The Rio Cafe

I always want to do a review on the different cafes and such I go to. Living where I do, there's a wealth of experience right on my doorstep.

Today, I went to the Rio Cafe for the first time. I've always wanted to go and check it out, and to be honest I've no idea why it's taken me as long as it has to.

The Where -

 The Rio Café

27 Hyndland Street,

Glasgow, G11 5QF

The When - 

Sunday 27th March, around 3pm

The Why -

Hangover Brunch!

The Who -

Me, Gof and Jaime Leigh

The What -

Me - Black Coffee, Stornoway Black Pudding, Bacon and Poached Egg

Gof - Pot of tea, Stornoway Black Pudding, Bacon and Poached Egg, side of toast

Jaime Leigh - Can of Irn Bru, Full Breakfast

 Inside, it was fairly busy, and we were seated at a very small table and gave our drink orders. I went outside to put a poster up for Ooh La la (shameless plug, I know!) and within minutes our drinks were on the table. After we ordered our food (eventually, thanks Jaime Leigh!) Gof noted the his tea cup wasn't exactly clean.I thought it was more stained than actually dirty, and he still used it, so I guess it wasn't a huge deal. My coffee cup though, had a dried in spill on the outside of the mug, so maybe a quick check before mugs go out is in order. The actual coffee had very little crema, and tasted slightly burned, but was still drinkable, and still better than Starbucks! As we waited on our food, we chatted about the decor of the place. It has a definite 50's diner feel about it, lived in and authentic rather than the sterile atmosphere you get in the sort of place that's trying too hard to be perfect.  Like I said, the place was fairly busy and I get the feeling we were the only "new people" there. Just before our food arrived, a booth opened up and our waitress offered to move us, which we did!

I was 3 bites (read, scoffs) in when I thought to take a picture of my dish. It was absolutely DELISH, and Gof, having ordered the same thing, concurred. Jaime Leigh's breakfast look well made and lovely, her only

complaint was her sausage "looked like cheap basic sausages" although it tasted "ok". The toast that Gof and Jaime Leigh had was browned perfectly, I was quite jealous! But my dish was enough on it's own, great portion and every bit tasty. Over all, the food impressed me, it was much better quality than I anticipated.

Again, we chatted about the cafe, Gof expressed surprise over the the great food, but wasn't too sure on the over all "feel" of the place. He conceded that somewhere that busy was popular for a reason, but he wasn't sure if he'd choose to go back. His main concern was the "grubbiness" of the cups, the high chairs that were stack up out of use were dusty and needed a good wipe down, and the staining on my cutlery. Jaime Leigh enjoyed her breakfast, but didn't like that the waitress didn't ask her if she wanted ice for her Irn Bru (she didn't) and filled her glass with it anyway. I thought she was just being too fussy! Her first choice of eats, a mozzarella, tomato and basil panini, would have been perfect for her with the inclusion of bacon, but she didn't want to ask the waitress if it was possible so I don't know if they would have done that for her, but I believe they wouldn't have had a problem fixing it for her. Still, that's a question for another trip! Otherwise, our waitress was attentive and lovely, without being intrusive. 

Food ate and drinks drunk, we got the bill, around £23 all in. I was happy with both the service and the food, I understood Gof and Jaime Leigh's complaints but in general I wasn't fussed. Sure the place could have been a little cleaner but as far as I can see it wasn't at cockroach level, and I'm saw more than my fair share of those sort of places! I'd happily go back, even though, as is typical, my choice is seriously restricted since I can't eat wheat. Still, that isn't a unique problem to the Rio Cafe, but nowadays a lot of places are starting to wise up to the dietary requirements of people, especially in terms of dairy and wheat, so maybe the Rio Cafe could explore their options in that area. Even for people who don't have a medical reason for avoiding certain foods, there is a growing demand for something other than the usual sandwiches and wheat based main courses like pasta and pizza. I for one would be happy to pay a little extra for the convenience of wheat free pasta, for instance.

 The Basics

Open - Mon to Sun, 9am to 12am

Food served 9am to 9pm

Licensed - Yes

Dietary options - not apparent from menu

Child friendly - Yes, high chairs and a box of toys available

Outdoor area - Yes, chairs and tables available

Value for money - Yes

Overall - 7/10, would go back, needs improving on cleanliness and coffee skillz, but 

food and service excelled expectation.  

New beginnings...

