Food & Beverage

Hipster cafes around the world

Entrepreneur Brothers Alan and Gary Keery | CerealKillerCafe.com

Cereal Killer Cafe - which only serves bowls of cereal - opened its doors last week in London's hip East End.

Selling around 120 cereal brands, customers can enjoy everything from Captain Crunch to cereal branded with images of Prince William and his wife Kate.

It's not the first breakfast-based cafe - Cereality in the U.S. has two branches - but it's yet another example of an off-beat hangout, which appear to be especially popular with hipsters.

From board games to pirate ships, CNBC looks at some of world's craziest hipster hangouts.

By Alexandra Gibbs, special to CNBC.com

Café Brecht (Amsterdam)

Provided by Joris Houtman | Cafe Brecht

Bertolt Brecht, a German Marxist playwright and poet, was renowned for alienating audience members from his play's storyline. But one Amsterdam-based company has embraced Brecht's quirkiness, naming its cafe after the writer and decorating its walls with vintage furniture.

Saying that, Cafe Brecht doesn't just promote the Marxist's teachings, but instead all things European. From Italian baked morsels to German beers, Cafe Brecht's products must all be made "with some love" according to its website.

Source: Café Brecht's website and social media pages.

Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium (London)

Mike Radulescu | Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium | Red Colours Productions

London's first cat cafe, Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium, serves up quintessentially British appetisers (tea, cakes and sweet treats), while customers relax and pet some of the establishment's resident cats.

To get a spot at Lady Dinah's, customers sometimes have to book weeks in advance, but fans can still get their hands on a range of merchandise including cat tights, coasters and treats.

Dinah's isn't the only cafe to welcome feline friends, with such establishments particularly popular in Japan. Elsewhere, punters are also pouring into cat cafes, with Paris' Le Cafe des Chats giving its creatures some much-needed love; their cats were previously homeless.

Source: Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium website and social media


The Breakfast Club (London)

Andy Barnham | The Breakfast Club | www.andybarnham.com

Known as London's "little yellow cafes", The Breakfast Club harks back to the 1985 film of the same name, with nostalgic 80s décor and a happy-go-lucky atmosphere.

The chain also has a website which sells its own brand of mugs, apparel and even maple syrup, with all proceeds going to charity projects.

In its Spitalfield's branch, the cafe has a co-inhabitant: The Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town - a bar that sells alcoholic cocktails in a dimly-lit speakeasy.

Source: The Breakfast Club official website and Facebook page; Time Out London.

L’OisiveThe (Paris)

Aimee Gilles (Put Your Flare On) | L'OisiveThé, Salon de thé et Tricot | L’Oisive Thé website and Flickr

Combine a love of knitting with a love of tea and you have Paris' L'OisiveThe. The cafe serves customers traditional French food while they take in the colourful array of yarn covering its walls.

Those especially passionate about the craft can take part in one of L'OisiveThe's knitting or crochet classes for 45 euros ($56), which comes with complementary tea.

Source: L'OisiveThe website and social media


The Ship of Adventures (London)

Will / Hackney Pirates | Hackney Pirates Website

Part bookshop, part cafe, The Ship of Adventure encourages customers to come on-board.

The cafe is run by the Hackney Pirates charity, which works to develop children's literacy skills and educational background in the London borough of Hackney. Profits from the bookshop café go to the charity.

Source: The Ship of Adventures Facebook page

The Wormhole (Chicago)

MaryBeth Stanton | The Wormhole

Everything about this place screams nostalgia and nerds.

Kitted out with 1980s-themed kitchenware, the latest in coffee technology and even its own DeLorean time machine (as featured in the Back to the Future trilogy), The Wormhole appeals to cult film geeks and coffee consumers across Chicago.

Source: The Wormhole website, HalfWit Coffee Roasters website

Snakes and Lattes (Toronto)

Provided by Steve Tassie at Snakes and Lattes

Toronto-based Snakes and Lattes claims to be North America's first board game cafe and lets customers choose from their selection of over 2,000 games, from just $5 entry.

The cafe provides a wide variety of other services too, including Snake on the Go private event planning, "The Snakescast" podcast and it even sells games on its website.

And the fun doesn't end when the sun goes down. The company has extended its brand with another shop: Snakes and Lagers, for when happy hour deserves a game of jenga.

Source: Snakes and Lattes website

Over the Bar Bicycle Cafe (Pittsburgh)

Over the Bar Bicycle Cafe (Provided by Michael Kotyk)

Founded in the heart of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Over the Bar (OTB) Bicycle Café chain defines itself in three words: "Bike. Burgers. Beer."

It has two locations in Pittsburgh, PA - which attract cycling fanatics with bicycle décor and fun events.

The cafe doesn't confine its bicycle theme to its décor either: it sells healthy dishes with funky biking names, including "650 Bean Cakes" and "Broken Spoke Dip".

Source: Over the Bar Bicycle Café website

Skipchen (Bristol)

Dylan Rakhra | Skipchen Crew at Skipchen Cafe, Bristol

Bristol-based Skipchen uses food scraps and about-to-expire goods, and turn them into entrees - all while encouraging locals not to throw away unwanted food.

The project is run by volunteers and its chefs create new recipes every day. Not only that, but the kitchen has a "pay-as-you-feel" philosophy, letting customers set the price for their food.

Meals conjured up from food scraps have included roast pumpkin & spring green soup, and dressed lobster on roasted sweet pepper & tomato.

Source: The Bristol Skipchen: a Real Junk Food Project (Facebook page)