Columbus Café & Co (Rue des Godrans)
Click right to take a look around…
At some point you just get used to the bear cupids flying on the windows and their menu’s muffin glorification. Still, there’s always a flare that you need to lick your fingers to put out. In this case, there’s a caveau. But wait, let’s set that aside for a moment. Light spills in from windows overlooking this cafe’s corner on Rue des Godrans and Rue Bannelier. The four o’clock shadows cast themselves on the Columbus Cafe & Co. welcome mat. Seating brackets are in most cases discernible by color and ceiling. Yet, in all cases, the differing fixtures set these areas apart. Circular, copper hoods accompany a window bench off to the side of the ordering counter while pendant lamps like black pan lids favor a center table. It seems like the light tropical blue section—with chandelier orbs that serve its light needs up with a little glamor—is where it all ends. Mistaken, you are. There’s a staircase winding down, more beneath. When you descend the cross-hatched, iron steps, with a faux vine wrapped around the ropes of the railing, it’s suede tub chairs and stools. Being in the vault (caveau) means much brown and much comfort lighting that fills in some of the stone worked into the space’s curvature. There may be nothing “stand out,” but you get your coffee and choose your perch…or your underground hideaway. While on-brand, this bear den is a rare Columbus occurrence. For our part, we’re all just keeping it warm.
SCROLL DOWN
SCROLL DOWN
For More
〰️
For More 〰️
Drink: Small Tout Doux Noisette
I want to be mad, I really do. First gripe: it looks nothing like the picture, seemingly a snowy mountain with slopes of gold and hazelnut pieces. Second gripe: THERE IS NO COFFEE IN IT. I blame missing this teensy detail on not having eaten all day, but the description makes this fact clear (“Lait veloute, cremeux de noisette, strop de noisette, creme fouettée pailletee & noisettes concasses”). However, the drink I got (see picture) completely lacked those final hazelnuts and whipped glitter ingredients. I couldn’t help but be severely disappointed AND feel like I had paid for something I didn’t get. If they don’t have the ingredients, they really should offer a price cut or perk of some kind (plant milk for free, a different topping, etc.). So, why am I not slamming this drink entirely? Because it tasted like the most perfect, heavenly, Nutella-kissed milkshake that I’ve ever had. In fact, it achieved a new level of bliss after I dumped an espresso shot in it. It may have been filled with false promises, but it was also filled with whipped cream and deliciousness…a fact that left my priorities completely compromised my priorities.
Expresso
The spelling is their choice, not mine. It didn’t have all the depth that the last shot of Columbus espresso that I had did at the other shop right around the corner. However, that doesn’t mean that it was acidulous or bitter. It is the shot that is promised, and it served finely as the enhancement on the Tout Doux Noisette.