Zer Café

TODAY FREE COFFEE!

Greetings, one and all, and hope you are having a great weekend. I am, thank you very much for asking. I spent a couple of hours catching up with a good friend today. We met in Tottenham, in a very cool cafe called Zer Cafe - a coffee shop and cocktail bar located on the ground floor of what looks like a recently erected tower.

It had been about 15 years since I last visited that part of London. I used to hang out there two decades ago. OMG, how the place has changed. The dodgy backstreets are gone! They've been replaced with new residential towers and fancy cafes and bars. There are social areas, including play grounds and grass that are designed for families for young children I imagine. The reservoir has also been revamped. It was closed today, but from what I can see, you're allowed to swim in the water. There are boats on it too, so I suppose you can hire those. I may pay the place a visit in summer if the chance arises.

Anyhow, it was nice to see my friend. We had a nice long chat, catching up, as usual. The time flew buy very quickly. I ordered a black americano, as is typical. As it happened the coffee was free today!. I thought it was going to be some low quality filtered coffee or something, but noooo. It was proper coffee, very rich and dark. High quality stuff.

I ordered a tart to go with it - otherwise I would have been sitting there drinking their coffee for free :). The cafe was actually a little busy when we got there, but soon emptied out. Despite being busy, though, it was quiet. Once lunch time was over, we were the only two left on our side of the cafe. The other side, where people with laptops sat, remained full. The ambience was so nice though. They had some rustic decor, including bench pillows that are actually coffee bean bags.

As a cafe, I'd give the place a good 8/10! The staff were really friendly too. The guy that welcomed us in had the aura of an owner or at least a manager. He had what sounded like an Italian accent of English and had a great sense of humour. He seemed impressed when I recognised the music that was playing in the background. It wasn't hard, it was one of my favourite artists Fatoumata Diawara - a radiant musician from Mali/Ivory Coast.

We took a brisk walk through the grassy area, along the stagnant water surrounding the reservoir lake. Sadly that bit was still the same as I remember it - filled with algae and slightly smelly. It, however, wasn't filled with plastic bottles like back in the day. I suppose they have people taking care of the area now that it's gentrified :)

Peace & Love,

Adé