A Comforting Little Nook

This afternoon involved a simple expedition. One in search of coffee, ideally within walking distance. After a quick search on the map, we stumbled across the curiously named English Nook Café, and what a comforting little nook it turned out to be.

At first, we nearly turned around and went home, namely because it felt we were intruding directly into someone’s home. The café was inside the gate of a ground-floor apartment, with laundry and gym equipment scattered outside. An adorable puppy sat on the top step, tail wagging behind a little fold-out gate. Fortunately, a woman who knew the owners walked by and called out to them.

Inside, it truly was just a home. The young couple that lived here had transformed their living room into a cozy café and study area. Today, they were simply there eating their lunch at the dining table when we arrived. There were signs up asking us to speak English. It felt wrong, almost. They run classes here teaching both English and Chinese to students.

As promised, there was a café menu. Reasonably priced coffees. Smoothies. Complimentary biscuits. They mentioned that they were having the green smoothie for their own lunch. I figured that if it was their pick, I ought to give it a try. It was lovely. The coffee, too.

Their dog was called mantou, named after a Chinese steamed bun. Very fluffy he was. It seems simple, but it was nice just spending some time with a dog. I’d missed it. Whilst we were there, he had to get his tick medicine. He wasn’t particularly fond of it, the poor thing.

We stayed there for over an hour. They had a cabinet with English books, mainly loaded with the Harry Potter classics or famous Roald Dahl stories. But alongside those were a couple of fascinating selections. Some vocabulary books for study, but also two Yuval Noah Harari books—still wrapped in plastic—plus a particular work that caught my eye: Educated by Tara Westover. I’d never seen this book before. Today though, I dived into the first three chapters.

From my small sample, a compelling read. Written as a memoir, Westover grew up in a family of skeptic Mormon survivalists and first received a formal education at age seventeen. After some research, I now know that she holds a PhD from Cambridge. Really interesting stuff. There were plenty of eye-opening lines from those first few chapters alone. Definitely worth returning oto, I think.

Anyway, our drinks were also given at a heavily discounted price. They had a reduced rate on coffees if you came and studied in the café. Apparently, our reading constituted studying? Sure, we’ll take it. If you’re ever in Yangshuo—even more so if you’re staying a little bit away from the main strip—give this place a visit. It’ll feel like a warm, fuzzy slice of home. Take the opportunity to get a book in your hands while you’re at it.