Café Tomo

Pastries made in house, sandwiches cut small

The order here is short and clear: pastries made on the premises, and finger sandwiches for the savoury side. That is the shape of a visit, something light rather than a meal, taken in a lobby café where the seating faces the city.

Because the pastries are baked in house rather than bought in, they are the more interesting half of the counter and the better first order. The sandwiches are the practical half, cut small and built to accompany coffee or tea rather than to replace lunch.

A lobby room looking over Manama

Café Tomo sits in the lobby of the Conrad at Bahrain Financial Harbour, which gives it the character of that kind of room: open, quiet through the middle of the day, with the skyline doing most of the decorative work through the glass. It suits a pause between other things, a meeting that needs a table but not a dining room, or an afternoon hour with something sweet.

The pace is unhurried in the way hotel lobbies are. Nobody is waiting for the table, which makes it easier to stay than in a café built around turnover.

What to order

Take a pastry first. If the visit is standing in for a light lunch, add finger sandwiches and let the two sit together, which is how the counter is designed to be used.

Beyond that the café keeps things deliberately simple, so the choice is mostly between the sweet side and the savoury one rather than between long menus.