Because I've been so busy and stressed out these days, I decided to save some time this month by finding a cafe close to home to review. And to save even more trouble I decided on a cafe that's only a slight detour from my daily walk home from work. Located in the centre of Crookes is the tiny Hercule Cafe. When i first moved to Shefffield this appeared to be just another sandwich shop, with its only distinguishing feature being the fact that it was a Belgian sandwich shop. A friend told me it had recently changed management, which I assume is why it's gone through a change of image.

The menu boasts "A taste of the Mediterranean closer to home". Is this Crookes' answer to Commonside's cafe which a reviewer once described as "a little corner of Provence"? Or is it another result of global warming? What's Belgium doing down on the Mediterranean, anyway? Has France gone underwater since I last read the newspaper?

The cafe consists of a long deli counter on one side and a small number of tables on the other. We sat at the window counter with a view of the Co-Op Market framed by Merlin Estate Management on one side and Casanova Italian Restaurant on the other. When I ordered a latte and two double espresso macchiatos, my request was met with confusion by the woman behind the counter. Eventually the barista came over to ask us what exactly we meant, so we explained to him how to make a macchiato. Ah, well, whaddya expect? Not every cafe in Yorkshire can be espresso savvy.

The presentation was a bit worrying. Rory's latte was served in a café au lait cup, but the two double macchiatos came in regular coffee cups. The shots were weak and a little sour as if the beans had been scorched. But what was I expecting? This is Crookes, not Ecclesall Road. But even if my workmate Paul thinks that Crookes is overrun with elderly people on sticks, I'm sure the denizens of the Cobden View, the Ball Inn, the Punchbowl, Noahs Ark, and the Old Grindstone would heartily object to that description.

Hercule does have an attractive menu. Breakfasts come in all forms, including vegetarian versions, and they offer breakfast paninis, salads, lunch paninis and baguettes, rarebits, and sides of olives, papatas bravos, and nachos. They also sell Belgian chocolates. I was especially attracted to the dark chocolate truffle in the display case shaped like the Sphinx. But when I asked the woman behind the counter about the chocolates -- ie. what was inside the Sphinx -- she claimed complete ignorance. Too bad... perhaps this is just a growing pain. Or at least I hope so. I would definitely buy a Sphinx truffle as long as I knew what was inside. Could this be a modern Riddle of the Sphinx?

Speaking of riddles, every time I think of Hercule Cafe I can't helping thinkin of Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot. I know this is unfair, I'm sure there are probably a few Belgian people named Hercule. And it might even be a common name for a Belgian cafe, similar to Gino's or Pancho's or Pierre's or Joe's. But why is it not called Cafe Hercule, or at least Hercule's Cafe? Is it because of what happens these days to punctuation, with all the haphazard and wayward apostrophes? Is it so whoever this Hercule is or was will not be confused with the mythological strongman? After all, it only takes one typo in the Yellow Pages to turn Hercule's into Hercules forever.