Astoria Cafe, on Midland Park in the middle of Wellington's CBD, is closing just in time for Christmas.
A lot has been written about Astoria over the last few days, mourning the loss of a “Wellington institution” Even our Prime Minister commented on it…
But what are we really losing? And what was the appeal of Astoria anyway?
The only appeal was that it was a place to be seen [drinking bad coffee], with the whose who of Wellington's ‘influencers', and it got a bit of sun in the afternoon. Like, a tiny bit, for like 15 minutes. But Wellington's going to Wellington and claim that wee bit of sun is all we need to suffer through the terrible weather here.
Astoria was one of those places that you just met people. It was central enough for everyone to show that people cared about you just enough to go to the minimal amount of effort to catch up. But not enough to go to place that you'll actually enjoy.
People got jobs there, they lost jobs there, they had off the record yarns with reporters there, all the while drinking average coffee, with average service, in a below average setting.
Astoria sucked.
However, for those who loved the place, there is light at the end of the tunnel - there's good coffee [better coffee] all around Midland Park:
1. If you want to be ‘seen’ drinking great coffee, go across the road to The Beanery - by Mojo.
2. If you want to be ‘seen’ like you know a thing or two about coffee, head next door to Coffee Supreme Midland Park and get some beans, and usually a nice free cup of a single origin filter coffee.
3. If you want to be ‘seen' to be too busy to actually sit down and drink good coffee, because you're very important, head north across the road to the hole in the wall coffee spot Fuel.
4. And if you want to be ‘seen’ drinking at a pub during the day, Dillingers is right next door, and they do good brews of the coffee and beer variety. And its central enough for everyone for a catch up.
I do feel for the people who have just lost their jobs, right on Christmas, after Astoria claimed $370,000 in the Government's wage subsidy, but hopefully the Wellington hospo community wraps their arms around them and welcomes them in - they should just leave Astoria off their CVs.
Chur.