Family Favourite. (Expresso cafe, Norwich)

Expresso,

Norwich,

Opening times Mon-Sat 07:00-17:30,

Sun 09:00-16:00

Highly Recommended

At the bottom of the Norfolk Cafe Cycle Tour blog you will see ratings for all the cafes I have visited. However one eagle eyed blogee, Ali (regular Norfolk cafe cycle tour sportiver) complained that there are some cafes on the list that have not been reviewed in the blog. This is because I started rating cafes before I started blogging so there are currently 12 venues that fall into the no post category. Not realising this Ali had unfortunately spent most of Easter searching the blog for a non existent review of his favourite, Expresso Cafe, which is one of the missing 12. It is also George's (my son's) favourite cafe as well. So with my current bus only travel limitations it seemed like a great opportunity to right this wrong and make Expresso Cafe today's target.

With today's regular bus based guest Chris (wife) we set of for the bus stop. Fortunately after last weeks bus debacle (not a good Friday) there were plenty of buses about today so we opted for a number 11 to Norwich city centre.

The Number 11 bus we selected for our transport to Expresso Cafe.

After a short journey we alighted the bus and walked to Expresso Cafe. It is situated opposite St Andrews Hall and has an outside seating area trying to create a continental cafe vibe.

At Expresso Cafe by the outside seating area which
creates a continental cafe vibe

As it was a grey and drizzly day we decided to sit inside at the window seats. Expresso Cafe also has a back room seating area that leads to another small garden outdoor seating area. To complete the eclectic feel Expresso Cafe doubles up as an art gallery with a small selection of paintings and photos for sale on the walls. You therefore have plenty of choice for the type of cafe atmosphere you want.

At the counter there was a good selection of cakes so I awarded a good effective cake selection (ECS) rating.

A good cake selection available at Expresso Cafe.

I ordered hot chocolate and peach and blueberry sponge and Chris a skinny Mocha and white chocolate, raspberry and another fruit which she can't remember but knew that she liked sponge. We made our way to the window seat to try our selections.

Cakes and drinks ready to review at the window seats.

My drink was nice but not very hot. Chris thought her skinny mocha was quite good. Both the cakes were nice although a bit too similar. Chris also found the icing on her white chocolate, raspberry and another fruit which she can't remember but knew that she liked sponge was a bit rich. Maybe this was partly because Chris was feeling a bit delicate after eating all her Easter eggs in just two sittings and didn't fancy more rich sweet things.

We planned to sit at our window seat and watch the world go by, unfortunately the world seemed to have had the day off and there was no one outside and nothing going on. We therefore decided to give up on people watching and set off home. 

Expresso Cafe got a good score in each category making it a solid all round cafe, although without a stand-out feature, and well worth a visit as it has entered my current top 10 of reviewed cafes.

On the way home I spotted another 3 cafes I was unaware of so they got added to my cafes or tearooms to be reviewed list. Currently I have 32 cafes on this list and I still have large areas of Norfolk I haven't even started to investigate for cafes or tearooms. When I set off on my mission to find the best cafes and tearooms for cycle rides, I thought there could only be a handful in Norfolk but it now looks like I have many years of Cycle (or temporarily bus) based cafe reviewing to do before my work is done.

Note: After further research I discovered the other fruit in Chris's white chocolate, raspberry and another fruit which she can't remember but knew that she liked sponge was pear.

Ratings for Expresso Cafe based on 2 visits

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance and Atmosphere	Café Rating
6.75	7.5	8	7.25	7.25	7.35