A review of The Gallery Cafe

St. Margaret's House, 21 Old Ford Road, Bethnal Green, London, E2 9PL

The Gallery Cafe happens to be located around the corner from Bethnal Green station and the Childhood Museum, which means it’s also on the way to my sister’s flat. Having walked past it many a time and noted that it’s usually busy at most times of day, I was confident that there must be a good reason for this. I wasn’t wrong.

Finally getting around to stopping off for an afternoon coffee, I wasn’t intending to supplement my caffeine hit with a snack. However, their vegetarian and vegan menu was so tempting that I couldn’t help but order a little taster – all in the name of research of course.

We had iced lattes as it was a rather balmy afternoon, and sat outside underneath the cheery multicoloured bunting sunning ourselves in the late afternoon heat. The clientele seemed mixed with some trendy east-London types perched next to ‘ladies that lunch’ and mums with excitable children just collected from school.

The fact that the cafe is part of St. Maragaret's House - a charity organisation which rents space for community organisations and charities at affordable prices - helped take the edge off my guilt for ordering a snack between meals as I knew my cash was helping to support worthwhile work in the community. And as soon as our delicious Mezze Plate of olives, falafel, haloumi, sundried tomatoes, humus and toasted tortilla wrap turned up I forgot any residue of guilt straight away.

The coffee was delicious and the food tasty, generous and expertly put together. Two of us shared the mezze plate and couldn’t finish despite willing our stomachs to accommodate the last morsels of grilled haloumi and humus.

As well as being a great cafe to stop and eat, drink and generally be merry, the Gallery Cafe hosts a range of music and other events and is open seven days a week. So, if you come along in the evening there’s bound to be some kind of entertainment on offer.

St Margaret’s House also recently opened the Create Place a few units down Old Ford Road. A space designed to bring local artists, craft enthusiasts, designers, makers and complete beginners together under one roof to share ideas, learn, teach and be inspired to create, the Create Place is a welcome addition to their portfolio of social enterprises. They have all sorts of classes on every week as well as drop-in sessions – check them out here.

You can find out more about St Margret’s House on their website. The Gallery Cafe is also on Facebook and Twitter.

A review of Yumchaa

 45 Berwick Street, London, W1F 8SF

I first came across Yumchaa’s tea at Brick Lane’s Sunday Upmarket. Having sorely missed my previous tea supplier in Nottingham since moving back down South, I was elated to find those familiar brown paper bags of fragrant blends in my local neighbourhood. Having had a good sniff of the varieties on offer I went for their ‘very very berry’ blend and was impressed no end when I got it home to find there were whole dehydrated blackberries in there alongside rooibos and rhubarb amongst other delicious ingredients.

Being of an inquisitive nature, I thought I’d look up the website on the front of my innocuous looking tea and was rather pleased to discover that not only does Yumchaa do tea, they do tea rooms! Reading their back story I was pleasantly surprised to find a sense of authentic entrepreneurialism as it seems this small company grew from selling their blends on market stalls throughout London (which they still do, evidently) to a tea shop in Camden, to now having three premises.

Seeing as I was in the area, I decided to drop in on their Soho shop to see if their cafes live up to their tea. I must say that ‘dropping in’ on a Saturday afternoon is one of harsher ways to judge a cafe as it is usually peak time. But what better way to put somewhere through its paces?

Arriving just as an influx of yummy mummies and their curly haired cherubs had descended, I couldn’t have picked a better moment to see how Yumchaa Soho handled the heat. And, although they seemed to have a trainee on the till (which seemed rather ill-advised), they service was attentive and faster than I would have expected.

Given the unusually high temperatures for this time of year, I was relieved to find that they served iced teas and coffees. Having sampled their tea blends at home, I opted for an iced latte which went down a treat though my partner had an iced Americano which was odd to say the least and something we won’t be ordering again in a hurry.

We didn’t stop to eat but I did have a good look at the choice of fresh bagels, sandwiches and wraps in the fridge which all looked delicious and seemed to go down well with the other punters. The mozzarella, tomato and basil bagel would have been my personal choice – it looked scrummy! They also had a good variety of cakes and muffins on offer which, had it been a little cooler, would have gone down well I’m sure.


One of my favourite things about Yumchaa is that even in the cafe space the emphasis is still on the tea. The shelves are bedecked with packets of their blends for sale and the counter top adorned with tiny milk jugs filled with teas for you to smell before making your selection. A nice touch I thought.

