Esquires Coffee at The Wullcomb

The new Esquires Coffee at The Wullcomb has launched and it is beautiful. Set over two floors, it is finished to the same high standard as the New Walk Place Esquires. I popped along for lunch today to get the lowdown on it. I have to confess that I arrived and then discovered that my camera had decided to break, so apologies for the quality of the photography – my phone camera is not the best.

The Wullcomb is a really beautifully fitted out new apartment building for private residents. I had the chance to take a look around at the end of last year and the accommodations are fantastic – plus the range of facilities you enjoy as a resident is brilliant – not least now having the new Esquires right on your doorstep.

I started out with a tasty flat white, with a pleasant background roasted bitterness overlaying the creamy milk. This was a tasty cup and no mistake. There are also plenty of other drinks on offer including iced coffees (although yesterday may have been the last day for that) and fresh juices which looked great when I saw other customers enjoying them.

A load of waffle

The menu is heavily focused on brunch, but still with a good balance of savoury and sweet. I decided to order something that combined the two – a smoked salmon breakfast waffle. It looked great, but I have to be honest, the waffle was waaaaay sweeter than I was expecting. To the point where all I could taste was the sugar in the waffle – overpowering even the salmon! And that meant the waffle itself didn’t really have any real flavour of its own, and I couldn’t taste the cream cheese. Some parts of the waffle had almost crystallized too because of the sugar, so you couldn’t get a fork through it without it pinging across the table.

I don’t know if it’s me that finds this extra sugar too much, but I’ll give the Eggs Royale or avocado on toast a whirl instead next time as the waffle wasn’t for me. I’ll be honest, I was a bit gutted as I had spent ages choosing what to have from the delicious sounding menu. Can’t win them all though I suppose!

A piece of cake

So naturally I followed this up with a cake 🤷 I asked for a recommendation this time and went with the blackberry crumble which was interesting in that it was both gluten free and vegan friendly. It was a lot denser in texture than I’d expected – the base being more like a shortcake than something sponge-like. But it was lovely, the layer of tart jame balanced out the sweetness and the oaty topping was tasty.

Definitely a great place to set up an office in these WFH days, and all distancing, track and trace etc is in place as you’d expect. Also as an added bonus, if you pick up a card when visiting the Van Gogh exhibition just around the corner (disclaimer: who I work with) then you can get 50% off your bill. Not to be sniffed at.

Thanks to Esquires Coffee Wullcomb for inviting me for a complimentary meal. I’m just sorry I picked something I didn’t like! My review is my honest opinion.