A Northern Quarter café to cherish

With its minty green, chipped exterior and could-do-with-a-lick-of-paint walls, Koffee Pot looks like a cross between a commune and a kid’s nursery. Don’t be fooled though. This is a cafe with a difference. Expect to see everyone and anyone. Harry Potter look-a-like kids, bunches of emo teenagers, brunching business women or even pensioners lost on a day trip.

The interior is cool kitsch. Funky art work and flyers everywhere. Windows, doors, walls, you name it. This place is a four walled notice board. Fifties style chequered flooring cleverly clashing with eighties swirly wallpaper flung into the twenty-first century with Doodlebug graffiti. Sit at the park bench style red picnic tables and watch old Westerns on the wide screen TV – if you can find it amongst the collage of posters, flyers and art work. Note there is no sound coming from the TV, it’s just for show, to add to the hustle and bustle. Watch the TV while flicking through one of the free newspapers and listening to the radio. Media mish mash.

On the menu you can get eggs benedict (£2.95), beans on toast (£1.95) and homemade granola and Greek yoghurt (£2). Daily specials cost £3.95 and include shepherds pie, hot pot and lasagne. A cup of tea or coffee will set you back 85p.

Having never tried it before I went for the smoked haddock rarebit (£2.95) and a bowl of chips (£1). Confidential colleague, Katrina opted for cheese and onion panini (£2.25). Service was fast and funky; our waitress, Holly, fitting in nicely with the retro décor. She even looked like one of the women on the wall (as the pictures show). The food was fast, fresh and filling. Proper portions in a proper café.

Koffee Pot is open from 7.30am until 3pm so get in there early for their breakfasts which include tea, coffee and toast, for a cheap and cheerful £3.95. Staff are friendly and like to chat. If you can’t make it for breakfast, check out the Friday tea time sessions which in the past have had appearances from The View, LCD Soundsystem, and Frank Sidebottom. Koffee Pot’s a right little quirky cracker.

The Koffee Pot, 21 Hilton Street, Northern Quarter, City. 0161 236 1633