25 Mar 2025
James Cameron enjoys some hedonism at the Catherine Street eatery…
The Street Café has many good things going for it, but I do find the name rather unambitious.
Yes it is on a street (Catherine Street to be precise), and yes it is a café, but this doesn’t really distinguish it from most cafés in the country that do not happen to reside up a mountain.
Still, it has a nice logo (ST, I assume in homage to the Atari home computer) and lovely design, so I will forgive the Ronseal-nature of its naming.
This is our first time visiting since they were closed for a long while for refurbishment, and I must confess it doesn’t seem much changed considering how long it was out of commission. It is a lovely spot, really light and stylish (though not all of the eclectic art choices were to my taste), but then it was a lovely spot before.
At least they haven’t made it worse, and one area where there has been definite improvement is in the toilet which is now very elegant. The tables also seem to have been fashioned from old sewing machine tables, and they still have pedals underneath. These operate very well as a kind of fidget spinner for the feet.
The menu is predominantly breakfast focussed, but there were still too many options for me to choose from without regretting the path not taken. When I saw that they had a dish called the Hedonist Breakfast, though, I could not resist.
I do not consider myself particularly hedonistic, but it is always good to push yourself out of your comfort zone.
The hedonism in this case I assume is driven by the presence of both chorizo and halloumi fries (Greece being the original source of the philosophical movement of hedonism). Other more stoical components were poached eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes. The presentation was superb, with the different elements compartmentalised by thick slices of sourdough toast.
Surprising myself, my favourite element was the mushrooms which were bursting with flavour.
All the tastes worked well together, though, from the curly salty chorizo to the big dollop of avocado in the middle, topped with chillies. My only note was that the toast was a little dry and cold, often the case if it is not covered with something hot. Some kind of toast heater, or failing that a ready supply of hot toast, would make this ideal.
As if that was not hedonistic enough, we also shared a side of mini hash brown bites, a great move as these were done to perfection. Moreish to the extreme, and crispy without being greasy, these disappeared in short order.
There were a few vegan options for my vegan companion, including from the non-breakfast specials menu a hale and hearty vegetable soup, again served with a big slab of sourdough toast.
This had a pleasing sweet undercurrent, possibly from a sweet potato component, and it was the sort of soup one would be proud to have assembled themselves.
Service was fantastic throughout, helped by the fact that our server was a cat person, always a positive.
On a Thursday lunchtime it was lively, even a little loud, but there are tables upstairs if you wanted solitude with your sourdough.
Street Café plays in a similar arena to Hatch, though with more of a breakfast focus. It’s also pretty good value, with a substantial lunch for us both coming to £36 with drinks.
It’s a lovely place to pop into if you’re on a street and want revitalisation.
They also do a Tapas Night on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday and if they can bring a similar level of hedonism to the evening then I will be there to check it out.
