I wanted to write my first live review of a café, so cycled down the Gloucester Road scoping out which ones offered free wi-fi. On their front window in big, bold letters, Café Lazz largely and proudly proclaim that they offer it, so Café Lazz it was.
I parked my bicycle and took out the d-lock from my bag, in which I had also stuffed my laptop and the choice sections of Saturday’s Times. Except that I didn’t have the lock, I had left it back in my house having got a bit over-excited about giving the laptop one of its first journeys outside BS7.
So it was wheel back on, about-turn, back up the Gloucester Road, locate lock, and return, to find a group of about a dozen other people walking into the café as one, before walking back out and choosing to sit out on the pavement in the afternoon sunshine.
Café Lazz is a small cafe, owned by the Karahan family from Turkey. Turkish football was playing on the television in the corner, and on two tables were other groups of who I presumed to be Turkish ex-pats, talking animatedly and eating meze platters.
As I sat on my table, two more Turkish groups walked in, each one greeted as friends by the man behind the counter.
Café Lazz is a place where the owners know the customers by name, and with the football on, the volume turned up and one of the staff sitting watching it in the corner, excitedly reporting back each kick to those in the kitchen, it is more similar to a bar in downtown Ankara to a café in Bishopston.
I finished my coffee and asked what the wi-fi password was. “It doesn’t work,” I was told. “They’re coming round to fix it next week.” Definitely more similar to a bar in Ankara than a café in Bishopston. Who needs wi-fi anyway?
Latte: £1.90, with free caramelised biscuit.
Café Lazz, 272 Gloucester Road, Bishopston. 0117 942 2233.
Cafes in Bristol. Bristol cafes. Gloucester Road Bristol cafes. Cafes in Bishopston.
