london cafes s/d

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we were talking about dons cafe, just the other day. i haven't been though. nor to the famous pelluci's for that matter

tell me of favourites in holloway/archway, camberwell/peckham, or stepney/whitechapel,

charltonlido (gareth), Thursday, 14 July 2005 12:47 (eighteen years ago) link

Doesn't fall into any of these categories, Gareth, but I heart Picasso's in the King's Road, where i go for my full English breakfast every weekend, have done for 20+ years, Laura and I used to go there when we were in London at weekends.

Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 14 July 2005 12:52 (eighteen years ago) link

Not in London but Hastings, I recently discovered the Bus-Stop Cafe, which has a fantastic mural paying tribute to Reg Varney and the rest of the cast of 'On the Buses'. I intend to get photographic evidence asap.

Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 14 July 2005 13:01 (eighteen years ago) link

Before my self-imposed exile from caff food I was getting very pleased with the Parkside Cafe, at the South Western corner of Peckham Rye. Also right by Peckham Rye is the East Dulwich Cafe, classic bubble but inexplicably closed on a Sunday. There's a good place at a bend towards the south end of Bellenden Road (it might be called the Corner Cafe, it might not). There's a good, big place in Nunhead, too, just across from the Green.

The above are all greasy spoons. For a step upmarket, you might try the Peckham Experiment, also on Bellenden Road about 5 minutes walk from Peckham Rye station. I had some delicious kippers there.

The only caff I've been to in Camberwell was the tiny Big Eat, on Camberwell Road just north of the big junction at Camberwell Green. I went there with Starry after looking round the Gala bingo on the last Open House weekend. I think I may have been hung over. It was really good, and the portions were enormous. Happy days.

See post from June 2003 for Pie & Mash recommendations. If you're in the Camberwell / Peckham area, Gareth, you should give me a shout. If you want.

Tim (Tim), Thursday, 14 July 2005 13:03 (eighteen years ago) link

im not entirely sure, but i think i may have gone to picasso's with mary, when i showed her the king's road (the only time ive spent any real time there). in fact, im sure of it! (i'll go look on the web, see if i can find out for sure)

the crumble at goddards in greenwich sounds enticing, i may be in greenwich again soon

seymours in camberwell seems very seasidey, but i havent been in yet, it seemed closed when i went past yesterday

charltonlido (gareth), Thursday, 14 July 2005 13:05 (eighteen years ago) link

I like Jenny's on Muswell Hill Broadway, as it's just round the corner from my flat, and Ella's on Kilburn High Road, as that was just down the road from my flat when I lived there. Both do top all day breakfasts!

Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Thursday, 14 July 2005 13:06 (eighteen years ago) link

crumble at goddards is god-like.

lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 14 July 2005 13:07 (eighteen years ago) link

two months pass...
tell me more about cafes in the archway and highgate area

terry lennox. (gareth), Monday, 3 October 2005 11:56 (eighteen years ago) link

Wow, triple Gareth thread revival!

I went to an excellent cafe the other week, but it was only at the Highbury end of Holloway Road - the Paradise Cafe.

Best omelette I've had in ages.

Also, I had lunch at Bar Italia in Soho for the first time ever - I've only ever had takeaway coffee there, but it was lovely to sit at a table outside and watch the world go by.

Paranoid Spice (kate), Monday, 3 October 2005 12:01 (eighteen years ago) link

I could do with new breakfast suggestions as it is now too cold to sit outside Bar Italia at 7:30 in the morning (it's fine when the sun gets around later on though)

Ed (dali), Monday, 3 October 2005 12:39 (eighteen years ago) link

I am really fond of the Hollywood café with its orange sign and hollywood posters on walls. it almosts feels like hollywood and i have fond memories of the place.

millenium cafe is quite a favourite amongst the locals. it has very nice wood panelling and they will serve you a moussaka at 11am on a sunday morning if for some reason you feel like ordering it.

