Nick Sepie
Dainty Cafe
Corner Manchester & High Streets
In a city that has lost so much, we love it when new businesses 'give a nod' to the past.
New café owner Nick Sepie recently opened Dainty Café, a nod to his grandfather James Curnow’s Dainty Inn, a popular High Street milk bar operating between the 1940s and 1990s and only a few meters from where Nick is located.
Nick said he basically grew up in cafés as his mum and dad, Clare Curnow and Kevin Sepie were also café owners, running a series of cafes throughout the city including Perrys Café on Madras Street right up until the earthquakes in 2010. So, what we have here is a son following in his father’s footsteps two-fold.
After spending time in the UK expanding his hospitality knowledge and helping open more than 20 cafes over his time away, he knew that it was on the cards for him to do something.
Upon returning home, Nick worked for Allpress Espresso and Underground Coffee Roasters when a cool space under the Muse Hotel Building became available. Nick jumped at the chance to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and bring some old Dainty Inn charm to the 21st Century.
Nick’s coffee knowledge has depth, as does his coffee, so alongside your lattes and long blacks, he offers filtered coffee through the Chemex Coffeemaker (1941) which has been selected as one of the best-designed products of modern times and part of the Museum of Modern Art collection in New York.
Nick explains that he runs an ever-changing line of single-origin coffees, meaning that the beans come from a single farm or if the farm is not big enough, a region where the smaller farms form a co-op.
Nick also has a range of local teas from Mikaku, who’s teas are a fusion of organic roots, leaves, fruits, and flowers, in their truest expression, combined with authentic tea bases.
Keeping things local with their foods they use Grizzley Baked Goods pastries and bangin' Bagels, eggs bene, smashed avocado, Bircher muesli, a mushroom dish and cabinet food of fresh scones and sandwiches.
If you are on the hunt for more depth in your coffee experience, pop in and say hi to Nick at the Dainty Café - a must for coffee lovers.
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