Penny Blood's Black Book - My Independent Guide to London » Cafes

Full Stop

Penny Blood — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:54:01 +0000

What was once a really good little antique shop is now an even better café. Full stop has gone right to the top of my list of favourites. I like it because it’s been designed to look like a sitting room from another decade, complete with 1960’s kitchen cupboards, blue Formica table tops, couches, wall lamps and old photographs. They keep it simple serving a few pastries and cakes to go with your coffee and in the evening stay open late serving alcohol, a treat in London where a café rarely stays open past 6pm. I like cafes that lack that air of professionalism where getting a flat white right is a matter of life or death, which as I’m not actually a big coffee drinker is lost on me. What I like is somewhere were the furniture has all been hand picked, as if the owner was decorating their own house and where the menu is simple but good. It’s a good spot for working as the back area doesn’t get much natural light so good for working on a computer but as an antidote there is a nice little window spot up front to watch the world go by.

www.facebook.com/pages/full-stop/130525277050160?ref=ts&sk=wall

Full Stop, 202, Brick Lane, London, E1 6SA
Monday-Friday 8am-11pm, Saturday-Sunday 9am-12.30pm

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Mouse & de Lotz

Penny Blood — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:19:00 +0000

Ok it’s true there is nothing so special anymore about salvaged china tea cups and cakes on pretty cake stands but you have to trust me when I say that Mouse & de Lotz is special. If you were to wander around East London these days, taking in the wonderful array of cafes, there are a few things you will start to see over and over again, home made cakes, pretty chinaware, good quality food, quirky furniture, random pictures and so on but the thing I get excited about are the places that manage to nail every point or at least nearly every point. I’ve been to a few places where the service is great, the food is great and the furniture is great but the room is too big or I don’t like the chairs, I’m very easily put off and I can’t stand cafes that have adjoining vintage clothes shops selling lots of real fur (except for Blitz, I love Blitz), it makes me feel sick. Mouse & de Lotz is perfect, it ticks all the boxes and has a couple of cosy little rooms at the back with comfy chairs to relax, read or work on your computer as it has a bit of an unsaid silence rule. Pretty much located in the middle of nowhere it’s the kind of place that shouts “this area is on the up” but I’m a big fan of that, who wants to live in a shithole anyway?

www.mousedelotz.com

Mouse & de Lotz, 103 Shacklewell Lane, London, E8 2EB
0203 489 8082
Monday – Friday 8am-6pm, Saturday 9am-6pm, Sunday 10am-6pm, Tuesday Closed

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Andor Bureau

Penny Blood — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:19:45 +0000

Before Andor Bureau came about this spot was a series of greasy spoons ranging from great to awful, it was only a matter of time before it became somewhere that sold Victoria sponge cake rather than fry-up’s though with the art gallery infested Vyner street opposite and The Last Tuesday Society shop of weirdness next door. Having worked next door and needing constant respite from the hordes of people asking “Is this real?” about every mangy piece of Victorian taxidermy the shop, sold I always felt the area was in need of something like this, somewhere I can get a soya hot chocolate and now all of a sudden there are choices, with Ombra, another great café/bar/restaurant opposite. Andor Bureau did a great job tearing down the bathroom tiles from the place before, even managing to expose the wooden floor boards from the premises above. A long communal table and little window seats make it a perfect place to use as an office away from home. It definitely stands out as one of the loveliest cafes i’ve been to in London.

Andor Bureau, 3 Mare Steet, London, E8 4RP
Monday – Friday 7am – 5pm Saturday – Sunday 9am-6pm

www. andorbureau.com

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Platform Cafe in Netil House

Penny Blood — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:17:34 +0000

The best places always tend to be the secret places I think, the ones that only attract the same sort of people and friends of those people. I’ve got to be honest, I’m not a fan of diversity. I like what I like and who I like and that’s that. Anyway, one day a friend invited me for a coffee at “a place I know you will love” he tells me. Well he wasn’t wrong. Near Broadway Market there is what I can only describe as a hideous old council building, honestly you couldn’t get more ugly and not in a good way. However I discovered that inside this eyesore was a rabbit warren of studios occupied by artists, fashion designers, musicians, graphic designers and so on… it’s just an amazing hive of creativity. And my favourite part? They have the most brilliant café. It’s up on the 2nd floor and it’s huge with random furniture, a great view and a fantastic roof terrace which backs onto a tattoo parlour. You could come here and work for hours without being bothered. I’ve had four unconnected and random introductions to Netil House. One was Molly Bakes, the girl who makes amazing cup cakes on sticks; the second was the tall quirky boy who did illustrations for the Secret Seed society, they’re into growing vegetables and stuff; then there was the photographer for the Le Cool guide (he’s the one I give credit to for introducing me first); and then there was the guy who made classical music using only his computer – these are the kind of people who occupy this building. Thing is, until now you would have had to know someone in the building to get in. Although technically open to the public, not only would you never know it was there but there is no obvious way to get in even if you do know it exists. What you need to do is walk down the side alley opposite the Corner Café, go right to the end and there is a black unmarked door on the left. Buzz number 207 and hopefully someone will let you in, good luck!

