As you climb the slightly twisting stair to Frederick’s Coffee House, there is a real sense of entering an old fashioned tearoom, although the modern art on the walls belies this. There are grand flowers at either side of the glass door that takes you in this lovely salon decorated in soothing green and aqua.
There is a variety of seating around an open space – leather couches, stripey cushioned bar stools, cushioned dining chairs and soft window seats from where you can watch the world go by over the pansy filled window boxes or admire a fine view of Ramsay Gardens and thon man on a horse with a busby!
Fredericks (should that be Frederick’s?) offers freshly made soup and prepared panini and salads along with the usual range of coffee styles from latte to espresso, and a small range of teas. They do take away and delivery and also serve the now ubiquitous cup cakes, scones and other cakes, held temptingly on the counter as you enter. They do an afternoon tea and a couple of sharing platters for sit –in customers.
On my most recent visit to Fredericks, that’s what we had – a shared platter of bread, olives, houmous, balsamic vinegar with olive oil and sour cream. It cost £5.95 and was just the right amount to snack on, although we didn’t touch the breadsticks as we’d run of dips by then and the olives from a jar was a bit disappointing. That said, the selection of bread was delicious as were the dips.
On my other visits, I’ve been delighted by the generous warmed fruit scone with butter and the good quality of the coffee which is usually that great Australian import, the flat white. My post prandial preference is espresso and the one I had here was a wee bit bitter, even after sugar. One of my coffee companions enjoyed a scrumptious carrot cake that met her exacting standards of that particular goodie – moist and tasty!
Owner, Alana Nouri, and her staff are friendly, welcoming and eager to please in this pleasant addition to the Capital’s coffee scene that is already a personal favourite. It is a place where you feel a sense of occasion without pomp and where everyone seems to have their own comfortable space.