A book, a piece of cake and a “café-like” time

“My cupcakes are almost out of the oven.” It’s 9:40 AM. First alert: Go to dark brown Eating breakfast is like going to the beach with sand in your pocket. Fasting, greed, alerting your senses. “A good start to the day”, says Nair, the dancer on duty. “Do not undo…”. The counter starts to taste sweet and starts to be filled with homemade cakes, uncooked chocolate, zucchini, avocado and pistachios. Although Negra proposes a “very simple” concept: “It’s a cup of coffee”, it does not reveal all its secrets at the same time.

Boom boom boom. Chocolate—and anything else Negra wanted. Boom boom boom. We stayed in the entrance room, which had industrial chairs, more-or-less communal tables with sewing machine legs, and utilitarian furniture. Jukebox Rowe, from AMI North America (formerly Automated Musical Instruments), was once in Battaglia’s Girls’ Home and was given a prominent place to display her playlist Romance (Anita is not beautiful by José Cid, Chocolate Cake by Taxi, Anel de Engagement by Trio Odemira, Canção do Beijinho by Herman José, I love a man, Our love turned into garbage by Nelson Ned or Faz de believe by José Augusto). “We like to waste time in warehouses, just to look, we spend afternoons visiting warehouses. Some people don’t understand us, they think we are crazy, but it is really a passion: to walk around, to stroll, to see pieces, to control the urge not to buy, to ask “Why?” and “For what?” W Black, located in Rua Candido dos Reis.

She had “always wanted” a daytime space. “Having a child, we started to think differently.” “Hesitant” about the urban area, they were convinced by the DKW building designed in 1953 by architects Arménio Losa and Cassiano Barbosa. “That was half the battle,” says Bianca proudly, who acquired the space in January of this year. “It was different. That’s what made us fall in love with it. From then on, we just had to think calmly and carefully about the interior.” The interior consists of three areas divided by an elegant spiral staircase with a handrail from the 50s, facing Rua Guedes de Azevedo, facing the church of Nossa Senhora da Boa Hora de Fradelos and very close to the Silo Hey. garbage room. At the back, in the glass windows that bear the architect’s signature, there are two separate areas (sofas, books on architecture and fashion and folding doors), as well as a sizeable terrace and a room ready to receive and entertain children. “It was a clothing store”, says Bianca Martins. The couple kept the “four walls” and the staircase as architectural reference points and used wood sparingly, decorating the space to their own taste.

Not to undo… “There’s nothing transcendent here”, the owner points out. “This is a coffee,” he repeats. “It’s for everyday use. It’s a coffee that evolves.” Homemade slices of cake (€2.90), and a bowl of the good stuff (we tried the pitaya/dragon fruit: dragon fruit, strawberry, banana and coconut milk, Ingredients bee pollen, coconut flakes, chia seeds, banana and dragon fruit; €6.50), salads (customers can choose up to eight ingredients for €7.50) and toasts (asparagus and mushrooms, chicken and avocado, salmon or shrimp and mango). “There’s nothing like it here. We easily find dishes of the day and heavier dishes. There’s still room for lighter dishes in Porto.”