A new cafe on Fossgate is bringing a flavour of Southeast Asia to York.
Lè Specialty is now open on Fossgate, and is serving up an exciting menu of food and drink – featuring specialty coffee, tasty treats and unique beverages.
The building was previously home to Cosy Time, a popular cafe that was founded in 2015, which closed earlier this year. It has now been taken over by a new management team who are aiming to continue its cosy and welcoming legacy.
The cafe is now owned by Leon Tan and his wife, Olivia, who moved to York to open Lè Specialty.
After achieving a masters degree in business administration last year, Leon was looking for an opportunity to serve Specialty coffee.
‘Specialty coffee’ is a term used for the highest grade of coffee using single-origin coffee, and meets the standards of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA).
“Every single cup of coffee we serve is specialty grade,” explained Leon. “All of our specialty coffee has a SCA grade of 80 points and above.”
It was the passion for specialty coffee that inspired the name change to Lè Specialty – but it has a deeper meaning too.
“Lè in Mandarin means happiness, and is also actually my son’s name,” said Leon. “So it encompasses being surrounded by my family and also bringing happiness and specialty coffee to the people of York.”
Inside, Lè Specialty is warm, friendly and inviting with a peach and green colour scheme – and plenty of plants. “My wife loves plants.” It has been a true team effort, with Leon in control of the food and drinks, and Olivia taking charge of the interior and decoration.
On the menu there are ‘house special’ drinks such as the Asian Dolce Coffee (£4.20 hot, £4.50 iced), with bitter coffee, condensed milk, and milk to balance the bitter and sweet flavours, and a Sweet Avocado Milkshake (£4.80).
“I realised that the avocado milkshake is not popular in the UK – it’s so popular in Southeast Asia. It’s a very nice, creamy and sweet drink.
“I’m from Malaysia,” said Leon, “so I wanted to try and bring a fusion of flavour from Southeast Asia. We are really excited to introduce the food and drinks that are special to us.”
This also extends to the food menu, with one of the savoury highlights being the Sweet Chilli Garlic Vermicelli (£9.50), which is vermicelli noodles with peanuts, lime, sweet chilli sauce, and vegetables with a choice of salmon, prawn, chicken or tofu.
On the sweet side, there is the Croffle – aka a croissant pressed as a waffle with a variety of flavours such as Berries and Almond (£8.90) and Pistachio (£8.90).
“We wanted to offer something special that not everyone else is doing.”
The menu also features vegan options, and the cafe doesn’t charge extra for alternative milk such as oat milk. “For me, I don’t think oat milk should be a luxury – it should just be an option for people to choose.”
Lè Specialty is also a pet friendly and LGBTQ friendly cafe.
“We want to be welcoming to everyone in York.”
The cafe is also aiming to introduce a loyalty card soon, where returning customers will be able to get a free coffee after achieving a number of stamps on their card.
Lè Specialty is open every day except Tuesday, from 9am to 5pm. Find out more and keep up to date with the new cafe via their Instagram and Facebook.
Take a look inside…
