Do you prefer to do it in bed? In the bathtub? With the lights on and the music off?
Or how about in a studded leather armchair with a rich merlot and the smooth sounds of jazz?
Get out of one comfort zone and into another at Café 1812, a bookstore-cum-wine bar perched above Oxford Street at Paddington’s Berkelouw Books.
Past the fiction and up the staircase you’ll find this sanctuary for philes of both the biblio and oeno variety. The name refers not to street numbers but to Berkelouw’s history as a place for thinkers and drinkers to sit and swap stories in 19th century Holland.
But while the vibe recalls a time when tomes were vellum-bound, the warm wood fit-out and boutique wines ooze contemporary flavour. There’s plenty from the Champagne region when a purchase demands celebration, and a decadent 2008 Peccavi Shiraz is the perfect match for The Penguin Book of Erotic Stories for Women — Book and Booze matching sessions are just one of the initiatives introduced to bring books and your senses to life.
On the food front it’s salads and sandwiches for lunch, and pastas and mains after dark. Though share plates like meatballs with mayo and quince-topped cheese platters are more in keeping with the communal air.
Pull up a seat and get comfy. You might be here a while.
Café 1812
19 Oxford Street, Paddington, NSW 2019
T: 02 9360 3200
Open daily 9am – late
