Study spot: The Hallway Café

by Kateryna Didukh | Apr 27, 2019 | Study spot | 0 comments

Across from the Art Gallery of Alberta, you can find a recently reinvented dining spot. The Hallway Café and Takeaway combines art, sustainability, and comfort. Located at 1 Sir Winston Churchill Square, the Hallway Café is situated right in the heart of Edmonton City Hall — just a 15-minute walk from MacEwan University.

While Churchill Square has been under construction for some time now due to the Valley Line LRT project, the Hallway Café is a hidden gem that makes you forget all about the construction once you step inside. It’s a vibrant and well-lit space with a unique, spring-like atmosphere that’s perfect as a cozy spot for studying in the morning or early afternoon.
As you walk through the glass doors, the first thing you notice is the bright decor. Hallway Café has a definite greenhouse vibe to it — you can find multiple plants hanging off the arches over the tables. On the back wall, you’ll spot a large, life-sized chalkboard mural with palm leaves, a flamingo and a parrot painted on it, which gives the place a rightfully artsy appearance. While most of the café is furnished with wooden and plastic chairs, if you’re looking for something cozier, in one corner of the café you can find a small couch with pillows.

The atmosphere and the art isn’t the only thing that makes the Hallway Café appealing. Above everything else, the café was founded with sustainability and social responsibility in mind — something the staff and executive chef, Brian McBride, deeply value.

The greenhouse vibe isn’t just for show — minimizing waste is crucial to how the café operates daily. Here, all of the food packaging, disposable coffee cups, and straws are made from renewable resources and are completely compostable. Any leftover or excess product from the café is distributed to organizations such as the Women’s Emergency Accommodation Centre (WEAC), and to other similar programs within the city.

But nothing is more important to the Hallway Café staff than fostering community engagement. The café acts as a learning kitchen and a workspace for youth ages 16 through 24 who come from programs like iHuman Youth Society and Youth Empowerment Support Services. The Hallway Café directly promotes and supports programs engaged in the development of youth, including a work experience program that trains up to 40 young people a year.

Before it was the Hallway Café, this place was known as Kids in the Hall Bistro, and provided the same services for 22 years. In 2017 and 2018, the program and the space underwent a major revitalization — and the Hallway Café was born in its place.

The café specializes in freshly baked breakfast pastries, breakfast, and lunch meals. For all the pizza lovers, the Hallway Café also offers a unique selection of thin-crust pizzas made from scratch.

As a bonus, all wraps, sandwiches, and paninis come with fries, and guests have an option of adding bacon, eggs, and potatoes to any of their breakfast meals. The staff also make the preserves and braise the meats themselves.
The café offers your standard selection of caffeinated beverages — from lattes and mochas to americano mistos, as well as several choices of tea. So if you’re looking to spend an afternoon in a cozy, garden-like space, and enjoy delicious, sustainable snacks while supporting your local community, there’s no better place to do that downtown than the Hallway Café.