You’ll find this new café wedged between the fruit and noodle shops of Victoria Street, or as the owners put it, “next to all the heroin!”
They like a joke here as much as they like a good typeface.
LBSS is owned by a carpenter, construction manager, writer and graphic designer, and as you'd expect it's a shrine to design. Decor-wise it's all punching cats, fluorescent blue light sculptures and Japanime-like paintings.
Six Barrel creaming soda is served in brown medicinal bottles and sandwiches come wrapped and stamped with custom stickers like delicious presents. Yours might contain juicy slow-roasted lamb with a sharp thwack of yoghurt and spices, all smooshed between two rounds of pumpkin bread from Rustica. Happy birthday. We’re coming back for crayfish sandwich Sundays.
This is a great place to play ‘Hipster or Homeless?’ Every diner is either a big Etsy fan or urban lumberjack and they’re making full use of the mirrored Instagram selfie station.
Coffee is by Wellington roasters the People’s Coffee – the owners here are patriotic Kiwis, and they’re right to be. The Ethiopian single origin stands up well in anything black, white, short or long. Stay tuned for a Mexican blend tipped to go next on the grinder.
They’re working with a bite-sized kitchen, but hitting aces anyway. The fried eggs riding atop most savoury breakfast options wobble just like they should. A standout is the house-made baked beans packing plenty of eggplant and fresh tomatoes.
Or how about some crumpets? More specifically, how about Golden crumpets smothered in either lemon curd and mascarpone, or peanut butter, maple syrup, banana and blue cheese? Aside from a bowl of pho from 264, that's the best breakfast you'll get on this strip.
High five, Abbotsford.