5 weird café trends invading your high street
BY Anna Walker
1st Jan 2015 Recipes
Britain has an unsurpassed reputation for our love of tea. Gone are the days however when we were satisfied with a simple cuppa. These weird and wonderful café trends show off the true eccentricity of the great British high street.
Crisp sandwiches—Belfast
Image via Belfast Live
The pop-up Simply Crispy Café serves 35 flavours of crisp sandwich with chips and soup, topped with Monster Munch croutons. On opening day, the café sold out within just two hours after social media sent it viral.
Owner Andrew McMenamin was inspired to transform his previous business, That Wee Café, because “people remember [crisp sandwiches] from their school days, it is a classic”.
It seems this is just the start of the nation’s love affair, with more crisp cafés already opening in Keighley and Dublin.
Canned food—London, Soho
Image via AL_A
Tincan was built on a simple idea. There’s no kitchen, just a menu of 30 world delicacies, all served from the can.
The restaurant was inspired by architecture firm AL_A’s trip to Lisbon, where they discovered a tinned-fish eatery housed in a former fishing tackle shop. Their menu includes tuna fillet, sardines, squid served in its own ink and more.
This café is only open until December 23 before moving on to New York, so get in fast!
Cats—Newcastle
Image via Chronicle Live
Mog on the Tyne is the North East’s first cat café—but you may be surprised to hear, by no means the world’s first. Cat cafés first emerged in Japan around 10 years ago. City dwellers who had little space to keep pets of their own enjoyed having some animal company with their coffee.
Cat lovers can order a range of feline-themed treats, from Catte Lattes to Catacinos, Pawninis and more. Trained staff carefully monitors the moggies and they have a designated chillout room if they become stressed.
Cereal—London, Camden and Brick Lane
Image via Cereal Killer
They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. You don't need to tell London based café Cereal Killer twice—they serve nothing but cereals from around the world morning, noon and night.
Customers can choose from 120 varieties of cereal, ranging from American Lucky Charms, to Israeli Milbo Choco, to the humble English Weetabix.
Next, 30 varieties of milk are on offer, from plain semi-skimmed through to peanut butter and bubble gum flavours. Finally, all day breakfast pundits can top their dream bowl with their choice of 20 toppings including fruit, chocolate and sweets.
The breakfast trend is catching. Cereal cafés are popping up across the country, including the Black Milk Cereal Dive in Manchester.
Real Junk Food Project—across the UK
Image via What She Buys
Originally set up in Armley, Leeds, The Real Junk Food Project aims to feed visitors using only goods that supermarkets would otherwise have been thrown away.
Founder Adam Smith is a trained chef and has fed over 10,000 people 20 tonnes of unwanted food since opening his doors. The café operates on a "pay as you feel" policy that raised over £30,000 in the first 10 months alone.
In the past, Smith has served his pundits caviar, steak, salmon and scallops, much of which is sourced directly from supermarket bins.
Junk Food Projects are opening across the UK. There are now branches in Brighton, Manchester, Wolverhampton, Edinburgh, York, Portsmouth and Sheffield to name just a few.
