Okay, I admit it, I’m a café snob. I like a few things about a café, in no particular order: ambience, a little urban grunge, I want to be seen by not being seen, fishbowls are good full of cocktails, not people.
When Coterie and Co opened in the laneway near work I was dubious. And with a plethora of coffee and food in a one-block radius I couldn’t see a reason to try it.
Except The Other Girl is more accommodating, and they’re licensed, so we took Ms Dancer for Friday lunch and checked it out.
The first thing Coterie and Co has working for them is their customer service. ‘Do you take reservations?’, I asked them the day before the diarised lunch date. The owner enthusiastically, ‘Yes we do!’ That attitude prevailed throughout our lunch.
Alright, alright, I admit it. It’s worth visiting Coterie and Co because the food is awesome, affordable and to our delight, free range. I’d call it a breakfast menu with benefits: several lunchy options, gourmet sandwiches, healthy drinks for adjacent gym bunnies and awesome sweets made by a friend apparently, one we should all have. Yessiree, I’m talking macaroons, a hearty Monte Carlo and other beautiful biscuits, and the official contender for best Hobart homemade Wagon Wheel and bearer of freeze dried berries.
We ate the cheeseburger $15, served with chips; the house burger, served with chips and containing chips (a burger chip butty – seriously how good is that?), $16, and the toasted smoked salmon sandwich, $12. The brioche-like rolls were a standout, perfect chips and a beautifully presented.
We drank a glass each of Tassie wine at affordable prices and took sweets away with us for after.
There’s an outdoor area too; not something you come across a lot in the CBD.
Coterie and Co enjoyed a steady flow of patrons during our hour stay, their own coterie of supporters.
We’re not surprised. We’ve already booked in to return.
