Off Broadway

girlswear

Coffee by Day, Wine by Night 20th May 2009

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Six months on since their opening, I finally stepped into my local Bar Off Broadway. It's a café by day – small selection of tea, coffee (real American filtered coffee) and chocolate. 4pm rolls along the café transforms into a self-portrayed "American" bar serving cocktails and a careful selection of American beers and wine.

Despite it was a Tuesday evening, the bar was packed both outside and inside with locals. There are a small number of tables outside for those who prefers a breath of fresh air or easier access to smoke. The crowd appears to be friendly, strangers who were sharing tables started to have conversations with one another, which is rare to see in East London (just because we're suppose to be "oh-so-hipster"!). Absolutely loved the ambience of the bar, dark but well candle-lit with the vintage spindly candleholders, antique chairs and tables. Surrounding the bar are big photographed canvas exhibition. The bathroom is worth the trip itself, as there was actually a neon-lit live fish aquarium to look at as you use the facilities. Everything is serviced at the bar, there is no table services. Staff are friendly but not enough of them for this busy weeknight. They only have a small food menu which consists of cheese boards, breads and other small dishes but they apparently welcome people to bring in ordered food from outside. We ordered a £5 Tartino which was similar to a Calzone stuffed with cheese, roasted peppers, olives in a whole wheat crust. It was served with a little mixed greens, portion was a good size for its value and it was piping hot.

I was never a fan of American beers in general since I'm biased to Canadian and Quebecois Beers and I'm proven to be right tonight again. I had the Brooklyn Brown Ale, which didn't had the nutty taste I'm used to, it was rather fruity. Rather disappointed also that none of the beer was available in tap, only in bottles. The rather weak "American filtered coffee" was a bit of a let down – it was too watery, also it didn't serve with 10% or 18% cream, which is how we serve coffee in North America, not with milk. If you want a good proper latte and such, I would suggest you next door to Climpson & Sons – see my review. We didnt' have a good look at the wine list, but it seems most people were drinking either wine or cocktail.

I'll definitely go back just for the ambience, perhaps during the day to experience the tea, coffee and chocolate café, or perhaps in the evening for wine or cocktail but not beer (The Dove Freehouse further down the street has real good selection of tapped beers). If it wasn't for the busy crowd, Off Broadway would be an ideal place for a drink date. For those who remembered Off Broadway as a gallery, do not fret, they have moved the photography gallery downstairs which only opens on the weekends. However, one thing I do and will missed is their film club on Tuesdays inside the shop in collaboration with The Film Shop down the street – local DVD rental with great selection of indie/foreign/documentaries, basically the more artsy films but also carries blockbusters.

girlswear at 18/08/09

Since the review, I've been back to Off Broadway for cocktails a couple times. They do have amazing cocktails – price ranges from £6-8.50, I highly recommend their daily special £6 cocktail!

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