(Bagpuss)
Pelicano, 28 Sydney Street, Brighton, East Sussex.
11.15 am, Sunday
Flat white: £2.40 to drink in. Served in a glass on a bamboo board, accompanied by a napkin and a spoon. Both flat whites I drank were of consistent, good, creamy loveliness, with no sense of “is it a cappuccino, a latte or actually a flat white”. A destination coffee, at least 8.5/10.
Pushchair: 1, though as it’s a fairly small and higgeldy café, this isn’t necessarily a fair reflection, particularly as the pusher was of hipster beard ilk and had gone to quite a bit of trouble to manoeuvre the pushchair to the higher part of the café. The pavement area would be a more obvious pushchair area.
MacBooks/Laptops: 0 (a bit of a surprise, particularly as there were plug sockets around, though a week day afternoon could see a festival of Maccers and lappers).
Beards: 4, though possibility of more as the café kind of has four sections, starting with pavement seating, ordering area, slightly raised upper area and downstairs back yard area so I couldn’t easily monitor beard comings and goings.
Piercings and tattoos: Quite a few. Bonus point for one man having piercings, tattoos AND twirly sculpted moustache.
Furniture: tables and chairs of similar style, largely wooden, shabby (nice shabby not “eek, will this snap at any moment”) and with Pelicano mark kind of burnt into table.
Decor: Emphasis on wood flooring, black/dark grey paint and white paint with predictable exposed lightbulbs as well as industrial “chic” shades around other bulbs. Wooden clipboards with bulldog clips and coffee info attached. V hip. Lots of very stylised, “cool” magazines around.
Ambience: Not as too-hip as it might sound, comfortable, music of the Portishead ilk with a nod to slightly feral jazzy riffs.
Environment: Very hipster in terms of decor/publications/music but a surprising variety of customers, ranging in age from a few months to 60s, which probably helped make it a welcoming and comfortable place to be.
Loo: The kind of outdoor loo you dread until you open the door and are greeted by a spacious and pleasantly decorated room. Though note the complete absence of sound proofing if there are people sitting in the back courtyard area or a queue forms.
WiFi: Didn’t appear to be.
Food: Very enticinging, both visually and to smell. Pretty sandwiches, appetising cakes and the usual pastries. It was a struggle not to succumb, but I remained victorious.
Summary: I liked it a lot, though have a slight niggle I wouldn’t like it as much later on in the day or during the week. There are a lot of good cafés in Brighton but this is definitely one of my new favourites. 8.5/10 with possibility of an upgrade if a subsequent visit at a different time of day proves my niggles unfounded.
flatwhiteandblack 