Nelson the Seagull

When you enter a coffee house and see a line up, it generally means one of two things:

1. The shop has made some poor choices and only have one barista working causing the issues
2. There is lots of staff and they are working like a well-oiled machine meaning that not only is the coffee really good, but the food as well. If number two is true, I have no problem waiting.

We arrived at Nelson the Seagull on Monday morning to a full house, which was great to see considering it was a holiday.

 

The Interior

Nelson the Seagull is in a very old building down in Gastown. This place has a really cool vibe about it.

The shop had copious amount of seating, some small tables and a huge communal table that seats about 10-12 people. As I mentioned above, the place was full. We were fortunate to find a table. The chairs at the table reminded me of when I went to school, back in the day.

They have a huge bakery at the back of the shop where they bake all of their bread daily. I feel this adds a special uniqueness and if this is done well. It can be an added bonus to a shop.

The Food

Look up, look way up at the menu on the post, the menu goes up about 12’ up a post. Overall prices seem alright. Provided the food is good.

We ordered up some breakfast:

I ordered the Poached eggs on toast – $11.00 – 2 poached eggs on toast. It also came with a strawberry balsamic salad. The eggs were cooked perfectly. The toast is their house made sourdough bread. The sourdough was so good that I purchased a loaf of Walnut and Fig Sourdough to bring home to Calgary.

I also ordered a Cheese wheel pastry – $4.00 –  it too had great flavour, so good that I forgot to take a picture of it before I ate half of it. Here is what is left of it.

My son ordered the Avo(avocado) on toast – $9.00 –  fresh avocado on toast, it too tasted outstanding. We had a small mishap with the toast having butter on it as my son is a vegan and doesn’t eat butter. They fixed it up right away for him.

Check out the menu, I love the name of the sandwiches they serve.

The Drinks

Naturally, the quality of the coffee seems to have played a part in the cafe’s popularity. Slinging beans from great roasters like Elysian Coffee Roasters and Kafka’s Coffee Roasters.

We ordered the following drinks:

Flat white – $4.00

Latte – in house made almond milk $4.50

Both drinks tasted really good with some hints of wine to almost a bittersweet cocoa; overall very nice flavours.

The Service

Overall service was really good, everyone that I came in contact with were outstanding to deal with.

The ordering process was that you order your drinks and food, then listen for your name to be called to get your drinks. When your food is ready they basically walk around calling your name so they can find you.

The Hours

Monday to Friday: 8:00am to 5:00pm

Saturday & Sunday: 9:00am to 5:00pm

 

Parking

You are down in Gastown so parking is limited and is street parking.

 

Last Words

Looking back, I actually left Nelson the Seagull very relaxed despite how busy and loud it was inside the coffeehouse. All goes to show the power of good coffee. So if you find yourself in Gastown, go check this place out.