Nouvo Cafe

One of the corner properties at the 6th and Villiers traffic circle in Walmer has seemed to me for the past three years to be dreadfully under-utilized.  The building on the property just needed some TLC and an owner with good business sense and a vision.

As of the beginning of September the brand spanking new Nouvo Cafe is open for business at the 134 Villiers address.  Owner David Martin is the man with the business sense and the vision who transformed the slightly shabby building into a clean, fresh, modern coffee shop.  The cafe accommodates about 24 patrons inside and on the outside deck combined.  For our Crawl visit on Thursday, Sumatran coffee and espresso drinks and a "teaser" menu was available, though David is expanding the menu as time goes on.

Meet the Owner
David Martin

Meet the Barista
Kuster

Delicious cappuccino but...ooops...
I took the pic upside down

Our baristas, Kuster and Ace, and the waitstaff, Monwabisi and Lorraine, were professional, personable and efficient as fifteen Crawlers invaded Nouvo Thursday morning.  I imagine we were the largest single group they've had since opening but that didn't fluster the staff at all.

Meet the Waitstaff
Monwabisi and Lorraine

All the Crawlers, Leanne Waller, June and Cayle Nash, Margaret and Arthur Marshall, Lee Rodwell, Nicolette Hijmans, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Fran and Keith de Beer, Gail Darne, Margaret Zoetmulder, Nomusa Nkomo, raved about the coffee, and I have to say that my Americano has made it to one of the top five I've had in the 112 shops we've visited.  Kudos to the baristas!!!

This Week's Crawlers
Arthur, Margaret Z., Nicolette, Lee, June, Margaret M.,
Stella, Cayle, Beryl, Leanne, Fran, Nomusa, Gail,
not pictured: Keith

Nouvo Cafe's hours are Mon-Fri, 7:30-7, Sat, 7:30-3, closed on Sunday.  I'm looking forward to a return visit to Nouvo Cafe for some awesome coffee and to check out the expanding menu.

Photo by Dean Dickinson

Photo by Dean Dickinson

While on our trip to Kenya at the beginning of September Lou and I enjoyed some of the most incredible coffee we've ever had.  So much so that we purchased a couple of kgs at the duty free shop in the airport before we left the country.  At the time I was so excited to invite the Crawlers to my house to share the joy. Unfortunately, on Thursday I had not-so-good news for the Crawlers.  The kg of ground coffee we bought was really quite horrible and the kg of beans we bought was unroasted!  So much for coffee at Ellen's unless I can get some advice on how to roast coffee beans in my oven without screwing it up.

After breaking the bad news to everyone, we ordered a second round of good coffee and caught up with Margaret Z. and Nomusa about their vacations in August.  Welcome back to both of you.  I also got to share stories from our trip to Kenya and the Great Migration (human and animal!) at the Maasai Mara.
It's good to have all of our traveling Crawlers back safe, sound and Crawling again.

~Thank you to Owner David Martin and Thursday's Baristas and Waitstaff
~Thank you to Dean Dickinson of Imagination Food Design for taking some pics and giving me photography tips!
~ A huge Happy 30th Birthday wish to my son, Christopher, in Cleveland, TN - September 20
~Happy Birthday to Crawler Beth Vieira - September 16
~Happy Birthday to once upon a time Crawler Fr. Dominic Griego - September 17
~Happy Halfway to St. Pat's Day to family, friends and readers of Irish descent....only 6 months to go!!!

Until next week,

Ellen