Delicooks

We arrive at Calle Parlament - a street at the bottom of the Eixample - on a rainy morning. There, Tommy and Crick are awaiting us to show us and tell us about their new location. In Barcelona, ​​rain is rare but when it comes it disrupts day-to-day activity and dampens the spirits. But Federal Café soon cheers us up. Located in a 2-storey building, it’s lively and bustling, even a Wednesday morning. The decor and atmosphere are warm and inviting: there’s an aroma of fresh coffee, tea and pastries, good music, soft lighting, wooden furniture and large windows ... letting through the melancholy light from outside. We settle down in one corner for an informal interview, with our apron-wearing hosts smiling as they continue to serve up drinks and attend to their customers.

As the name suggests, Ferderal is a café, where from 8 am to 10 pm (1 am on weekends), you can can relax and sip a coffees or drink. "Right now, in Barcelona,  hamburgers and cup-cakes are all the rage," says Tommy. The menu also offers coffees, teas, fruit smoothies, muffins, scrambled eggs with chorizo, bacon or vegetables ... just what you need for a good brunch. There’s also a small menu that goes great with a wine, beer ... And any time of day you can also grab a snack, a cocktail with or without alcohol, cocktail, or traditional English sweets.

We ask them what inspired their business and they respond, without hesitation, that it was the traditional cafes in Sydney. The basic idea is to offer what they like, fare from their  of their native country that’s not usually available in Barcelona. The café is named after Federal, a pretty little Australian town located between Sydney and Brisbane. And, although we’ve never been Australia, we do have the feeling of being in London, New York, Berlin, or perhaps Stockholm, with the lively atmosphere a locals having a good time, chatting, reading ... It’s a relaxed spot where you’re made feel welcome any time of day. It’s a warm, cosy place to meet friends and acquaintances.

Tommy and Crick have great taste and are straight.-talking. “This neighborhood is great”, says Tommy, “and little by little it’s becoming trendier. The Adrià brothers’ Tickets has just opened and there’s a new shopping center opening soon in Plaza España. And the market of Sant Antoni is set to reopen”. Indeed, this corner of the Eixample has been undergoing a major face-lift in recent years. And the Federal Café is glimpse of what’s happening.

One of the apron-clad duo is always on the scene, running up and down serving customers. Crick once studied industrial design and you can see the influence in the clean, no-nonsense decor. The main shared table, in front of the window on the ground floor, is originally from the fifties. There’s also a small central courtyard with room for a table for four and a small, intimate garden on the top floor. Tommy, meanwhile, likes to say that he studied at the school of life. He grew up helping his parents, who were in the hotel business, and he’s had a wide and varied career in restaurants and cafes. His personality gives the café a relaxed, yet organized vibe.

Tommy and Crick are no strangers to the café trade. In Barcelona in 2004 they opened Papabubble, a unique sweet shop that was soon a hit with children, adults, tourists and sweet-tooths. They soon had branches all over the world, in cities like NYC, Tokyo, Taipei, Seoul, Lisbon and Amsterdam. But what happened? Did they run out of money? “The shops made money!” says Tommy. “But eventually we decided that we wanted to do other things, we had other interests”. Success, then, is not just a matter of good ideas, but one of attitude. And here are two successful entrepreneurs could  sit back or travel the world, but who have decided instead to to tie on their aprons and personally serve coffee and breakfast. “That, above all, is what we love doing most!”

Slowly the café begins to fill: a young couple, a guy reading, another working on his computer, a group of friends with their babies ... Two friends wait to be seated and a girl comes in looking for friends. We are surprised to find such a big and varied crowd on a Wednesday morning. “Yes, we’re surprised too”, says Crick. “Although you should see the place at the weekend. It’s packed and you get a different atmosphere”. It’s soon hard to  to pin Tommy and Crick down and, although we’d love to linger a little longer, duty calls and we return to reality of wet and soggy Barcelona. We’ll be back some Saturday night or sunny Sunday morning ... to discover another side of Federal Café.