The other day, I took my best friend and quiz co-host Maxine to Rotterdam for the day to visit the bit Art Rotterdam show. Maxine is a great travel buddy who never complains. Who doesn’t love that in a friend? Thus, we headed down to the city in the south of Holland to check out some art and have some coffee. Admittedly, she doesn’t drink much coffee but in the last few years, she’s started to develop a bit of a taste for specialty coffee. “It always made me feel jittery”, she explained her previous aversion to the stuff we all love so much.
In Rotterdam, I wanted to check out this cute newish place that my friend Rob Clarijs had told me about. It’s name? Nice. Simple and to the point. The café is located on a corner in the hip eastern part of the city surrounded by cool shops and other notable coffee bars. With huge windows that invite to do people watching, Nice is a lovely place to visit for a super tasty bite and great coffee.
Though it’s in plain sight, finding it online is more challenging. Just type in Nice coffee in Rotterdam and all you get is lists of places to drink coffee in the city but nothing about the place in question. I hope this article will change that!
Maxine and I took a seat by the window overlooking the busy bar where barista Eduard was serving up freshly crafted coffees and teas. The beans that day hailed from Bonanza in Berlin (for milk-based drinks) and A Matter of Concrete (Rob’s roastery, for espresso). The coffee on batch brew changes regularly depending on what’s fresh and tasty.
The food menu is short but offers tasty options for people with all preferences. I tried the mushroom melt while Maxine had the miso squash sandwich and we rounded it off with a super yummy slice of pistaccio cake. Other options include soft scramble brioche and granola.
There’s one bigger communal table where you could potentially sit with a laptop but elsewhere, seating is designed with eating and drinking in mind. One other notable thing was the brilliant music playing in the background. No surprise really given that one of the two owners is a DJ.
Maxine and I gobbled up the last of our cake and washed it down with our coffee and tea, respectively before hitting the road again and going to check out some art. Nice is indeed a nice neighbourhood bar. Loved it.
