sec, bicycle paths. Bicycles hang from the ceiling, yellow and white magnetic letters spell out the menus, all the staff are under 25, artfully arranged bric-a-brac adorns the walls. It ticks all the boxes, the only thing missing is the Astroturf.
LSR pretty much serve coffee, as they are predominantly a coffee roaster. But they do have a smattering of breakfast, cakes and sandwiches with fashionable fillings (slow roasted pork with chipotle, anyone?). It’s order-and-pay-at-the-counter. If there’s no room inside (and I pray if you go anytime other than Autumn, there is), perch yourself on a milk crate outside.
I order a macch and Mum orders a cap, before realising yet again that that’s not what she really wanted, but as always not caring enough to change it. As expected, they do that thing that shits me where instead of 1/3 espresso 1/3 milk 1/3 froth dusted with chocolate (let’s call it an Australian cappuccino), they latte art the hell out of it so it’s basically a flat white with chocolate. Which is fine in this case as it’s not really what was wanted anyway but surely the point of a cappuccino is the foam, micro or otherwise (please not this is a generalised rant and not aimed at LSR specifically).
Of course, swings and roundabouts, anywhere you get a flat ‘cappuccino’ like this, I get a super short and concentrated macch, just the way I like it. So really, I can’t complain. Well, I will, but only on principle, and only in the safe confines of the blogosphere, never to anyone’s face.
Lonsdale Street Roasters
3/7 Lonsdale Street
Braddon ACT 2612
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9 Responses to Café Review – Lonsdale Street Roasters, Canberra
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Isn’t it funny how the humble capp goes from one extreme to another in this country. From being flat with chocolate on top (generally found in the inner city) to burnt over-aerated milk with a foam you could stand on (generally out of the city)
Looks like LSR has jumped onto the souvenir teaspoon bandwagon as well
john@heneedsfood recently posted…Sassy’s Red – CBD
Good to know there’s halfway decent coffee in Canberra. I’ve had only bad ones so far.
Gaby recently posted…Review: Shenkin
lol – flat’caps.. they’re really just an excuse to eat the lovely chocolate on top aren’t they? I wonder if these baristas realise a beautifully made cap with a thick layer of chocolate can be much better looking and appetising?
In-principle complaining is the best and most important kind of complaining
Wheeeeeee Canberra! I’ve heard of this place as being one of the best in Canberra for coffee, but I haven’t gone myself as I prefer my coffee haunts to offer sweet treats as well
Hannah recently posted…An Emotional Costco Fairytale
Had read recently that Canberra is a coffee dead zone so pleased to learn it isn’t!
As for the cap question – at the cafe I work at (in London) you’d be served something very similar to LSR. But if you asked for a dry cap (with choc on last) you’d get something closer to the old thirds-recipe.
Nico recently posted…Bestival 2011
Never order a cappucino in Tasmania. It’s either weak rubbish or totally flat. Lucky for me the piccolo has finally caught on here and I have discovered at least 2 places that can make a decent short mac.
Toni Fish recently posted…A journey north
[…] almost as many bike paths as there are roads and so it stands to reason there has to be more than one place to find a good macch. And so early one Canberra morning we rose with the cyclists and followed them […]
[…] velcro. This (bald) cuppa is watery, weak, and littered with chocolate debris – what Corridor Kitchen diagnoses as ‘basically a flat white with chocolate’ (LSR, circa 2011). To add […]
[…] first stop was LSR 23, Lonsdale Street Roasters’ second café. 23 Lonsdale Street houses their roastery, has a reduced menu and an order and pay […]