Some cafes are so hip that you feel better just sitting in them. And some are so far beyond that, they just make you feel old. I felt old here, but in a weird inside-out sort of way since the interior was old too.
In college, I had a house with 3 other guys. It was decorated mainly with furniture that we picked up at yard sales or on the trash over the first couple weeks of school. You can probably imagine what it looked like, except that we didn’t have the stereotypical ratty cloth couches – somehow we managed to find a 60’s/70’s black leather couch with thin wooden legs that became the centerpiece of our furnishings. Compound Cafe, staffed by a pair of people who look to be just out of college (although it’s doubly hard for me to tell since I’m getting older and they were Asian), is stuffed with this furniture. Combined with the odd angles of a small space spread over single rooms on three floors with steep, exposed staircases between, a faux fireplace, a bit of fake velvet, and some old English books, this place felt like a college hangout. Which, judging by the customers, it is. Which is why I felt so old.
It’s really pleasant though! I could sit around here any time. They have ample drinking options, some snacking and meals, they make their own sangria as well as a decent little cocktail, and there are quirky light bossa versions of hit songs played over a couple speakers hooked to a vintage receiver on the 2nd floor by long wires.
I keep thinking it’s ‘Concave Cafe’, like it’s about to collapse on itself from excessive coolness.
03-5779-6870