Great North Museum Cafe

Great North Museum Cafe
Barras Bridge, Newcastle Upon-Tyne, NE2 4PT

Tel: 0191 2226765

Opening hours: Monday 10am-5pm, Sunday 2pm-5pm.
Ambience: Cold & uninspiring
Alcohol license: No
Food: Snacks and sandwiches - expensive
Price of standard coffee: £2.10

Initial thoughts:

If you are an alcoholic, don't come to Great North Museum Cafe. Not only because they don't sell alcohol, but also the cafe is not as exciting as the exhibition in that Museum.The environment is not comfy - cold and dark without music, and there is not enough space for you to rest your behind.

A cappuccino costs £2.10 and it tastes like water and smells like it's been burnt. The chocolate cakes seem nice but a tiny slice will cost you £1.95. Sandwiches are alright - £2.35. It is exactly the same as the one in Tesco, but much more expensive!

The Lowdown:
The waiter's face looks a lot like a man I owe a grand to. Wait a minute: I HAVE spent over £4 on the crappy coffee and a ham & mustard 'sandwich'. A rip off!
The only thing that might draw you back is the booklet that was placed by the till entitled "Weddings at Great North Museum:Hancock", with a picture of a newly married couple behind a dinosaur. Weird, but you might at least have a laugh!

Verdict:
If your afternoon is boring, if you don't have a lot of money, and if you've got no patience for sitting in the dark, my recommendation is 'do not come here'.

Rating: ☻☺☺☺☺

BECKY JIANG

Intermezzo Coffee Bar

Intermezzo Coffee Bar
High Friar Lane, Newcastle Upon-Tyne
Tel: 0191 222 1115

Opening hours: Mon-Sat 8am-11pm/ Sun 10.30am-11pm
Ambience: Fashionable and friendly
Alcohol license: Yes
Food: Available but pricey
Price of standard coffee: £1.60

Initial thoughts:
A really good vibe. The sleek, metallic furnishings project a modern and clean Italian espresso bar that will certainly entice me back. With music playing at a level that allows you to talk while taking in the relaxed atmosphere, the ambience is very comfortable. The staff are friendly and open - a simple smile makes all the difference!

The lowdown:
The coffee is strong and full-bodied and smartly presented - from Americano to Espresso, the aroma of rich Italian beans leaves the senses smiling.
The bar serves until 11pm every night and offers alcoholic beverages as well as a wide range of hot drinks. This is a nice addition and it's certainly a cool and fashionable place to take someone you're aiming to impress - perhaps a glass of prosecco to start the evening?
There are the usual sandwiches, cakes, and biscuits available. They're not cheap but the environment more than makes up for this.
Situated next to the Tyneside Cinema, it oozes art and culture and is a nice addition to Newcastle's artistic notoriety.

The verdict:
The coffee is great. The staff are friendly. The ambience and overall feel is cool and comfortable. Whether you're jumping through for a quick cappuccino or relaxing with
a glass of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, you will not be disappointed.
Thoroughly enjoyable, wholly impressive.

Rating: ☻☻☻☻☻

OLIVER HYDE-TETLEY

The Baltic Café-Bar

The Baltic Café-Bar
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, South Shore Road, Gateshead Quays
Tel: 0191 440 4948

Opening times: 9am – 6pm
Ambience: Lively
Alcohol licence: Yes
Food: A wide range of freshly prepared hot and cold food
Price of standard coffee: £1.75

Initial thoughts:
As the first thing you are greeted with when you enter Gateshead’s iconic Baltic, you’d expect a lot more from the Baltic’s Café-Bar. The trendy lighting and lime-green walls can’t mask over the tired and scruffy furniture and uncleared tables.

The Lowdown:
The Baltic’s Café-Bar is inconsistency on a plate. While its great location on the Baltic’s ground floor makes it a top destination café, I can never help but feel slightly cheated when I visit. The food is always good, and the menu is varied enough to cater to all tastes, but in a building which prides itself on avante-garde contemporary art I’d expect something a bit more adventurous than a Full English Breakfast for £6.99.
While the lunch menu is comprehensive and you can just as easily sit down to a bowl full of thai noodles as you can grab a sandwich to go, the menu smacks of unoriginality which is only amplified by the inspiring building it is served up in.
A delightful sweet selection and the range of teas and coffees accompanying the cakes, scones and biscuits make for a great pit-stop, especially if you’ve been pounding the 6 floors of stairs that make up the gallery.
The bar is well-stocked, with three draught beers, a range of local bottled real ales and a great selection of wines and lagers from around the world.
This isn’t enough to redeem it however, the slow and stoic staff delivering the ultimate in impersonal experience while the rather exorbitant pricing is not unexpected but feels unjustified given the general experience customers receive.

The Verdict:
Both the food and drinks are of a very high standard, but the lacklustre environment and uninspiring menu undermine otherwise good work. You want to be bowled over, especially considering the price, but you can’t escape a nagging feeling of disappointment.

Rating: ☻☻☺☺☺

TOM LOWENSTEIN

Fear and loathing in St. Nicholas': the Cathedral Refectory.

Refectory of St. Nicholas’ Cathedral
St Nicholas Churchyard, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE1 1PF
Tel: 0191 232 1939

Ambience: Soporific
Alcohol licence: No
Food: Small and uninspiring selection of stereotypical baked goods
Price of a standard coffee: £1.30

Initial Thoughts:
After a pleasant stroll through the reverential innards of the Cathedral and a quick potter through a congenial open courtyard I was rather disappointed with the inside of the refectory. Gloomy, unwelcoming and frankly quite messy with chairs piled in the corners, first impressions weren’t good. Cheap folding camp tables enhanced the scout-hut ambience, reinforced with panache by the crisps displayed in cardboard boxes by the till. With an odd mish-mash of IKEA style prints and 18th century portraiture giving just a hint of schizophrenic senility rather than eclecticism. To top off the air of mild disorganisation and eccentricity was the presence of a random solitary coat-hanger and a sweet stand rather strangely placed behind a barricade of folded tables and bin bags in the corner.

The Lowdown:
Reasonably priced at £1 for tea and only thirty pence more for coffee I wasn’t too disappointed to find myself faced with a wholly unremarkable cup of Nescafe’s finest. Although perfectly drinkable it’s not exactly my idea of an afternoon well spent wasting money on something I have an abundance of at home. To their credit continuity was excellent with the coffee arriving in a super stylish elliptical cup and saucer and the tea arriving in a seventies floral mug. Perhaps a lack of any cohesion is deliberate and thoroughly thought out?

Verdict:
On the plus side, it is unpretentious and reasonably priced. However there is little to no atmosphere. Why does proximity to a cathedral make everyone automatically whisper? It is a cathedral cafe though and anyone who expects great things from an Anglican tea room is probably as mad as I suspect the interior designer of the refectory to be. With much better dedicated coffee shops within a stone’s throw I can only really recommend the café on the back of its modest pricing.

Rating: ☻☻☺☺☺

JOHN SIMMS