Illy Café

I was hoping something would step into the hauntingly empty Peppermint Bay slot after it closed so abruptly following a mere four month run. I was so upset… No more salt and pepper chicken or pulled pork and apple flatbreads! No more Thai noodle soup! No more white hot chocolate! And then the other day, I was walking through Spinningfields after collecting the other half from work there and we happened upon a new takeover. Illy, the coffee brand giant, had set up what appeared to be a café in the space. I didn’t even know Illy ran cafés! It’s one of my favourite coffees (supposedly having one of the greatest flavours with a comparatively low caffeine content), and I pointed it out to my betrothed. ‘Oh yeah!’ he said, ‘they’re giving out a free coffee to everyone with a Yellowcard today. Would you like one?‘
Bless those Yellowcards. Is there anything they can’t do? Illy’s offering 15% off to Yellowcard holders too. Yay.
When I claimed my free coffee I put on my typical Unilocaler head and asked how long they’d been open (unless that’s just a girl thing, it is on one of the episodes of Sh*t Girls Say after all) and they said they’d only really just opened, I think they’d had their ‘grand opening’ so to speak the day before or something. Firstly, it’s open from 7am on weekdays which is a must for Spinningfields. Secondly, it stays open until 7 in the evening on weekdays, remarkable for a day café around these parts. Thirdly, it remains open on the weekends which (you’d be surprised) quite a few business district spots don’t. EAT, I’m looking at you. It’s open from 10 on Saturdays and Sundays which is pretty darn good also, as that’s somewhat early for weekends.
The counters are lined with pastries and cakes of many kinds, and I almost bought a pineapple cake when I got my coffee. Pineapple cake. Some kind of… pineapple dessert. It’s my favourite fruit in the world, pineapple upside-​down cake is my favourite cake in the world, and somewhere in Manchester is selling a cake like this. I need to try this and amend my review. Apparently these are all baked fresh on site too… epic. Their tea is the Brew Tea Company whole leaf tea which means we’re in tea porn territory, and savoury-​wise they’ve pizza and salad portions which are bound to be good for lunch.
I’ll be returning hap’Illy’, that much is certain!