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| - I used to live up the street from Courense in my third year of University (aka, the year when you realize you're not quite half done yet) and my evening were peppered with little late night/early morning visits for delicious custard egg tarts or sugary lemon doughnuts. Always warm and comfortable inside, it felt like a little piece of home from away and the staff were always pleasant.
Fast-forward about 7 years later and Courense has still got it. On a recent trip to my old stomping grounds, 2 coffees and 2 pastries still cost less than Starbucks and with table service and little plates it felt very posh and cozy. They trust you to come to the cash register to pay afterwards, no hounding, while you get to sit and nosh. They also kindly cut both pastries in two to share! Aww. The two of us split a lemon-filled doughnut (obviously my favourite) and a rice-bread-type pastry which was dense but moist. My favourite part about these pastries is that they don't hammer you over the head with flavours, it's just good baking components, butter, sugar, flour, tasty!
The cafe-feel is probably one of the best parts of this experience as well. Somebody compared Courense with Granowskas, which I think is an interesting thought (especially now that Granowska's is kaput) the service at Courense is egalitarian, they don't skip 2 people down in line just because you don't speak Portugese (somethng I've experienced at Granowska's before) they're always pleasant and willing to explain what the pastries are, NICELY.
That is how you draw in customers and I hope it works for Courense for years to come.
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