Once, long ago, there was a cafe that seemed to be open intermittently and was rumoured to have a bit of a mean owner, and so not do a great business. It always looked amusing though, a little house next to an office building, next to a terrace house on a busy part of Riley Street, near Campbell Street. When it’s closed, as above, it makes you think: how did that cute terrace house manage to remain right there?
Then it became Robocog, which was a very cool cafe, with a theme of Japanese robots, I think, and some pretty good cafe food and great coffee. I became acquainted with the Thai fellows that ran and own it, and thought they did a good job.
Robocog closed down. Apparently, all the owners had a big of a fight, or scandal, but eventually, the two guys took it over, and reopened it as Have2Cafe. Still: pretty good food and coffee, though I knew they were struggling for business. There’s so much competition in Sydney, and in Surry Hills, and it just seemed a lot of work. Still, they were open for a long time, even after I knew they wanted to sell it.
And now, finally: at Kate’s. I asked the Thai woman at the register who Kate is, and she said it’s her daughter, so I assume she looks nothing like the cartoon of the smiling grandmotherly figure. Initially, I was disappointed with my coffee: the way it looked for example, not nearly as defined and pretty as other cafes in the neighbourhood. But after tasting it, I thought it was just fine: good even.
For some reason, it’s taken a long while for Zomato to create a listing for them, but let’s hope they can carve out a niche in Surry Hills and do OK. In the meantime, I’ll aim to go for a meal and report back…