Coffee #1 - Gloucester Road

Another stop on my Gloucester Road café tour, Coffee #1 offers a great cosy escape from the hussle and bussle of the busy main road. Conveniently positioned in the middle of all the kitsch boutique and charity shops, Coffee #1 is a comfy chair-filled café with plenty of original homemade cakes and exciting coffee flavours, especially during a festive season - their pumpkin lattes are not to be missed around Halloween.

*PICTURE YET TO COME*

I often find myself in Coffee #1 on a Saturday evening armed with my books and laptop, as I am sure that it's coffee and cosy interior has healing properties when it comes to curing the essay blues! As it stays open a lot later than the other cafés, around 6:30 on most days, it is perfect for camping out in after lunch and getting lots of work done! For those of you (lucky, lucky) people who don't have thousands of essays to write, it's also a lovely café for meeting up with friends or relatives, or just a stop off point when on a wander up Gloucester Road.

For Food: 8/10
For Atmosphere: 10/10

Check out their website here :) http://www.coffee1.co.uk/our-locations/bishopston/

Rocotillos - Clifton Triangle

Located on the Clifton Triangle, Rocotillos is the perfect place to go for a pinch of American diner and milkshake magic. Although Clifton Triangle is a bit of mad rat run for traffic, as soon as you go into Rocotillos you are transported to the American 1950s world of milkshakes and pancakes. Among locals and tourists the small shiny café is famed for it's breakfasts (which are huge and so yummy) and their milkshakes (which come in a jug to fill up your cup yourself!). Although the milkshakes are a little on the pricey side, they are, without a doubt, totally worth trying.

http://bristolculture.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/rocotillos-bristol/

With an array of classic and crazy flavours, their ice cream filled, super-thick, sickly milkshakes are sure to fill you up, and you could probably have one as a meal on it's own! Their pancakes, traditionally thick and small in the American style, can be served with anything from maple syrup to sausages, and almost live up to those of Boston Tea Party (although as BTP's biggest fan I am a little biased). Perfect for meeting up with friends, or showing off Bristol to visitors, Rocotillos is ideal for a quick snack or a full meal, just mind your pockets!

For Food: 8/10
For Atmosphere:8/10

They don't have a website but check out their Twitter feed here :) https://twitter.com/Rocotillos 

Mocha Mocha - St Michael's Hill

 

As I wrote in my post about Parsons, St Michael's Hill is a great place to go if you are looking for a café or restaurant for a spot of light lunch or a full meal. And if, like me, you are doing a Teashop Tour, one of your stops should definitely be Mocha Mocha. As you walk past the cosy looking interior, the gorgeous waft of fresh coffee and fresh croissants makes it very hard to not go straight in and empty out your pockets for that reviving cup of tea...

 

 

Photo from: http://www.mochamocha.co.uk/

Conveniently situated approximately 15 seconds walk from the University of Bristol languages building (where I spend most of my days), Mocha Mocha has become a little bit of a regular haunt over the last six months. Nothing seems more tempting than the warm glow and comfy seats on offer inside on a rainy or chilly day, and I think I can truly say that they sell the best paninis in town! And their tea isn't so bad either!

The only one teeny tiny complaint I would have is the price of their cakes. Once when out to lunch with my dad, having already filled up on a delicious brie, bacon and cranberry panini, we fancied a slice of their yummy looking carrot cake for our journey back to the South Coast. By slice it was more of a rectangular finger shape, which is nothing to complain of, not everyone likes triangles, but at the dear price of £2 it wasn't exactly affordable... If maybe they brought their cake prices down a tiny bit (or made the slices bigger, hint hint) then I imagine the students would come in their swarms even more so than they already do.

For Food: 9/10
For Atmosphere 9/10

Check out their website here :) http://www.mochamocha.co.uk/

Parsons - St Michael's Hill

St Michael's Hill is a hotspot for cafés and restaurants in Bristol, especially for Bristol University Students. Situated around the back of the University, lots of students pass the cafés and bakerys every day, often stopping for a quick pastry, coffee or the odd panini. In my first year of university (2011-2012) Parsons Bakery on St Michael's Hill was a regular Wednesday afternoon spot for me and my flatmates, with all of their cakes being on sale for 50p! Sadly they have stopped it this year (we probably put them out of business with 20 of us traipsing in every week and buying all the stock for a pittance!) but they are still well stocked with some of the best Cream and Custard Slices in the land.  

Picture from: https://plus.google.com/102492089274470698147/photos?hl=en&socfid=web:lu:kp:placepageimage&socpid=1#102492089274470698147/photos/photo/5744371201255429970

For those of us who have the time (and the money) to have a sit down at Parsons, you can choose your delicious and sickly cakey item of choice, or a yummy sandwich or pizza slice, and a nice warm cup of something and sit upstairs to people watch the length of St Michael's Hill. Although the seating area isn't beautifully furnished, it is still a nice comfy, cosy spot for a cup of tea and, if you haven't cottoned on already, their cake is not to be missed.

A little kinder on the bank balance than Mocha Mocha opposite it is a nice quiet café where you can usually find a seat.

For Food: 9/10
For Atmosphere: 6.5/10

Check out their website here :) http://www.parsonsbakery.co.uk/