In Los Angeles, there is a Jewish cafe/restaurant called Canters which is a staple in old Hollywood. It’s full of screenwriters in big white trainers and khaki shorts writing C-list scripts about zombies (there’s a huge market for zombie films in LA). It’s bright and full of booths and the staff are older than most [...]

The best thing about this place is the fact that you would never know it was here unless you knew it was here. Part of a school and hidden behind a tall brick wall, you have to ring a buzzer to get in (the buzzer list includes the likes of….. who are also located in [...]

Ok so I take it back, Brixton does have a few places of merit other than the Ritzy and Rosie’s Café, and one would be Franco Manca. A little pizza place only open for lunch in Brixton Market, it looks a bit like a posh fish and chip shop with a giant mosaic pizza oven [...]

So much more than just a cheese shop although what a cheese shop it is. It only has one long large wooden communal table as every other spare inch is taken up by all kinds of delicious food. They serve everything from (proper) wine to tea and coffee. It’s one of the places where you [...]

Ok so another faux-Italian deli cum café, I guess I can’t get enough of these places. Distressed furniture and walls adorned with shelves of jars and Italian produce are two themes I always plum for and like gastro pubs, London has no shortage of them. I’m just picking out a few of my favourites. [...]

Located in people-watching heaven since it’s frequented by people who dress like a piece of coloured perspex with hair on loan from the V&A, the Story Deli is East London’s answer to great pizza. It has one main communal table with a few more scattered around and outside, plus lots of oxidised mirrors which I [...]

Beyond the gridlock of baby buggies and over-gentrification, Stoke Newington Church Street has many positive points, one in particular being the Blue Legume. It’s comforting to think that if it weren’t for the bourgeoisie element of this area a place like this probably wouldn’t be here. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love this place. [...]

Upper Street may have a lot of restaurants but good ones it does not. Ottolenghi however is excellent and has the most delicious selection of cakes, pies and other desserts. The windows are piled high with colourful meringues (which I have never seen anyone actually eat), cupcakes and little custard tarts. They have all kinds [...]

Without a doubt worthy of the term ‘institution’ Sweetings has been around since before (and only just surviving) World War II. Now be warned it’s not to everyone’s taste. Packed wall to wall with pinstriped-suit-wearing city boys of the old school variety, there isn’t a woman in sight. It appears to hark back to the [...]

The staff are the clincher for me as they are so sweet and small and Swedish. It’s a quirky concept as the main thing on offer is obviously hummus but there is plenty to fill up on once you add pita bread, moutabel, perhaps some falafel or tabouleh, a cup or two of fresh mint [...]