The Parkside Cafe

good coffee in reading doesn't always announce itself. parkside road, just off the main drag in the rg30 stretch of town, is residential enough that you'd pass marlborough house without thinking twice if you didn't know to stop. that's fine. the cafe sits there anyway, well regarded by the people who've made it part of their week, not because reading lacks options but because this one holds up on its own terms. if you're coming from the caversham direction or cutting through from the west side of town, it's a natural pause. not a detour, just where the morning goes. the kind of place locals tend to protect a little, which says enough. worth arriving before the late-morning rush settles in on parkside road.