Finding Broadway
When we first went to view our Southsea townhouse, we walked around the local area thinking about whether we wanted to move to this end of town. Unexpectedly, we stumbled across Broadway Coffee Roasters, which was a shell of a unit back then, eager to open its doors. We thought it looked pretty cool and immediately put in an offer. Some may say we relocated for coffee but that wasn’t the case (promise!), we recognised that this part of town has major potential and good things are on their way.
Location
Forward wind six months and another national lockdown and here we have it – Broadway Coffee Roasters, open in all its glory – and what a fine addition to the community it is. For starters, Broadway serves specialty coffee Wednesday to Sunday from its pad in Highland Road. A specialty coffee shop in Highland Road? Yes, you heard right.
Coffee
Don’t expect to order a latte here (although if you do, it is pretty good) think Ristretto, Red Eye (double espresso shot over 8oz of French press), and Honey Blossom (21g shot of espresso, orange blossom steamed milk and orange blossom honey). This menu is one to rival Melbourne’s coffee scene.
Art
Inside is just as impressive with work from local artists dotted about. You’ll spot a few of our favourites; Fark, Berk, Pogo, Elk, My Dog Sighs to name a few, which may have something to do with this venue being Fark’s previous studio. There are big plans for this space to become a real community hub, housing heaps of creativity, special events, and a chilled space to hang out. If you’re lucky you’ll spot the coffee shop dog, Rhubarb, wandering about, relishing the scent of coffee and cake.
Cakes
As well as an array of coffees on offer, you can also pick up a delicious cake or two from local bakers Morello’s who we have previously featured on our blog, and a local business we highly recommend. Their mate Lauren (Love Brownies Southsea) also bakes exceptional brownies in small batches exclusively for Broadway which we found delicious – incredibly soft and gooey inside.
Roastery
This is Southsea’s first in-house roastery and boy can you tell. Just take a deep breath and sniff in that rich coffee air. These guys know what they’re doing when it comes to coffee and you can pick up a wide variety of beans freshly roasted in-house for a reasonable price – they’ll even grind it for you too. We picked up some coffee perfectly matched to our cafetière. Broadway delivers their coffee and has a subscription service so if you can’t make it down, they’ll bring the beans to you. You can also find their coffee at a number of places around town like Southsea Deli.
Outside on the wall is a brief history of the building. Now, I’m no history buff, but I found this incredibly interesting, especially seeing photos of what Highland Road used to look like. I’m confident Broadway Coffee Roastery will spark other local businesses to set up shop on a street that has been a little neglected in recent years.
We love visiting Broadway and although we’ve tried a large selection of their menu we do tend to stick to our favourite, an oat milk flat white and a chocolate brownie (Morello’s vegan one for Mum and Love Brownie’s non-vegan for me). Thank Broadway for making our local area awesome!
Service 10
Quality 10
Ambience 9
Value 8
Return? Yes
Overall 9/10
Living life, loving specialty coffee,
H x