ken c (ken c), Monday, 3 October 2005 12:42 (eighteen years ago) link

The Spaghetti House in Tufnell Park is good for a fry up. Very reasonable.

chap who would dare to kill all the threads (chap), Monday, 3 October 2005 13:02 (eighteen years ago) link

four months pass...
Returning to Toby's initial request for London cafes where you might do a spot of work, possibly with a laptop. I suppose a coffee shop rather than a greasy spoon, and ideally not a Starbucks or Cafe Nerd. I tried out the studio lounge on the top floor of Piccadilly Waterstones the other day, and it's nice and it has a great view, but I missed the distraction of watching people bustling about on the streets. Any ideas?

Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Monday, 6 February 2006 12:30 (eighteen years ago) link

i am almost hesitant to post this here, but the answer is foyles cafe, i think. free wireless internet, amazing coffee, great food, good jazz playing, view of charing cross road and buses etc, you can sit for hours over a cup of coffee etc etc. i work there as much as i can these days.

toby (tsg20), Monday, 6 February 2006 13:40 (eighteen years ago) link

i guess i'm pretty easy to stalk, really.

toby (tsg20), Monday, 6 February 2006 13:40 (eighteen years ago) link

I tried Foyles on Friday, but sat at one of the tables instead of the window bar and found it incredibly busy and cramped! I guess I should get there early and stake out my territory.

Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Monday, 6 February 2006 13:54 (eighteen years ago) link

hmm, i've never found that! was this around lunchtime, though? except for the pre-christmas rush i've never had any trouble with space, although i tend to get there around 11am and sit in the window, so i probably don't notice much of the busyness. actually noise-excluding headphones mean that i often don't notice anything at all, in fact.

where else is good, anyway? someone recommended the photographers' gallery to me, though i haven't tried it yet.

toby (tsg20), Monday, 6 February 2006 14:01 (eighteen years ago) link

archway area - toll gate cafe, up near the clap clinic, just off the junction of holloway road/junction road
full of breastfeeding mothers, but a cute little outdoor area and tasty cakes and it's painted a pleasing shade of minty green

powpowpow, Monday, 6 February 2006 14:04 (eighteen years ago) link

Photographer's Gallery is great in a carrot cake/cheese sandwich/do not disturb way.

I've been going to Andrewes a lot recently for the comfort-food lunches; they seem to have had an interior refit but the furniture and facade are still the same, and the kitchen is still good. Escalope, mash and peas for £5!

I am pretty spoilt for breakfast - nothing but Smiths of Smithfield or Konstam will do, since I DO NOT get on with budget sausage of any kind, and these places seem to have a minimum quality threshold of giving you a Cumberland at the very least.

suzy (suzy), Monday, 6 February 2006 14:08 (eighteen years ago) link

photographers gallery is my favourite cafe in london!

SoS' mustard is a wee too fierce for me, but good sausages and nice thick white bread. £3.50 for a sausage sandwich stretches it a bit but no matter.

ambrose (ambrose), Monday, 6 February 2006 14:30 (eighteen years ago) link

The Hollywood Cafe always has something bizarre going on outside it.

RoxyMuzak© (roxymuzak), Monday, 6 February 2006 14:33 (eighteen years ago) link

is the toll gate cafe on archway roundabout itself? i wonder why i have never seen this place,

terry lennox. (gareth), Monday, 6 February 2006 14:37 (eighteen years ago) link

it shuts fairly early, usually half-fourish
if you go round the corner from the second chance charity shop (walking towards the station), there's a florist, a horrible little gym, and toll gate. it's hidden just behind the archway tavern.

powpowpow, Monday, 6 February 2006 15:10 (eighteen years ago) link

five months pass...
i was in london earlier this year. where do people go in the downtown/city area?

i found a peruvian cafe, by london bridge station. didn't seem very peruvian though

michael hayes (688), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 10:38 (seventeen years ago) link

titos, i think

-- (688), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 10:41 (seventeen years ago) link

They've got quite a chain going now, there's one on exmouth market, and one on Grays Inn Road. Pretty bog standard, good portuguese custard tarts though.