I've started a new blog here for my new business. You'll notice that this blog is no longer called "Coffee & Tease", although the address is still the same. You see, I want to start a cafe. I want to serve coffee and tea and work as hard as I do when I work for someone else. For me. Well, for us. Gof wants to do this too. But for now, we're starting slow. To build our brand, I will be starting to sell our cakes, well, wherever I can! Craft fairs, burly events, private parties - you name it, I'll attempt to be there to stuff you with coffee, tea, and cake! All the great things in life :D

I'll still be using this blog as my personal one, but be sure to check out Coffee & Hot Tease for all our news! We also have a facebook page here if you wanna hit the *like* button, I won't mind, honest!

Feeling rather optimistic for 4.41am!

Instead of being pissed off that I've not slept tonight - I'm excited to see how I'll get through the full day I have planned. I refuse to go to bed until tonight - even though I'm looking after my little niece Grace and my sister Jaime Leigh and her love Stuart (fae Paisley!) is coming over. It'll be a story, at least! (one I suspect will have frequent trips to Caffeine Central!)

I'm reading pretty much nothing but awesome blogs like this one and listening to fantastic "I'm totally excellent in every way" songs. I've watched movies that make me laugh and even though I'm loaded with the cold, my wisdom tooth is acting up and my poor Gof is in bed all alone, I'm still feeling rather ok with life! Maybe it's hearing my downstairs neighbour having another drunken rant - instead of being annoyed by the very (loud) sound of her voice, I'm giggling at the absurdity of it all and feeling a tinge of pity for the woman. No one chooses to be an alcoholic, after all. I know full well my good nature towards her will last as long as her next midnight music session (this month's album of choice is Adele's new album - pity, I used to like her) 


I've realised that there are certain things I need to do in order to be truly successful in my life, and my life's goals. Firstly, accept I'm actually fucking perfect just the way I am, but if I want to change anything about myself it's because I'm evolving, not becoming someone different. I need to feel proud of myself, and know I took risks and make choices based on what I know to be true at the time, and not freak if later on something happens I didn't anticipate. You can't prepare for every eventuality. Once upon a time I would have, for all my heart, took back a choice I made, because I thought it was worst mistake I'd ever make. It started an avalanche of events and emotions and everythingeverythingeverythingeverything that I felt I'd never cope with or come back from. But see, it got me where I am today. I can't help but love my life these days, because with everything that is finally going right, the stuff I'm not too happy on? The solution is just a choice I am willing and able to make away. The road isn't always clear, but damn, I know EXACTLY which direction I'm going in.

I'll give you a hint - it involves me staying awake for the next 20 odd hours. FUN!

And over on Tumblr....

I've decided embarrassment is the way forward. I'll be documenting my Wii Fit+ project, mostly, daily shots, proof I am indeed working out for at least 30 mins.

Every two weeks, based on how I've done and how much (if any) weight I've lost - I'm treating myself. Otherwise, no new make up/shoes/dresses for me!

I'm giving myself my birthday, June 22, as a deadline to drop a dress size, healthily. After that, if I manage it, my new deadline will be Hallowe'en.

My tumblr is here - and it'll show up on my fb and twitter too. Mostly, I want people to see this because of the idea that I need to do it since people are watching me. Comments, ideas, suggestions are gratefully received, insults and hateful/hurtful spew is not.

Basically, I ramble on about it here -





So, yeah. Wish me luck and stuff!

Quick vid!

And yes, I am wearing a Goonies tee. I rule.





For anyone who CAN'T ACTUALLY HEAR ME - I'm talking about Superdrug's new line, MUA (Make Up Academy). The entire range is £1 per item (or in my head, one dollah!) and I'm talking eyeshadows, lipsticks, foundations, nail polish, yada yada. The lot. So far, I've only picked up the 3 shadows, but I done a quick swatch instore of some lipsticks, they were pretty, but they wiped away with no effort. Maybe some lipcoat would seal them though. Anyway, I took some pictures too. These are also without primer, because my toes have only just warmed up so I'm not going to the bathroom for my primer. And I'm lazy. I would say that the shadows are quite crumbly, I needed to tap off quite a bit off my brush and still had a little fall out. Also, without primer, they fade fairly quickly, but that might not concern people who don't wear as bright as I do. The green shade, (5) is very pretty, and even faded leaves a subtle shimmer that is quite lovely.

On with the pictures!

l-r Shade 5 pearl, shade 20 matt(e), shade 18 matt(e)

UPDATE - 8/3/11 17.36

My purple pot (18) has already crumbled in the pan. Not quite sure what happened, but I'm thinking of grinding it into loose powder and using it like that instead.