NUC: Notes, Charing Cross

Notes from Notes, the music-themed café in Charing Cross. To the left is a long bar stretching back, back, to a door which leads below where you can buy music or go to the toilet. Behind the bar smartly dressed people smile and take orders in a slightly conveyor belt-esque manner, and charge quite substantial prices for their drinks, discouraging the unemployed. Wine and olive oil are set amongst the glittering decor. At the back of the room is a space, with long tables and solitary people with laptops or newspapers. CDs on racks peer down on these folks, and are for sale - go below for that. Amongst them, a TV plays Woody Allen's Purple Rose of Cairo, which funnily enough I have only just seen quite recently. I tell this inconsequential fact to Niina, with whom I am coffeeing today; she responds with appropriate indifference.

She sits there examining her hair in the mirror, one of those mirrors that spans the wall and makes the room twice as big, and her hair twice as big. We discuss all things Finnish, and the irritations of city life. The coffee is strong and I wish I had had milk. I already had one coffee earlier and the amount of caffeine in my bloodstream is reaching tipping point. This place is one of those that strives to personalise itself and choose its clientele. The mid-thirties executive with the afternoon off, perhaps, who switches between Radio 3 and Radio 4 as he prepares his Weetabix, but can't name any of the composers and feels ambiguous about Europe. "Well obviously it's good that we didn't go in for the Euro... Having said that, I do enjoy a weekend away in Venice."

Notes is a music café, but it seems to be more of a theme than a passion. Like, it's more geared up for those who would like the idea of a music-themed café, as a kind of oasis within an emotionally cold city, rather than those who would go to a café for the music it played. How patronising of me. Notes is certainly nice, I can't say otherwise, it is peaceful. Maybe today is not the day for peace, though? Another judgement is needed, I feel, and so I will save up especially and return. In the meantime, can someone tell me which café really plays excellent music? One that really goes out of its way for it? And if it doesn't exist, can someone open it? Potential names could include: Coffee Beats, Puccini's Panini, Caféphonics, The Rolling Scones, The House of House, Gabbaguette, Café Grindcore, and Grubstep.