Vicky (Vicky), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 10:50 (seventeen years ago) link

Apparently the cafe in RIBA is lovely and quiet and good for working, but I haven't been yet.

Anna (Anna), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 10:51 (seventeen years ago) link

And Amici (I think it's called) on the Garage side of Highbury Corner is good and they put loads of filling in the massive sandwiches.

Anna (Anna), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 10:52 (seventeen years ago) link

RIBA cafe is excellent (the bookshop is great for timewasting in too). You can eat posher food in the ballroom as well. a very good sausage sandwich.

Ed (dali), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 10:53 (seventeen years ago) link

I've not been to RIBA for a couple of years (I am rubbish at remembering to eat) but its always been nice when I've been before and quite good to work in.

Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 11:06 (seventeen years ago) link

What/where is RIBA?

PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 11:08 (seventeen years ago) link


http://www.riba.org/go/RIBA/Home.html

Anna (Anna), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 12:13 (seventeen years ago) link

The Tito's on Exmouth Market was my local in my last job - it was a bog standard sandwich bar. Tito's is London Bridge is more Peruvian in the evening, I believe, although I've never been.

Red Lion Street and Lamb's Conduit street are lined with good cafes, although my favourite greasy spoon remains the one next to the Bowling Alley in Lewisham.

Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 12:18 (seventeen years ago) link

Apparently the cafe in RIBA is lovely and quiet and good for working, but I haven't been yet.
-- Anna (Fieldingann...), July 25th, 2006.

ech. i work near it. it's ok.

Roughage Crew (Enrique), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 12:28 (seventeen years ago) link

i saw a ripped-out weave lying in front of cafe panorama once upon a time. this prejudiced me against it, though i realize it probably had nothing to do with it.

lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 12:36 (seventeen years ago) link

nine years pass...

update for 2016 please? i need somewhere quiet, interview-friendly in soho...

cher guevara (lex pretend), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 16:20 (eight years ago) link

went to bistro no.1 last year, that was nice and quiet iirc

odysseus (imago), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 16:28 (eight years ago) link

that looks like more of a restaurant...

cher guevara (lex pretend), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 16:48 (eight years ago) link

think it functions as either but yeah probably not quite cafe enough for your needs

it's a surprisingly tough question. will put it to my gf who would know better

odysseus (imago), Tuesday, 9 February 2016 17:01 (eight years ago) link

i like this place Blend up in Haringey.

akm, Tuesday, 9 February 2016 22:30 (eight years ago) link

The cafe in Foyle's? But I don't know when the quiet times are or even if there are any.

ljubljana, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 19:18 (eight years ago) link

See Foyles Cafe used to be fairly quiet but now in the nu-Foyles not so much. Depends at what time/day but its still pretty good.

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 11 February 2016 13:10 (eight years ago) link

the Delaunay Counter on the Aldwych is a good bet IMO- not quite Soho but near enough...

Gaz upon my works ye mighty, and despair (Neil S), Thursday, 11 February 2016 13:53 (eight years ago) link

yeah that place is the best

japanese mage (LocalGarda), Thursday, 11 February 2016 15:05 (eight years ago) link

foyles is definitely not quiet!

ended up going to a caffe nero that looked fairly empty, minute i started the interview the entire world piled in and started yelling at each other and the coffee machines started drilling away non-stop, the minute i stopped everyone left. fuck cafés imo

cher guevara (lex pretend), Thursday, 11 February 2016 18:37 (eight years ago) link

or maybe just fuck soho

cher guevara (lex pretend), Thursday, 11 February 2016 18:37 (eight years ago) link

i once had a v good phd supervision going from one end of the victoria line to the other, highly recommended for the formal exchange of ideas

walthamstow benjamin to ludwig brixtonstein

odysseus (imago), Friday, 12 February 2016 01:59 (eight years ago) link


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