Foody Tim Christian finds a genuine hidden gem on Lytham Road for a low-key launch of our Supper Club – a new series of food reviews
Life is full of trite and meaningless phrases but every now and again you find a great example of a phrase fulfilling its actual function and it reinvigorates that phrase beyond its tired overuse. A common one you might find when reading food reviews is “hidden gem”, which can mean anything from a food kiosk down a back alley in the Outer Hebrides to “not McDonald’s” depending on the source. In this case The Cozy Jazz Cafe in Blackpool is a genuine hidden gem.
Nestled between the pubs, takeaways and indoor markets of Lytham Road in Blackpool, I must have driven past it hundreds of times and never noticed it. It took a recommendation from Tony at Seitan Hustle for me to have even heard of it and, while it does exist on social media, they are practically inactive, save for occasionally giving notice of temporary closures and the very rare advertised event.
This hiddenness is almost certainly a feature rather than a bug, and the cafe successfully employs the low-key nature of the place into one of its defining and most appealing features.
Tony had said Cozy Jazz was a great little place for vegan food a while back and it had been lingering on the back-burner of my to-visit list for months before I got round to rectifying that. I had actually tried to pay it a visit previously but found it closed (another part of its low-key nature is that it’s actually quite difficult to tell from outside if it’s even open at all, and the laid back approach to its opening times contributes to this). On that occasion I ended up going to, I don’t know, Gregg’s or something.
But one night, before an evening at the Waterloo to watch Keighley’s finest party rock band Terrorvision, I had caught the tram into town and decided to have another crack at it. Walking down Lytham Road I peered past the half-shuttered blinds and saw signs of movement within, I tried the door and… success! It opened.
Inside the cafe is quite a difficult environment to describe without lapsing into those trite phrases again, even though again in this case they are perfectly accurate. This is a place that exudes personality, eccentricity and charm, with the overall impression given that you aren’t entering a business, but being welcomed into someone’s very comfortable and (*ding ding ding*) Cozy front room.
Wall-to-wall, floor to ceiling (and even across the ceiling) there are all sorts of ephemera. Paintings and posters and bookshelves and tchotchkes and thingamabobs and whatsits adorn every surface. There isn’t a corner in the place that isn’t stacked with musical instruments or footstools, or baskets or side tables with ornaments and lamps and old radios and boardgames and magazines and records. There’s an oar and a pair of old tennis racquets for some reason. Even the ceiling is plastered with pages and pages of sheet music.
The seating is covered in cushions and throws, a long sofa-like arrangement extends down one whole side of the small cafe, encouraging a very communal vibe, like being round at a mate’s house for a brew and something to eat. There’s even a projector and screen to fill the big telly role, although while I was there it was just projecting some vaguely trippy/surreal kaleidoscopic footage of mushrooms on a forest floor. It may sound chaotic or even messy, but the place manages to avoid being overwhelming and I absolutely fell in love with it at first sight.
The owner, Josh, is likewise very welcoming and invites you in to sit where you’d like. Seating choices are limited in this tiny space but it was relatively early and quiet at this time. Again, you get the impression is of being welcomed into a space he has created for the comfort of his guests and friends (you are now both of these things, btw). He is a host, in the very realest sense of the term. The menu is a short one, written on the blackboard behind the counter, but the main dish you’re coming here for is the jerk chick’n and rice, trust me. Josh recommends it, telling me it’s getting a bit of a reputation, so how can I refuse?
What is presented is a significant portion of deliciously sticky-looking seasoned rice and chick’n pieces, absolutely bursting with spinach, rocket, chickpeas, artichokes and avocado and drizzled with dressing.
Waiting for the food to arrive, I settle in and down to my favourite pastime – people-watching. On this visit (and I’ve been back since), I share this space with two others, a middle-aged woman and an older fella who are clearly both regulars and chat with Josh and each other with obvious familiarity. The old guy telling joke after innuendo-riddled joke, while the woman smiles somewhat wanly but not unkindly at the puns and punchlines – she’s clearly heard them all before. I am included in the conversation, but my natural reticence with strangers is recognised and respected, although I’m not shut out either.
The food, when it arrives, is presented with a little dramatic flourish – brought over in a half-open takeaway-style box, with the contents hidden from view at first and placed in front of me with a little spin like the reveal of a magician’s trick. And what a reveal it is. What is presented is a significant portion of deliciously sticky-looking seasoned rice and chick’n pieces, absolutely bursting with spinach, rocket, chickpeas, artichokes and avocado and drizzled with dressing. It looks incredible, it smells even better and I am keen to get involved.
I am not disappointed.
The rice is cooked and seasoned to absolute perfection, it has a deep and delicious savouriness that manages to avoid being heavy or stodgy thanks to the uplifting effect of all those greens, and even though there is a lot of it I never feel over-faced – on the contrary, I demolish it. It is, as they say in the food-critic industry, extremely nommable. I sat and comfortably ate my way through the whole dish without flagging – the balance of this all-in-one offering is tightrope perfect. In fairly short order I put this away and was left extremely satisfied, but not bloated or uncomfortably stuffed. A perfect meal.
For those who wish for a more spicy hit (because this is not a particularly hot dish) there are some hot sauces available to add, including the vicious-looking Bandido sauce, so you can zing up your rice to your heart’s content, but I was happy enough with the flavour balance as it was (although I did dash on some hot sauce on my next visit and it also worked like a charm).
Thoroughly satisfied with my experience, both gastronomically and aesthetically, I went to pay, had a bit of a chat with Josh (who, I re-iterate, is an extremely friendly and gracious host) and went about my merry way to the Waterloo to enjoy a ludicrously sweaty gig from some very entertaining Yorkshiremen. All in all, a damn good evening.
The Cozy Jazz Cafe is an absolute delight, and one I’m likely to visit on a fairly regular basis. It’s a very chilled out atmosphere and, on another, busier visit, Josh and the regulars who were in had collected various instruments and were casually and lightly jamming away. Nothing overwhelming or loud, just like-minded people enjoying each other’s company with good food and some hot drinks and music. Equally I never felt like I was intruding – that low-key comfort and welcoming nature of the place shining through.
I had another chat with Josh who told me he had been thinking of putting an advert up for a jam night but decided against it as he didn’t want too many people turning up – he knows he can rely on the regulars to show and that was enough for him.
I love the fact that a place like this exists and can get by. As much as I’m all-in on social media as a user and enjoy the foodie places is reveals to me, somewhere like this is a welcome decompression from constant stories and posts and videos – a break from brightly-coloured pics of exciting dishes in the pursuit of viral engagement.
Having said all that, here’s me encouraging you to visit and eat there. So, uhhhh, yeah. Humanity is an ocean of contradictions.
The Cozy Jazz Cafe is at 82 Lytham Road. Find them on Facebook here.
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