Ace Café Forgets How Rooms Work, Deliver Decent Coffee Anyway

When you’re seeking out a café, what kind of place do you have in mind? If you're looking for a spacious spot with comfortable seating where you work for hours on your laptop, then Ace Café London isn’t for you. Nor is it the right place to take a special someone on a first date and gaze longingly into their eyes.

What you will enjoy at this newly opened Dirty Bar Street café is the unique bean selection, and that’s a major saving grace for a space with such an odd layout. Let us explain. Pretty much all of the seating is lined up in front of the long window that faces Dirty Bar Street, or immediately behind it, in a booth that runs along the wall, meaning that customers all have to sit side-by-side.

The creative coffees almost make up for the lack of convenient seating, especially the Latte Saigon (RMB 32 hot or RMB 35 iced), which is as strong as you’d expect for a brew named after a city from Vietnam, the widely renowned Asian haven of potent coffee. However, with its sweet aftertaste, it isn't as bitter as authentic Saigon coffee. That might disappoint Vietnam bean devotees but we found it to be delicious. Another unique item is the coconut coffee (RMB 35 hot or cold), and a tangerine cappuccino for RMB 36, along with more standard flat whites, cappuccinos, and lattes (RMB 29-35).

Stacked along shelves behind the cash register is a range of baked goods including baguettes, croissants, pain au chocolat, cinnamon rolls， and more (RMB 21-30), while the wall opposite is adorned with sports car related knick-knacks. These aesthetically pleasing touches are furthered by gorgeously framed captioned photos above the booth seat running along the picture window. They seem to tell the story of the Ace brand, an automotive company which has now has extended into F&B and merchandise “lifestyle brand” à la the hotly touted, oh-so-2016 Mercedes Me venue over by Sanlitun Soho.

Given the company's engineering and design background (they were once strong competitors to the Mini brand) you’d think they’d be able to figure out better seating, but at least the Ace Café has some strong, tasty java to keep you moving.

Ace Café London
Daily 10am-10.30pm. 1/F, 3.3 Mall, 33 Sanlitun Road (facing bar street), Chaoyang District ‭(5985 0302‬)
朝阳区三里屯路33号3.3服饰大厦1层

Photos: Kyle Mullin