Cafe Dharma
Meet-up groups are a great way to meet new people and develop new interests. One of the meet-ups I’ve joined recently is the Independent Coffee Lovers group. They didn’t seem to be having many get-togethers so I proposed this Friday at Tic Toc cafe in the Lanes. I made the new-comer’s grave error though of posting the meet-up after the week’s email had been distributed. Consequently by 10.00 this morning I was the only one listed as attending. As I’m quite happy going to cafes on my own I thought I’d go along anyway and you never know who might turn up. I’m really glad I did.
With more and more big chain corporate cafes taking over Brighton’s historic Lanes it’s great to find a gem like Tic Toc, a hidden sanctum down a small passageway that is Meeting House Lane just off the much busier Prince Albert Street. As well as the dual aspect windows there is also a ceiling atrium giving this fairly small space loads of natural light. I was the only one there, apart from the staff, so had plenty of time to have a look around and admire all the small details that make this cafe rather special. The formica topped tables hark back to the 60’s as does the mustard coloured banquette seating along with the iconic painted portrait of a young woman that used to be considered bad taste but is now viewed as stylishly kitsch. The fresh roses on each table were a surprise and a lovely touch. The bookcase of paperbacks with the ubiquitous clocks give a homely feel along with the black and white snaps taken some decades earlier. I thought initially that the Billie Halliday music was coming from the cafe but on more intent listening I realised it was coming from the bar next door. Early morning tourists passed by the windows looking a bit lost as did young international students that make up so much of Brighton’s transient population in the summer months. I listened in to the staff talking some French though I believe the owner is half Dutch. I don’t know who Millie is but chalked on the blackboard covered door was the legend ‘ Millie is tres folie”
The menu has some interesting touches too such as strawberry goat cheese and almond salad as well as bacon butty with Stilton and very rich chocolate milkshake. The cafe is now open in the evenings on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and with a bring your own wine option would make for an great alternative evening out venue.
Just as I had given up on any of my meet-up buddies turning up in walked my mate Chris with his colleague Ben. They had just come out of a licensing meeting at the town hall just around the corner and were looking for somewhere to have a coffee. With all its city status Brighton is still small enough so that you can bump into friends unexpectedly which is one of the things I really like about living here. It seems Christopher is keeping the other committee members alert and entertained with his quotes from Virginia Woolf. His own quote that ‘walking along the seafront is democracy in action’ seems to have caught people’s attention as I keep seeing it in local publications. The quote from Einstein en scripted on the walls of Tic Toc is that ‘ Time is there because not everything can happen at once.’ Happenstance was that although my meet-up group didn’t materialise as it turned out I had some very good company anyway.
