Cafes / Reviews
Seeb – cafe review
“Everyone loves ice cream,” beamed the woman serving me at Seeb, a new gelato and coffee shop on the Gloucester Road.
Her maxim was proved correct on a sunny Saturday afternoon when the queue was spilling out of the door to the small seating area on the pavement outside.
The old adage of appealing from four to 94 was certainly true on the day of my visit, with grey-haired friends catching up over a coffee in one corner and my daughter spotting a friend from her nursery in another.
Unfortunately, anyone living in Bristol of any age could tell you that it is not the ss Great Eastern that has an association with the city despite what this wallpaper has you believe:
A few years ago it was burritos. Then it was frozen yoghurt. The current food trend in Bristol is most definitely of the sweet variety, with Sundaes Gelatos on Baldwin Street opening at the end of last year and Kaspa’s Desserts due to open soon on Park Street.
At Seeb, alongside the sweet treats in the chiller – Victoria sponge, chocolate cake and cupcakes – there are even a couple of paninis.
But the rest of the menu is resolutely of the sugary variety, with a dozen different ice cream flavours from £2 for a single scoop, and sundaes from £5.99 including an ‘Oreo monster’ and a knickerbocker glory.
My daughter’s raspberry sorbet tasted refreshingly of fruit when she kindly offered me a morsel on her spoon, and by the end of eating it her mouth was surrounded by a bright shade of red.
There are also milkshakes, smoothies, fruit and vegetable juices, loose-leaf teas and coffee from Illy.
Everything can be enjoyed in an environment with no neon in sight unlike many other gelato emporiums. Instead, there are flowers on a few of the tables, vintage-style signs, and mismatched tables and chairs.
If everyone does love ice cream, then everyone should also love Seeb. Just make sure any Brunel buffs avert their gaze from the walls.
379b Gloucester Rd, Bristol, City of Bristol BS7 8TN