Zí Tore

You'll find Zí Tore sandwiched on Union Street, just far enough from the main drag that it feels like a proper local discovery rather than another chain café. The place has that rare quality of being both unpretentious and genuinely excellent—the kind of spot where regulars queue out the door on Saturday mornings but nobody's performing for Instagram. The coffee's clearly taken seriously here, and the food goes beyond the usual avocado toast territory. It's become the sort of place Reading people actually choose to spend time in, not just pass through.