Caffe Piazza, 3-4 York Street, Sheffield
I'VE held off writing about Caffe Piazza until now because quite honestly I didn't fancy its chances of lasting long.
How wrong can you be?
It looked so dark and gloomy through the windows and at first there never seemed to be many people in – although they make what is very probably the best cup of coffee in Sheffield.
It also has a man who could also be the happiest waiter in town. He smiles even when there's no-one watching.
"Parmesan goes very well with minestrone," he urges the woman at the next table and produces a hunk of parmigiana to be freshly grated.
"Wonderful," she says later of her soup.
At the end of my meal I have a cup of dark, strong, rich Americano and he brings two jugs, one with hot, steaming milk, the other with cold.
"I didn't know which one you wanted," he says.
I didn't want either but he goes away beaming.
Caffe Piazza is the successor to Yorkies in York Street, just across from The Star's offices, which in turn replaced Pollards cafe, the coffee people.
When Yorkies went belly up Marinko Glavina and his wife Nikolina moved in. It was obviously on a shoestring.
It took people a while to catch on it was still open for business. Possibly it was because there were no proper signs and the menu was handwritten.
A member of staff always seemed to be stationed at the York Street end to encourage people in.
There, like the other entrance overlooking the cathedral, is an A-board with festive balloons telling people they are open.
Caffe Piazza, now lighter and brighter, has an Italian menu with pasta, risottos and chicken milanese. The Glavinas are from Croatia, which is very near Italy, and they also run the Mediterranean-cum-Italian restaurant La Luna at Banner Cross. And it's getting busier because people have realised it is really very good.
Take my starter of home made breads with chilli and garlic oil (2.25). They are home made, slices of springy ciabatta and little focaccia buns studded with olives and basil.
A dish of vegetable fritters seems a little pricy at 6.50 but the batter on the slices of red pepper, aubergine and courgette is light and tempting. These come with a creme-fraiche and cucumber dip.
I leave feeling I've had some better-than-average food and decide to give it another go one lunchtime the following week.
Taking my cue from the minestrone maiden, I also order the soup (3.95). Now I was once taken before the Press Complaints Commission by an angry Italian who was cut to the quick by the way I insulted his minestrone (which means big soup) so I am always a little wary of it.
This is superb. You could almost stand your spoon up in it as it's so full of vegetables – peas, cauliflower, peas, dried beans, green beans, celery, little rings of pasta, spring greens and carrot, swimming in a rich, well-seasoned tomatoey broth.
This time Sheffield's happiest waiter, Admir, is nowhere to be seen. His working week is spent shuttling between the city centre and Banner Cross.
Caffe Piazza also makes its own cakes.
All of them look good but I order a millefeuille (thousand leaves) filled with a patisserie cream. It comes the size of a small house brick but, boy, is it gorgeous – crisp, light, flaky pastry with a rich filling.
Marinko himself brings out my coffee, another Americano, with a cantucci biscuit as a final flourish. "I've just made it," he says. It's still warm.
Afterwards Marinko says he and Nikolina had been looking for another place but not near La Luna so it had to be the city centre. Yorkies had been closed for three months when they took over and it's been slow building up trade.
On the plus side "it's not so hectic as other coffee shops around" and they've found a gap in the market for people who want food home made and not bought-in.
He's more or less self-taught, coming to Sheffield in 1994 to study for a hospitality degree at Hallam and working in Italian restaurants before opening La Luna in 1993.
Caffe Piazza, which can give the nearby Gusto-Italiano in Church Street a very good run for its money, sounds a great place for theatre teas as it stays open until 8pm.
Food review
Caffe Piazza
3-4 York Street, Sheffield, S1 2ER.
Telephone: 0114 275 7772.
Open Mon-Sat 7.30am-8pm. No credit cards. Disabled access and toilets.
My star ratings (out of five):
Food HHHH
Atmosphere HHH
Service HHHH
Value HHHH
Cafe category. Do not compare ratings between places of different style or price.
What do you think? Add your comment below.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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