Steampunk Coffee House in South Africa

It is said, Cape Town, that in South Africa, places are more British than England itself. I found one Victorian place and I want to show it to you. This is the Truth Coffee steampunk coffee house, where local IT people sometimes gather.



Well, of course, here you can just sit and take advantage of free Wi-Fi. In South Africa, you know, this is a bit tense. And, most importantly, there is a very interesting payment model. I'll tell you now.

The first thing that catches your eye is the design:



Funny tables (their edges are smooth, do not cling at all - the plate is wide enough):



Strange chairs:



Now look at these creepers hanging from above:



These are power cords. Very thoughtfully done - they hang at a level just above a meter above the tables. Connector is the local standard for the power grid.



Waiters in awesome costumes:



Since I am learning English in this wonderful city, my mentors require me to talk as often as possible with everyone I can. Therefore, I asked the waiter to conduct a short excursion - well, at the same time I told him about the distant snowy Russia, Habr, vodka and a bear.

It turns out that it all started with the fact that the guys a year ago bought something like a former factory. A clean, empty room that could be arranged as you like. And they had such a coffee machine:



The machine came to our time straight from the 1940s, where it was once used to slowly and coolly make coffee. The guys decided to start with her and arrange everything in the spirit of steampunk.



Then one by one - and now they have already collected a number of interesting things on the shelves:



Here is the famous "Underwood" even there:



And a piano for evening music. I'm not sure, but there seems to be some kind of strange mechanism inside:



Here's another waiter:



The coffee here is completely unusual. The fact is that I usually choose tea when it is on the menu. He was not here, and I asked for coffee with a small cake. The waiter asked if sugar was needed. “Yes, of course, I need it,” I say. He brings coffee, brings a whole basket of different types of sugar and says: “Friend, if not difficult, try coffee without sugar. Just one small sip. ” I try - and go nuts with taste. He waits thirty seconds and asks with a knowing smile: “Well, do you need sugar?” - "No thanks". It turns out that they carry grain of 5 different species from 5 different countries. They are fried separately, and then mixed in some proportions, set, it seems, by the methods of the book “Cooking for Geeks” (by the way, I recommend).



Menu (1 rand is about 3-3.5 rubles):



The institution is outside. Pay attention to the hefty windows: thanks to them, there is a slight breeze on the one hand, and twilight, pleasant for reading from the screen, on the other:



And this - probably, could be a place for points:



By the way, here is a very interesting model of coworking. The fact is that usually in South Africa a cafe is given 50 megabytes of Internet for a rather dumb wi-fi. Given that many people work for half a day in this coffee shop, it would be wise to introduce either a time fee, as in an anti-cafe, or raise coffee prices to wild Starbucks ones. So, the solution was found easier: the first hour of the Internet is free, then pay. There is an opportunity to take something like a membership voucher-pass. In general, it was the mechanics that delighted me: an ordinary coffee shop for all-all-all with more than reasonable prices and, in fact, a cafe with pay for time for those who use it as coworking. Considering that I had my own club of board games according to the anticafe model, the visit turned out to be more than developing.

And a little more surroundings:







There are two disk phones in the coffee shop, both of them are connected:



In general, on the whole, it is surprising to study all sorts of little things, starting from the bags of waiters and ending with the still decorated back room. Immediately wanted something like this with us. Judging by the collection, it seems to me that the cafe was made not only by the owners, but either the local IT community or role players had a hand in this.
^{Yes, and just in case - is there anyone in touch from Cape Town?}

And - good Monday to all!