www.netilhouse.com

Platform Cafe, Netil House, 1 Westgate Street, London, E8 3RL
0203 095 0900
I don’t really know when it’s open, it’s a bit random, I’ll find out and get back to you

The Happy Kitchen, e5 Bake House, Arch 389 Furniture

Cafe Oto

Penny Blood — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 08:48:42 +0000

Now here’s a good one, Cafe Oto. Yes I’m embarrassed to say I’ve only just got around to coming here. It was only when Katie told me about it that I realised that another day couldn’t go by without me paying a visit. Katie has great taste, unpretentious but really good. I have a list a mile long of places I want to check out but I’m working full time for a few weeks so whole days dedicated to lounging about have come to an abrupt halt for the time being. I just hadn’t anticipated that Cafe Oto would be as good as it is. I was expecting a tiny little place crammed full of furniture and Turkish people but instead found a huge warehouse-like space with random junk shop furniture and delicious food including black sesame icecream and tables outside facing the sun (when there is any). To describe in simpler terms: simply perfect.

http://www.cafeoto.co.uk/

Cafe Oto, 18 – 22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London, E8 3DL
020 7923 1231
Monday – Friday 9.30am – 5.30pm Saturday – Sunday 10.30am – 5.30pm

Tina, We salute you!

Penny Blood — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 08:26:35 +0000

So have I told you about my friend Ana? Ana’s hobby, at least at the moment anyway, is going on dates with people she meets on dating websites. The last date she went on was at Tina, We Salute You! He was a badger watcher apparently, he’d sit there watching badgers and taking note of how many there were. They call it conducting a ‘Badger Census’ I’m told. I didn’t quite know how to respond to this. Tina, We Salute You! is a small but comfortable space flooded with light, due to big windows on both sides. They use old tea cups and tea pots with walls decorated with graffiti and a JH Lynch super kitsch painting of ‘Tina’ on the wall (you can’t fail to inspire with a good JH Lynch or a Tretchikoff). They serve delicious cakes, Square Mile coffee (London’s finest and very own) and have a couch and a big table inviting you to bring your laptop and stay for as long as you please. The boys who own it used to have a cup cake stand on Bricklane, thank god they have moved on from that, haven’t we all had enough of this cup cake craze? I hear they named the cafe after Tina, the lady in the JH Lynch painting which they used to have hanging in their stand, I like that small fact.

http://tinawesaluteyou.com/

Tina, We salute you!, 47 King Henrys Walk, London N1 4NH
020 3119 0047
Tuesday – Friday 8am-7pm; Saturday 9am-7pm; Sunday 10am-7pm

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Look Mum No Hands

Penny Blood — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:43:15 +0000

Yey another bike shop cafe! Look Mum No Hands, certainly brightens up this boring stretch of Old Street. This ambitous project is both bike workshop and cafe/casual restaurant of sorts. It’s definitely less of a hipster fixed wheel hangout and more of a family oriented place, hosting fun events from brownie baking competitions to film nights, I usually roll my eyes at this kind of thing but here they get it right. The cyclist themed decoration involves walls festooned with bike frames, wheels and all other manner of cycling paraphernalia, stylishly done of course. If you’re after a flat white they can sort you out but if its a cold drink you’re after then there’s smoothies, milkshakes, iced coffees, fresh fruit juice and a number of different beers and wine served all day, not to mention the pies, cakes, salads and daily specials all by local bakers or made on the premises on the menu as well.

*FREE WIFI

http://www.lookmumnohands.com/

Look Mum No Hands, 49 Old Street, London, EC1V 9HX
Cafe: 020 7253 1025 Workshop: 020 7490 3928
Monday – Friday 07:30–22:00 Saturday 09:00–22:00 Sunday 10:00–22:00

Lock 7

Lock 7

Penny Blood — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 10:03:51 +0000

