Only a couple of days left in Christchurch, and it's finally time to visit one of the coolest cafés in town. Ah well, better late than never, right? The night sky was clouded, so there were no Milky Way like last night. What a shame..

There's a small beehive colony and community garden patch upstairs on the roof. Also some grape vines, so C1 espresso can produce their own honey, vege and wine. How awesome!

This used to be a pretty cool hangout place before the quakes, but that the shakes kind of crushed everything. Back then, C1 espresso used to be just across the road. They reopened to be a bigger, and a more grown up place then before, in my opinion. It has opened up more. 

The round ball lights are salvaged from the old Town Hall, so it has a nostalgic feel in a lot of ways, too. There's a sliding bookcase that leads to the bathroom, and the other swing door connects to another favourite place of mine - Alice in Videoland. It's the coolest DVD rental place ever, with a huge collection of whatever you may want to watch, classic, recent, foreign, art house...

Classic C1 espresso sugar sachets. 

Another thing I approve of C1 espresso it that it's open 7 days a week, and until late! I hate how most cafés close so early :( K, S and I met at 6pm, so had a light dinner. The kitchen closes at 4 so we only had the cabinet food as selection, but no biggie. 

For me it was a bottle of Stokes pilsner and a risotto cake with pesto and cheese. The dish was lovely, yum, the beer, not so much. Sa had a glass of mocha with a complementary chocolate fish. Good, I give myself a mental tick. All hot chocolates, mochas and even sometimes cappuccinos, should come with marshmallows, but chocolate fish brings the cafés to a higher rank in my mind. 

There were quite a few people in the café/restaurant, with a lot of them doing group work, in teams and groups. Laptops were everywhere. It's definitely a good place to hang out, and study, obviously. The city centre in Christchurch is still quite a mess with big empty places everywhere, but I wouldn't mind coming back to Christchurch just for its new eating places. K and I are coming back on Saturday to go food hopping. Yes, can't wait!!

C1 espresso

Open 7 days, 7am - 10pm

185 High Street, Christchurch