Moose Coffee

This is a hipster brunch café based on American diner bites meets Canadian hunting lodge décor. There’s quirky moose décor all over including funny military historic portraits made over with moose faces.
The menu is massive featuring many variations on Eggs Benedict served on a bagel, plus pancakes, waffles, French toast, and other hearty American breakfast bites. They also serve more brunch bites like sandwiches, burgers and breakfast burritos.
I ordered the Fab Five Freddy which was a sandwich with a hamburger patty, pulled pork and an egg on top, served with their potato hash, a grilled tomato and a dill pickle. It was delicious. I also ordered the chocolate and peanut butter milk shake (£3), which was delicious but could have been colder and thicker.
My fiancé ordered the breakfast burrito which I tried a bite of, which had way more fillings than a standard California breakfast burrito like olives, but it was really good too. His family came with us and loved their dishes too; they’ve been before and took us here.
The only downside is this place is popular meaning when we came, they were out of a lot of items like French toast, waffles, bagels (and most of the menu items are served on a bagel), and a few other items too. Plus, they tout their specials of the day, so I asked about those, but the special was… They’re out of a lot of things! Plus, we ordered a dime bar milk shake, and the waitress returned to say they are out of daim bars too.

It sounds Canadian but Moose Coffee is another independent café that pays homage to the great American tradition of brunch.
We’re talking french toast, grilled pancakes with maple syrup and blueberries, granola with yoghurt and berries, eggs benedict, scrambled eggs with ham and bacon and home fries with eggs. Prices are £3-£6 a dish and for those that plan to live fast and die young, they sell salt beef stacks and thick milkshakes made from ice-​cream, milk and chocolate.
The décor is great — all big windows, leather booths and formica tables — and the staff are friendly and accomodating. I just have two grumbles, the day we visited there was hardly any other customers and no offer of free coffee refills. Call me picky but you wouldn’t find a single diner in New York where you weren’t offered a second cup of joe!

I don’t really know what moose and coffee have in common, to be honest. One is furry and horny (ahem), whereas the other is hot and drank by millions around the world. Maybe if you milk a moose, coffee comes out. Somehow I doubt it, though.
When I first saw Moose Coffee, I expected it to be just another Starbucks or Nero clone, offering posy coffee flavoured milkshakes at expensive prices. However, when I actually ventured inside and looked at the menu, I realised that perhaps my assumptions were wide of the mark.
Offering an ‘American diner influenced breakfast and brunch experience’, Moose Coffee has a fairly decent selection of hot drinks available for your enjoyment without going to mocha-​locca-​latte-​crazy like its rivals. They also offer a small selection of fruit juices and milkshakes, all of which are reasonably priced and refreshing.
Their breakfast menu offers a wide variety of interesting takes on the traditional English cooked breakfast, including the ‘Smoked Moose’ (scrambled eggs and salmon) and the ‘New York Moose’ (eggs Benedict), all of which pose an attractive alternative to toast or cereal.
Their breakfast prices are perhaps a little more expensive than your usual greasy spoon, but Moose Coffee is well worth a visit if you’re in the area.

The rather lacklustre café Smolenskis once stood in this very spot, it offered average food in equally mediocre surroundings. The renovation was long overdue and Moose Coffee is a major improvement. Moose offers an American themed breakfast and brunch menu of bagels, pancakes and waffles as well as an abundant range of sandwiches all served fresh to order. The drinks menu is extensive with quirky alternatives to the generic list such as Mallow Moose hot chocolate and cookie dough, Dime, and Oreo Moose-​shakes if you fancy indulging.
The café is really contemporary and they’ve managed to retain the glass extension while losing that conservatory feeling.
One criticism, wrong word, one observation, is that the clientele does not seem to match the setting. Moose seems modern, both inside and out, with a menu to match but its patrons are, well, not. Like ghosts of the former café they haunt this place ordering their standard pots of tea and cakes. However, tame customers are better than no customers and, with a new city centre venue planned, Moose is clearly a success.