Their There || A Cafe With Everything You Need Any Time of Day
The windows were opened to let in the summer breeze.
A customer sat at the sunlit counter sipping their afternoon coffee while another enjoyed a Pork Cubano sandwich and a beer at 3 PM.
Their There is a new cafe on West 4th in Kitsilano offering an unpretentious social space for friends, colleagues or a getaway for an individual. Owned by the duo behind AnnaLena, a local beloved dinner service restaurant on West 1st, Chef Michael Robbins and and Jeffrey Parr, Their There is their new venture to create a new type of social space.
The pair takes care of everything from business concept to interior design themselves.
“From the name, to the design, service to the food, we do it all ourselves. We don’t hire designers, or consultants, what we do we have worked out ourselves, and challenge to make our business better everyday and by doing so manage to stand out a bit more than the average.” Mike shared.
The interior is airy and eclectic, with be@rbricks created from self-made casts adding both character and a branding tie-in to AnnaLena, which also integrates colourful be@rbricks into its decor.
Being a dinner service-only restaurant, AnnaLena had actually spurred the idea for Their There. Before dinner service, the team would sneak out to grab a coffee and a bite before diving into the busy dinner service, which gave them the idea of starting their own space to cater to this need.
“Their There is the AnnaLenas version of a coffee shop. It’s ‘our there’, but to everyone else its ‘their there’. The base concept for the design is, if AnnaLena was a coffee shop, what would it look like?”
Mike continued, “If you know AnnaLena, when you come into Their There something should feel familiar, from the furniture choice, to the décor, to the style in which you are greeted, to the flavour in the food. We want our brands to reflect and compliment one another.”
When asked why their menu offers not just coffee, pastries and sandwiches, but also a selection of beer and wine, Mike responded that “The goal for Their There was to create a space that has everything you need, no matter what time of day, and pay a compliment to the European café model. A local 33 Acres Beer with lunch – a signature breakfast sandwich at 3 PM – we feel the beer and wine program is a really important part of our product. Aside from creating a space to go for that mid day coffee, we also wanted to give Kitsilano a new space to meet a friend for a glass of wine with no pretention and a unique, curated selection.”
It was certainly a surprise for us to show up at a cafe and discover that we could opt for a beer and a smoked meat sandwich, complete with a juicy, soft-boiled egg. The sandwich size is optimal as a snack and satisfies midday cravings without leaving you too full to enjoy dinner afterwards.
If you are craving an option that is a bit more filling, we would highly recommend the Pork Cubano sandwich. Packed with flavour, your mouth will start to water simply from the delicious aromas wafting out from the sandwich bag; bite into the crispy toasted bread and sink your teeth into the juicy pork and salty pickles for a taste you won’t soon forget.
From the pastry selection our top pick would be the Goat Cheese Bagel Bomb. Filled with creamy goat cheese in the middle, each bite bursts with flavour as the goat cheese mixes with the savoury bread. This would be our indulgent between-meal snack hands down.
Of course, if you are cravings sweets, Their There also has croissants and crullers available, like this sugared cruller with rainbow sprinkles. A midday donut with a cold brew coffee? Sign us up!
Their There is a spot where you can grab a refreshing beer, your morning coffee, an indulgent snack or a quick bite; it fills all the culinary blank spaces we were hoping to be filled. So, the next time you feel a pang of hunger yet it’s not meal time yet, or are in need of a shot of caffeine or a non-crowded patio to catch up with friends over a cold beer, Their There is the spot to be.