Corner cafe & slow bakery

A warm room,
a steady pour.

Ochre Room is a small room with big windows, a long counter and bread that comes out of the oven while the first pot of filter is still going. Come for ten minutes or stay the morning.

See the menu Plan a visit

Filter refills are free until the pot runs out. The kitchen keeps going until an hour before close.

Guests sitting at wooden tables in a sunlit cafe with large windows and warm ochre walls — Mid-morning, the window bench

Mornings: Bread out at seven
All day: Filter, espresso, tea
Room: Twenty-eight seats

The room

Somewhere to sit, not just somewhere to queue.

We built the place around the long counter. It seats nine, faces the bar and is the best spot to eat alone with a book. Behind it are four tables that take two, and a corner banquette that will happily take six if you push it.

Mornings are quiet on purpose — no music before nine, and the grinder lives at the far end of the bar. After that the room fills up, the bread comes out again at noon, and the afternoon belongs to whoever is still talking.

Counter seating

Nine stools facing the bar, kept free for people eating on their own.
Quiet until nine

No music first thing. Laptops welcome before the lunch rush, tables clear after.
The whole room

Evenings are free most of the week, so the room can be taken for a private sitting.

An overhead view of a cappuccino with leaf latte art in a pale ceramic cup on a saucer — House espresso, brewed short and sweet.

Empty wooden cafe tables and chairs arranged beside a bright window — The four tables by the window, before opening.

What we serve

The menu, more or less.

The coffee list stays put. The kitchen and bakery change with whatever the week brings, so treat the kitchen and bakery lists as a good indication rather than a promise.

Espresso Bar

All day

Filter, by the cup3.20

Brewed by the pot every half hour. Refills free while it lasts.
Espresso3.00

House blend, pulled short. Doubles as standard.
Flat white4.10

Whole, oat or barley milk, no charge either way.
Cortado3.80

Two ounces, hot glass, drink it standing if you like.
Pot of leaf tea3.60

Assam, jasmine green or a rooibos with orange peel.

From the Kitchen

Until an hour before close

Eggs on toast8.50

Soft scramble or fried, on yesterday's sourdough, with chilli butter.
Ochre beans9.00

Slow butter beans with smoked paprika, yoghurt and a lot of dill.
Cheese toastie8.00

Three cheeses, thin onion, pressed hard. Add tomato soup for 3.50.
Soup and a heel of bread7.50

Whatever the kitchen made that morning — ask, it changes daily.
Green salad, big7.00

Leaves, herbs, toasted seeds, sharp dressing. A side if you want it.

Bakery

From seven, until it goes

Country loaf6.00

Long ferment, dark crust. Half loaves after two o'clock.
Morning bun4.20

Rolled in orange sugar, best in the first hour and we both know it.
Almond croissant4.50

Yesterday's croissant, given a second and better life.
Seeded rye6.50

Dense, sour, keeps all week. Tuesdays and Fridays.
Cardamom cake, slice4.00

Baked in one tin each morning, cut until the tin is empty.

Coffee

One blend, roasted for the room.

We run a single house blend and change it twice a year, which means the bar can spend its attention on getting it right rather than on choosing. It is roasted a little past light so it holds up in milk, and it still tastes like fruit when you drink it black.

There is a second coffee on filter most weeks — something the roaster has too little of to blend. It goes on the board in the morning and comes off when it is gone.

This season Plum, cocoa and a dry, clean finish. Sweet enough to drink without sugar.
Roast Just past light. Rested four days before it reaches the hopper.
Brewed Batch filter by the pot, espresso on a two-group lever, and nothing else.
Beans to take Bags are ground to order at the counter, or left whole if you have a grinder.

Visit

Come in, or ask us about the room.

Tables are walk-in only, so there is no need to book for two. For a long table, a morning spread for a group, or an evening with the room to yourselves, send a note and we will write back with what is possible.

Opening hours

Monday to Thursday7:00 – 16:00
Friday7:00 – 17:00
Saturday8:00 – 17:00
Sunday8:00 – 15:00

The kitchen stops an hour before close; coffee and bakery carry on to the last minute. Evenings are unbooked unless the room has been taken.

Enquire about a table or the room

Large groups, morning catering and private evenings. One note is enough — we reply by email.

A warm room,a steady pour.