I’m well known for my ‘fads’, they go way back, ranging from synchronized swimming to carpentry but of late I’m into bikes. I haven’t gone as far as getting a fixed wheel though. Looking cool on a fixed wheel bike is really not such a fine line. You can only pull it off if you belong to an ethnic minority or you look like a bike courier. White hipsters just look like lady bottoms. They wiggle there bottoms when they walk as their jeans are too tight. These are often the types that ride fixed wheel. Not always though. The fixed wheel fad is on it’s way out now anyway. Say hello to vintage Italian racing bikes. Yawn. Lock 7 is a cafe that combines a bike shop with an organic cafe, four words I can’t get enough of, bike, shop, organic, cafe. I’m the kind of bike enthusiast who is less into what kind of crank I have and more into what colour crank I can have. Lock 7 is located right on the canal by Broadway Market and never gets quite as busy as the other cafes, I think because non-bike people think it’s just a bike shop. As they do repairs on site there are bike parts everywhere and frames hanging from the walls and ceilings. On a sunny day the sun pours in the huge windows and you can watch them play with inner tubes as you have your french toast and hot chocolate.

http://www.lock-7.com

Lock 7, 129 Pritchards Road, London, E2 9AP
020 7739 3042
Tuesday – Sunday 8am – 6pm

Coffee @ Brick Lane / Bermondsey Street Coffee / Fix Whitecross Street

Penny Blood — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:30:13 +0000

I’ve put these four cafes in one post because the idea of this blog is that it’s my ‘top 10’ and I can’t decide which of these four cafés I like best and because aside from ‘Fix’ (where the owner only used to work at one of the others) I think they’re all owned by the same person. If they open one more though, I may decide they are a chain at which point they will be stricken from my list!

It’s often hard to get a seat at Coffee @ Brick Lane as it’s always heaving, but if you do manage it then it’s great for people watching. It’s where t-shirts with trendy slogans and trainers by Jeremy Scott come to hang out. On the definite plus-side it has most of the trappings I look for when drinking coffee: 1. it’s not a Starbucks; 2. it has large comfy chairs taking up valuable retail space; 3. they do a soy latte.

Coffee@Bricklane, 154 Brick Lane, Spitalfields, London, E1 6RU
020 7247 6735
Monday – Sunday 7.30am – 8pm

Ahh Bermonsey, London’s favorite shithole. In fact most people have never heard of Bermondsey. Well let me tell you, as long as you stick to Bermondsey Street you will be very pleasantly surprised. First of all it has been gentrified to the hilt (apparent by the abundance of Vespa scooters) which naturally means you will find the following; gastro pubs, expensive cafes and shops where all the stock has been imported from Japan. Bermondsey Street Coffee is exactly what it should be in a place like this; horrendously over-priced, impeccably trendy, and full of graphic designers who dream of having their own t-shirt line. It’s a nice place to work though, comforting as I don’t think anyone else here has job either… by choice of course.

Bermondsey Street Coffee, 163-167 Bermondsey Street, London, SE1 3UW
020 7423 1525
Monday – Sunday 7am – 8pm

Coffee @ Gos sell homemade honey and have lots of magazines to browse through too, there is no need to say more, they sell homemade honey for chrissakes.

Coffee @ Gos, 160-164 Goswell Rd, London
020 7336 6538
Mon-Fri 7am – 8pm Sat-Sun 8am – 7pm

Now although Fix is not associated with the other three is does have a very similar theme to it. They may not like me saying this but I can assure you it’s a good thing. They have even gone to the trouble to make a sign stating this fact (see below).

http://www.fix-coffee.co.uk/

Fix Coffee, 161 Whitecross Street, London EC1Y 8JL
020 7490 8081
Monday – Friday 7am-7pm Saturday- Sunday 8am-7pm

Brick Lane Market

Hurwundeki Café

Penny Blood — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:29:13 +0000

On my initial discovery it was like an episode of the Twilight Zone. I decided to walk up Cambridge Heath Road as it was a rare sunny day when I came across what looked like a garden centre or children’s crèche due to an abundance of garden gnomes, miniature chairs and rocking horses on a sand-covered fake beach sort of thing with very old deckchairs and a lovely old oak kitchen table. Situated next to the overground station and facing a particularly seedy strip club, Korean-owned Hurwundeki, is an amazing café playing 20’s jazz and kitted out with old wooden furniture you might find in a sailor’s beach cabin. Once upon a time the food choice was pretty slim consisting of either a roast vegetable sandwich, a samosa, a croissant or a lemon, now they have a great choice of everything. These days Hurwundeki is a little more polished with slick service and a huge choice of food and drink. I think I was fonder of it when it was a bit random and run by a broody Frenchman though.

http://www.hurwundeki.com/renew/store/cafe/cafe_main.php

Hurwundeki, 299 Cambridge Heath Road, London, E2 9HA
020 7739 3899
Monday – Friday 7am – 6pm Saturday- Sunday 9am-6pm

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