Kometen Brood & Cafe, NDSM

Good stuff

• Mixed customer base including lots of families

• Delicious coffee and food that grown ups and kids will love

• Hideaway kids play corner

Beware

• Can get very busy

• Lots of dogs there both times I’ve been - may cause problems if your kids are afraid

The full details

Kometen Brood & Cafe is the perfect establishment to have a long, highly caffeinated and pastry-fuelled catch up with friends, whilst looking effortless wearing knitwear with demanding care instructions. Not necessarily the sort of place that you’d look forward to taking your small kids. However, somehow, something about this place just works.

One of the things that draws me to Kometen Brood & Cafe as an adult is obviously the excellent coffee and impeccable menu. Alongside the breakfast and lunch options that get me excited are some stalwart children’s favourites - pastries and cheese toasties.

There is a range of seating styles - a number of 2 or 4 person tables, a long bar with high stools and a large communal table that several parties can share. So long as space allows, you can choose what setup suits your kids best.

I’ve been twice and both times my 3.5yo loved sitting at the bar (ho-ho-ho, a sign of things to come etc.), as it gave him a commanding line of sight over the coffee-making equipment and dishwashing activities. I was surprised he didn’t prefer a window seat, as these have spectacular views of the adjacent building site.

There is a good amount of space between tables for restless children to circulate. I saw several rocketing around between chocomelks and nobody blinked an eye.

This brings me to my next topic - the customer base. On both my visits around 25% of the groups were families with young children, which I think is well past the tipping point for childlike energy being accepted. The airlock space between the two main doors provides a small buggy park - although it’s unclear whether this is as the management intended it.

Whilst attempting to eat my share of croissant before my dining partner demolished the entire thing, I mused as to what else it was that made such an on trend and highly considered place at the same time a relatively relaxing venue to take small children. It’s easy to feel intimidated by places (or people) who seem so curated, when you choose your trousers based on how many yoghurt smears they can absorb into the distress of the denim before drawing suspicion.

I realised what it was.

It’s the noise. Specifically, the background noise. Not only was there music playing but there was also a constant low level industrial hum - presumably coming from the process of magicking up hundreds of beautiful sourdough loaves behind the scenes. It’s a bit like being on an aeroplane, where the roaring sound of the air circulating cocoons everyone into their own parallel worlds.

Any anxiety that I had about my kid disturbing someone’s train of artful thought or lengthy discussion on phenomenology evaporated.

But kids aren’t just coincidentally acceptable here. There is some thoughtful accommodation as well. On the way out of the toilet, we noticed a small table scattered with toys next to shelves with several children’s books.

At first I thought this was a bit of a weird place to put a children’s play area. However, after leaving my toddler there while I went to pay the bill, I realised it was actually pretty wonderful. He sat there the whole time, absorbed in arranging the different toy vehicles to his liking. Cafes and restaurants can become overstimulating for kids and to have a space where they can be away from it all, quietly doing their own thing and feeling calm is actually rather wonderful.