We swung by Midali after our ride on Saturday morning as it was one of the places recommended by a reader in this post. My goal is to hit all of the recommended coffee shops after my morning rides and give you my impressions of each (which isn’t going to be a tough goal to meet).
As soon as we arrived we were greeted by one of the friendly owners Michael. As it turns out he’s an avid cyclist himself and a follower of this blog (He said that he lost 23kg or something like that through cycling and good eating!). This espresso bar (it’s not a cafe) specializes in great coffee which the owners are very obviously passionate about. The beans that Midali use are their own special roast that they genetically created in some secret underground VO2Max lab in Italy or something like that.
When we were looking for Maladi I have to admit that we rode straight by it and didn’t notice the bright red colors and modern decor in amongst the grunge of Balaclava. Now that I know it’s there I don’t know how we missed it. It’s definitely cyclist friendly but if you’re planning on going there with 20 other cyclists and taking the place over, I wouldn’t recommend it (more for their sake that yours). It’s a very cool place. There’s a couple tv screens with a camera pointed at the barrista to show his craft and they even have a coffee live webcam for those of you sitting there at work dreaming of having a coffee right now.
Cycling Friendliness: 5/5
Attractiveness of staff: Since they’re all blokes and I don’t swing that way, I’ll let you ladies rate this one.
Location: Great location if you live somewhere bayside or are out at Beach Rd in the mornings. 261 Carlisle St
Beans Used: Midali own special blend
Coffee: This is subjective. We both agreed that our second double strong latte was better than our first. Glad that we always have two. Definitely a 4.5/5 in our opinion.
