Cafe Inspiration: Jikari, Granada

When I started this blog I thought one of the main items would be cafés I visited, loved, was disappointed by, admired etc. Using these examples to concrete my ideas of what the Imaginary Café would be. What works and what doesn't. What must I have and what can I do without. That kind of thing...

But I haven't been café-ing much recently, and I never seem to have my camera on me when I do (and THEN, when I do I get all shy and then just take covert snapshots that make the place look really boring - see above)...

Anyhow, I do have this pic of a place we found when staying in Granada last September. Granada was very very hot and I liked it a lot but not as much as Seville, although maybe that's only because we spent an entire afternoon in Seville eating The Most Delicious Dried Jamon I've Ever Tasted and sipping beers and that's just about as perfect an afternoon as any I can think of.

Anyhow, back to Granada. This little place was right next to our hotel and we spied it as we trundled past in 40C heat with our suitcases, feeling hungry. It looked open and relatively welcoming, so once checked in, we popped back to try its wares.

The seats weren't all that comfortable and the murals slightly overwhelming. There were plastic laminated menus and you couldn't see out the windows. But there are three reasons why we liked it and why it deserves a place in my Hall of Café Inspiration:

1. The Menu
Basically, lots of stuff on toast. I had avocado on toast and the toast was crunchy, the avocado was ripe and tasty. It cost about €1.50 and it was perfect. I LOVE a place that serves good toast. And I love a menu which offers you simple, cheap options done really well. You could also get combos of eggs, cheese, tomatoes, jamon, all sorts of other stuff on little tostadas. AND they had milkshakes.

2. The Coffee was Good
This is an absolute necessity. The coffee must be good. I'm not a huge coffee-drinker like my boyfriend, who is constantly fueled by the stuff, but I know the difference between a good cup and a bad cup and I just wouldn't go back to a bad coffee place.

3. I liked the feel of it
eh, the mural's not my style, nor most of the decor, but they had a little blurb on the back of their menus about Jikari, this cactus-derived kind of psychoactive drug I think (my Spanish isn't all that super) and how it encouraged creativity, and that was the vibe they wanted to create in their little space. And I really liked that. There were lots of happy, talking, lazing people in there, and the staff were friendly. It had a nice feel. And that is also, definitely, essential