Two Bits – August 1

Our editorial team regularly posts questions on Facebook, asking followers their opinion on a range of topical issues, from current local stories to national politics. Last week they asked for a vote on where one could find the best cup of coffee around these parts.

Of the 35 replies, more than half chose Wonderland at Linc Church, out there in the wilds of Foxhill. Strange that the best coffee should be found in a church, don’t you think? Try the Naked Double, they urged, it’ll blow your socks off. Stranger still . . .

Maybe this is why Linc Chuch is doing so well: they pull in the congregation with a better brew. Who knows! In second position, you’ll be interested to know, was Fego’s at Tiffany’s centre and tied for third were Piccadelli, Sage and Zara’s. Couldn’t disagree with one guy’s comment though, that you have to wear a bell around your neck to get attention at Zara’s!

Trust Sharon Wessels to vote Virginia Malan’s house as the place to get a great cup of coffee, and Matthew Austin replied, maybe hopefully: “In bed . . .”

On our visit to New York in March, I made a point of trying out the coffee. Everyone raves about New York coffee. All the detectives in American crime novels seem to run on coffee and cigarettes, you could say it’s an American obsession.

So I dutifully sought out a Starbucks, the coffee shop that you’ll find on almost every block of New York, as well as a few other vendors, and sampled a range. Can’t honestly say I was that impressed. In general the coffee wasn’t bad, just not brilliant. With one outstanding exception: we did have a blow-your-socks-off cappuccino and blueberry cheesecake at Rocco’s, an Italian pastry shop on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. The coffee was brilliant, but what really got my attention was the cheesecake.

I have sampled cheesecake from Cape Town to Copenhagen and many spots in-between. Some people want to climb Kilimanjaro, others to sing at Wembley stadium, but for my bucket list I have long sought the world’s perfect cheesecake. There are many, many places that make really bad cheesecake. They are so bad they should appear on a list of 10 Places Not to Go.

Perhaps I should qualify that when I say I am looking for the perfect cheesecake, I mean the most perfect cheesecake outside of my own home. Rose’s cheesecake sets the bar from which all others are measured. So far, Rocco’s blueberry cheesecake has come closest. If one fine day you find yourself at a loose end in Greenwhich village, New York, you won’t be disappointed at Rocco’s.

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Q. What did the police officer say to the midget complaining that someone picked his pocket?

A. I can’t believe someone would stoop so low.