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Manhattan Coffee Club

Upper Level, The Oracle, Reading, RG1 2AG.

Visited on: Saturday 5th September 2015

Inside Manhattan Coffee Club

The interior of the Manhattan Coffee Club, I liked how the big glass windows let in as much light as possible.

Another new cafe in the Oracle shopping centre, the Manhattan Coffee Club has been open for a couple of months now. It’s not that big, and in keeping with all the cafes inside the Oracle, has no natural light, but it still feels relatively light and airy inside. This light feeling is partly created by the green plants on every table and by the door, but unfortunately all of them are plastic.

The chairs were far more comfortable than they looked – with a solid seat that I didn’t mind sitting for an hour in. The table tops were rough planks of wood and while these look nice I imagine they’re a complete pain to keep clean. Certainly my table had crumbs stuck in between the gaps.

No loose leaf tea here, but they did have rooibos – Chilli Chocolate flavour. The barista let me sniff the teabag before purchasing as I wasn’t sure about it and I appreciated that. It didn’t smell of chocolate at all and indeed it didn’t taste of chocolate either, but the chilli gave it a warm zing when I drank it. No teapot, but at least the mug came with a saucer so I had somewhere to deposit my used teabag.

I seem to have developed a habit of ordering the chocolate brownie wherever I go, so I stuck to form and ordered another one here. This time the brownie was slightly chilled and had a fudge-like texture. I enjoyed it and would order it again.

There are some nice touches here, like the wooden tray my items were brought on and the community book swap area in the corner. The salads, sandwiches and toasted sandwich looked really good too. Overall though, it’s not somewhere I think I will go again. Partly it’s things like the plastic plants and the bumpy table that put me off, mainly it’s that there wasn’t a teapot and that I didn’t particularly like that flavour of rooibos tea. I imagine that if coffee is your hot beverage of choice that this is the place to go though, so if it is give it a try and let me know.

Tea and brownie at Manhattan Coffee Club.

Chilli chocolate rooibos and a very nice chocolate brownie at Manhattan Coffee Club.

I do think that Manhattan Coffee Club should be congratulated on opening in the Oracle shopping centre. An independent ethical coffee shop in a shopping centre is not a usual thing and I hope they are very successful.

  • Teapot? No.
  • Leaf tea? No. The London Tea Company ‘Rooibos Chilli Chocolate’ tea bag. Looked like all their tea was tea bag tea.
  • Teapot? No.
  • Milk jug? I don’t know. This particular tea didn’t need milk and everyone else I could see was drinking coffee. Feel I’ve failed a little as I didn’t find this out.
  • Price? £1.90 for speciality tea, £2.30 for the brownie.
  • Cake? Yes, plus brownie, millionaire’s shortbread etc. Also sells salads, sandwiches and American chocolate and snacks such as Hershey’s.
  • Go again? Probably not -there are other cafes nearby that I would prefer to go to.


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Cafe W, Reading

Waterstones, 12 Holy Brook Mall, The Oracle, Reading, RG1 2AQ.

Visited on: Saturday 29th August 2015

View of Costa at Waterstones Oracle

A fuzzy photo (sorry) of what the Costa Coffee in this Waterstones used to look like.

View of the inside of Cafe W

View of what the new Cafe W looks like. The plant pots on the tables are a nice touch.

So, here we are. Cafe W. So new it’s not listed on the Cafe W page on the Waterstones website yet. It was advertised as opening yesterday, but when I turned up yesterday afternoon there were no tables or chairs – instead people were running round unpacking things and being trained on how to use the coffee machine. I came again today and low and behold: a new cafe.

Not everything was up and running yet. There were paper cups because there were problems with the dishwasher (apparently it ‘blew up’), but as it’s the first day and things aren’t yet ship shape, all the hot drinks were discounted to £1. Fair enough.

Most impressively, they have a selection of loose leaf tea that includes rooibos. I tasted some of the chocolate cake that was in tasting chunks on a plate on the counter and it was a good strong flavour. I ordered some (instead of a chocolate brownie) on the strength of the taste and the recommendation of the lady behind the counter. It was nice, but very soggy – one of those cakes that are designed to be gooey and pudding like. I wasn’t that keen. I’ll try the chocolate brownie next time.

Tea and cake at Cafe W

Rooibos tea, milk in a paper cup and a generous slice of chocolate cake at Cafe W.

There are less tables in here than there used to be when it was Costa. Other changes include the walls now being Waterstones green and the tables being a lighter wood. Overall it feels much brighter. The staff were friendly and chatty and I’d be interested to come back again when they’re more established.

  • Teapot? No. But perhaps there will be teapots once the dishwasher is up and running?
  • Leaf tea? Yes, Suki loose leaf tea.
  • Milk jug? No, but milk was provided in another paper cup so I could add my own and the lady serving me apologised for the lack of jug, so I’m guessing there will be a jug when the dishwasher is sorted.
  • Price? £1 for the rooibos tea (reduced from £1.80) and £2.50 for the chocolate cake.
  • Cake? Yes, chocolate cake, carrot cake, croissants, chocolate brownie and some sort of square traybake with jam.
  • Go again? Yes. This isn’t my favourite cafe in Reading, mainly because though there are windows the windows look out into the corridor of the Oracle shopping centre and so there’s no natural light, but I will come back again because I like the feel of the place and because they have loose leaf tea. Also, if it’s the same as the Costa before it, it’s a useful cafe if you need to get some work/tea drinking done after 6pm (as the Oracle stays open to 8pm every weekday).


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Jamie’s Italian

Unit 1 Riverside Level, The Oracle Centre, Reading, RG1 2AG

Tea and a very good chocolate and raspberry brownie at Jamie's Italian.

Jamie’s Italian is a new thing in Reading and in the land of chain Italian restaurants I wasn’t too sure about another one popping up, but it is really good compared to the others around and I would definitely recommend it.

I usually don’t review the tea that restaurants serve as it’s often the same mediocre stuff and I just get bored. Jamie’s Italian was a pleasant surprise in that the tea had been thought about as much as the food. There wasn’t a great choice of black tea, just Earl Grey or Breakfast, but there were herbal and fruit teas as well. It was a teabag job, but at least it was a good teapig tea bag job. The tea pot was a heavy iron thing and was a sharp contrast to the glass cup and saucer. Good food and good tea, it doesn’t get much better than that.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? No, but teapigs tea bag.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £1.95.
Cake? Not really, good pud though.
Go again? Yes.