It wasn't so long ago that I was proudly proclaiming that I wouldn't advertise on my blog. Now here comes an entire entry dedicated to a cafe. Giving up on the gentle hints I have dropped in previous entries I have just decided to go the whole hog in my attempts to get free coffee.
Satellite Cafe in Newtown is a cafe where I spend an almost disturbingly large amount of my spare time. I go there for the coffee, the food and most of all the atmosphere and the company. It is rare these days to be able to walk into a cafe or other similar venue and find a place that immediately makes you feel welcome. Satellite is such a place. The coffee and the food are both good but its the atmosphere that sets Satellite above others. The place has a slight 50s diner feel to it and you certainly wouldn't go there for the expensive fittings but you would go there if you liked unpretentious comfort and a relaxed attitude. I treat the place as my lounge room, an attitude which is tolerated with good grace by the owner and staff.
I wandered into Satellite more or less by chance. I had been looking for a cafe to hang out in for a while and thought I would give it a go. I was greeted by the owner a lean, sleepy eyed girl named Ash who welcomed me, took my order and chatted for a while. Favourably impressed I came back the next day to see if my previous experience had been a fluke. When I walked in Ash greeted me by name, remembered my order and asked me how I was. That was it, I was sold. I kept coming back and now it has got to the stage where the staff have to chase me out with a broom when they want to go home.
Despite my love of coffee it is unlikely that I would spend quite as much time in Satellite as I do if it wasn't for the company. I've already mentioned Ash but she is ably supported by Mitch, Dan, Bassam, Gabby, Morganne and whatever customers happen to have nothing to do. I've washed the occasional dish at the place myself. Everybody who works there greets me as a friend (or at least a well tolerated customer) and most of the clientele seem to be equally easy going. I don't come for the coffee any more really. I come to socialise with interesting people that I have come to like and enjoy hanging out with.
I have another reason for liking Satellite. I found the place at a rather low point in my life and collectively the owner, staff and many of the customers have brightened some rather dark moods. I'm very grateful and owe them more than they probably realise. So this blog entry isn't so much an advertisement as a way of saying "Thank you!"
Ash currently has an application in to get an evening drinks licence. If it gets approved I may never leave.
If you're interested, Satellite is located at 80 Wilson Street, Newtown and is open seven days.
Love it already!
ReplyDeleteIt's much like my old breakfast haunt of 20+ years, the Village, which happened to be in part of my office building in London. A greasy spoon originally, it gradually worked it's way up to being a totally unpretentious city hang-out doing good breakfasts and great pizzas. They even cleared out a basement to make a cosy Sicilian cafe (needless to say the staff were almost all Italian, though there were also some female Romanian doctors moonlighting as waitresses while they got their British credentials) and their cheerful and sometime noisy cameradie pervaded the place. I would take my Lloyd's List in there at about 7am and have the same breakfast every day - egg on toast with tomatoes and a large latte. Friends would come in an sit and chat and catch up on the news or the gossip. A wonderful way to start the day. sadly the place has closed as the building is now awaiting rebuilding and i don't know where they've gone. A pic of the staff here http://www.flickr.com/photos/herry/77671901/
Now you've got me going, I shall stick it on my journal!