In the otherwise chain-saturated environment of Oxford Street, Yumchaa Soho offers a welcome retreat not too far off the beaten track and is somewhere I’d certainly try again for mid-shop refreshments.

A review of Hurwundeki Cafe

 

 298 - 299 Cambridge Heath Road London E2 9HA

As I have just moved into a new flat with the finest fellow in town, unfortunately I have no internet so am unable to blog as regularly as I would like. But, one of the great joys of moving to a new place, I find, is exploring the local area and adopting certain places into your imagined landscape of ‘home’. Being a cafe addict, I found myself very nervous at the thought that there might not be a good cafe nearby in which to while away lazy Saturday mornings or escape to when my postage stamp sized flat got a little too claustrophobic.

You’ll be relieved to hear that a mere five minute walk from my flat I found the wonderful Hurwundeki. A cafe-lovers paradise, this eclectic space consists of a generous yard out front with rickety garden furniture and tricycles scattered around for the little ones, as well as a high-ceilinged vault-like space under the arches of the railway bridge overhead for keeping out of the blazing April sun and tapping away on your laptop on their generous free wifi.

I should mention, that a happy accident of having no internet at home means that this is my first ‘live’ blog. I am, as we speak, sitting in Hurwundeki sipping on an exquisitely poured latte (in a latte glass with a heart in the top no less) waiting for my sausage and tomato sandwich to arrive.

Although I was really after a cooked breakfast, I must admit I’m not too disappointed at the alternative sandwich. The rest of the menu is equally creative with minimal-cook breakfast options such as pancakes and muesli with yoghurt as well as a range of sandwiches, salads, quiches and the most amazing board of sweet tarts, cakes and muffins.

The fact that I’ve now been to Hurwundeki three times, having only lived in the area for two weeks, shows that it has something to offer at any time of day. I’ve been in the morning at the weekend and in the afternoon on a weekday and it’s always busy – a good sign if ever there was one.

So, if you’re ever in Victoria Park, shopping down Columbia Road or mooching around Brick Lane, consider walking a little out of your way to pay Hurwundeki a visit, you won’t regret it. Oh, here’s my sandwich...

Hurwundeki are on Facebook and Twitter.

Berlin cafe reviews

I was lucky enough to spend this weekend in sun soaked Berlin and do a little blog research whilst there. Berlin in a fabulous city with many more amazing cafes than those listed here but I hope these few will tempt you enough for now:

Keyser Soze
33 Tucholskystr, Mitte, Berlin, Germany

Named after the mysterious underworld character from 1995 film The Usual Suspects, there’s something strangely familiar about this street side cafe quite apart from its cultural reference. Whether it’s the friendly staff, comprehensive menu, or laid back atmosphere, even when freshly arrived for the first time in Berlin you can feel immediately at home here.

The perfect place to catch your breath, refer to your guide book and plan your next move, Keyser Soze is conveniently located a short walk from Friedrichstrasse station in the centre of the city. We stopped off for a well needed caffeine hit after a 6.30am flight and refuelled with scrambled eggs and these jaw dropping club sandwiches. Seriously reasonably priced, our first foray into the cafe culture of Berlin was well rewarded.


Knickelkopp
77 Kreuzbergstrasse, Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany

There are two things which almost immediately grab my attention when wandering the streets of a new city: fairy lights, and bunting. So far, this slightly odd way of choosing bars, cafes, restaurants and boutiques has served me well and this time was no exception. I was so drawn by the lights, bunting and brightly coloured chairs adorning the street outside Knickelkopp that I even made my friends cross the street so that we could check it out.

On entering, I was pleasantly surprised as the candy coloured exterior, though clearly visually appealing, led me to assume that the main produce on offer would be overly iced neon-coloured cupcakes. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The interior is calm and fresh and the woman who greeted us couldn’t have been more welcoming or helpful. We only stopped for a quick coffee but I was so taken by this place I’d make the effort to seek it out next time I’m in Berlin.


Salon Schmuck
80 Skalitzer Strasse, Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany

After walking through a new city for a few hours you often get to a point at which your need for cake is so overwhelming you just. can’t. continue. Often, this is the point when you fall into the nearest establishment and find yourself with stale doughnuts and bitter coffee. However, in Berlin you are completely spoilt for choice with great cafes, bars and restaurants to take a pit stop and it so happened that Salon Schmuck was perfectly located for our 3pm refuel.

