Saturday, 26 April 2014

Urban Shed, King Street

Coffee, food, and "vintage and up-cycled" furniture - Urban Shed is So Very Hipster. Tables are made from sideways cable drums, seats range from wooden primary school chairs to pairs of recliners that appear to have been salvaged from an old plane, and 80's MOR pop LPs play on a mammoth Ferguson Music Centre. Leaflets on the counter explain that the "space" can be booked for "your pop-up". If this sort of over-the-top hipsterism makes you reach for your revolver, you'd probably do well to avoid Urban Shed.


You'd be missing out, though, because - on the evidence of today's lunch, at least - the food is genuinely very good. Alison's brie, roast pepper and oregano mayonnaise panino was a rich, melty treat, while my smoked salmon bap was fantastic, the fish set off perfectly by some rocket and a poppy seed and orange mascapone, and loaded into an lovely crusty multi-seed roll. Unusually for a cafe, the side salads that came with the sandwiches were tasty in their own right, boosted by the unusual addition of a bit of caramelized onion relish. The coffee was also fine - more straightforward and traditional than the big fruity third-wave espresso at places like Hot Numbers and Afternoon Tease, but good and tasty.

Urban Shed forms part of an axis of cafe, from the relocated Nord on Sussex Street, past Stickybeaks on Hobson Street to Clowns, Afternoon Tease and Urban Shed itself on Kings Street. It's the least central of them, and hence seems to be slightly less packed than the others, but on today's evidence it's certainly worth a visit!