Jen

I practically live next door to Café Jen and never ventured there as my flatmate once went and gave it a negative review. However, a few weeks ago I needed a coffee fix on a weekday morning and decided to give it a try.
The female proprietor who is always there (I’m assuming she is «Jen») seemed friendly enough, but she clearly has her regulars and ignored me in the queue until I muscled my way up to the counter and placed my order. My take-​away coffees came out in record time– a flat white and a latte for a friend. I must say, they were both delicious.
Fast forward a week or so later when I went on a busy Sunday morning for 3 takeaway coffees. I waited a good 10 minutes to order and seeing how busy they were, after I gave my order to «Jen», I sat at a spare table since I figured I’d be waiting awhile. After 2 minutes, I see «Jen» glaring at me and barking at one of the waitresses in their language, gesturing towards me. The waitress comes over and mumbled something about me needing to place an order at the till if I wanted service. I said to her that I in fact had just placed an order for 3 coffees, and won’t she see if they’re ready if that’s OK? Very rude of the front-​of-​house, especially since «Jen» had literally taken my order 2 minutes before.
I watched coffee after coffee being made for all of the seated tables; it took a good 15 minutes for my coffees to arrive– a total of 25 minutes for 3 coffees. And unfortunately they were sub-​par at best. With about 5 cafes within 100 metres of my flat, I will not be returning to Café Jen.

Café Jen was recommended to me by a café genius, so this sunny Saturday morning I decided to try it out.
Having been given vague directions (and trying to find it before I’d had a coffee), I naturally drove past it twice without seeing it, and so parked the car and decided to head elsewhere.
Uninspired by the menu of our substitute, we decided to walk on. Looking across the road I spotted a pretty white-​washed café with people pouring out of it. Just as I opened my mouth to say «That place looks nice, lets try there», I saw the simple black lettering in the top right corner — Jen.
My informant had told me that the food and ambience here were spectacular, but he warned that the coffee needed some serious work. And yet, as I saw the dark caramel-​coloured coffees with their shiny ferns head out to the tables, I decided that perhaps he was wrong, and ordered myself a piccolo.
Turns out my friend was right on all levels. The food was spectacular — I had the corn fritters with smoked trout, spinach and crème fraîche, and added a poached egg (because some days breakfast isn’t breakfast without an egg), and my boyfriend had the french toast with strawberries and bacon. The flavours of the fritters worked together perfectly, and although the meal cost $ 19 (with the added egg) I was happy to pay every cent of it. The pancakes also looked delicious, and as we sat eating our breakfast we could overhear every single table remarking how fantastic their food was.
The ambience was beautiful as well. Clean, crisp, bright but not clinical, Jen looked like it should be sitting on a cliff by the beach. They’ve found the perfect balance between retro, rustic and chic, with old bricks and music scores adding charm to the beautiful café.
Sadly, my informant happened to be right about the coffee as well. Whilst their other drinks were delicious (Strawberry milkshake made on actual strawberries), I think next time I will skip the coffee. Who knows, Jen is still pretty new, maybe they just need a little more time to get cosy with their machine.
I love Jen, forever and ever, amen.