With a relaxed, street side ambience, and at least four different types of cake so decadent that choosing one was a little intimidating, it was the perfect spot to take a break and stock up on the calories needed to continue our adventure. Baked cheesecake with raspberries and carrot cake were our choices and went down a treat with fresh tea leaves ingeniously installed in fold down tea bags.

A review of Jonny’s Cafe, Hayle

50-51 Penpol Terrace, Hayle, Cornwal, TR27 4BQ

Apparently, us Britons are creatures of habit when it comes to choosing holiday destinations, with as many as a third of holidaymakers returning to the same spot each year. The survey also found that 10 per cent of the 2,156 adults polled had been to the same destination more than 20 times.

It’s clear that I fall into this third of Britons as, more often than not, I return to Hayle in Cornwall in August or September to chill out in a beach hut amongst the sand dunes, partake in a little light paddling and sample the delights of the local bakery scene. And, having been to Cornwall an apparently relatively small amount of times, it seems like I’m likely to keep on going back until I too can tick of my twentieth visit. Not that I’m competitive. 

So, why Hayle? Well, it’s around the bay from St Ives but miles more tranquil, it’s cheaper and has a much, much, much bigger beach. 3 miles of it. Oh, and, there’s the small matter of the amazing Philp’s bakery and conveniently located Jonny’s Cafe. 

Now, Philp’s bakery more than satisfies my compulsory quota of Cornish pasties, cream teas and saffron buns whilst in the Cornish county. However, sometimes one wants something a little different and, in Hayle, that’s where Jonny’s comes in. 

Slightly rough around the edges, Jonny’s has captured the delicate art of balancing exposed brick work and crumbling plaster with decadent furnishings to create the ideal ‘shabby-chic’ ambience. A cosy area at the front of the cafe creates a bit of extra softness against the otherwise quite industrial interior. A sofa, two comfy chairs and a small wood burner make the perfect spot to while away an hour or two with a good book. 

The cafe doubles as a shop selling various vegan foods, clothes and toiletries, with the vegan theme echoed in the menu which offers a selection of quiches, sandwiches, jackets, bean burgers and soups. My salad was adorned with tiny flowers and blackberries, the sort of unique touch which seals a place in the psyche and ensures you want to return.

Vegan brownies and banana and peach cake are displayed on the counter, tempting those with more will power than I I’m sure. 

You can check out Jonny’s Cafe blog, or follow them on Twitter.

A review of acanteen

 45 New London Road, Chelmsford, CM2 0ND

*New pictures added February 2012

Tucked away from the main hubbub of the town centre, this masterfully created piece of cafe culture seems quite at odds with the rest of this otherwise chain-saturated cityscape. If lucky enough to happen across it (or to have a well informed acquaintance generous enough to tell you where it is) you will be pleasantly surprised by its sprightly atmosphere enriched by a varied customer base and young, energetic staff. 

The feel of acanteen is quite antipodean, whether intentionally or not, and having visited a number of cafes in our other hemisphere I am always taken aback to find their distinctive character captured somewhere you’d least expect it. 

The name – acanteen – fits the establishment perfectly as its well worn wooden tables and chairs (some clearly rescued from a church at some point) do not detract from the overall clinical ambience synonymous with the word ‘canteen’. 

An eclectic mix of breakfast classics and unusual salads including roasted butternut squash, chilli and pomegranate as well as more substantial club sandwiches make this the perfect haunt for any time of day.  The large selection of cakes, pastries and muffins also adorning the counter top make it very difficult to avoid accidentally ordering something sweet to go with your mid morning latte.

I love the food here – it’s affordable, delicious and the menu’s varied enough for you not to get bored. I also love the feel of the place. It’s warm, welcoming and the communal seating arrangements encourage customers to dine amongst strangers – something which always gets me excited. Even in busy periods, the atmosphere is of convivial chaos, not full blown pandemonium. 

When ordering I was told up front which parts of the menu where unavailable and informed that there was a wait for food. This approach instantly put me at ease as I could make the decision whether to stay or go and not get riled waiting for my food as I was satisfied in the knowledge that it would turn up eventually. 

My only bug bear with this place is that the menu is often obscured by a long and impatient queue of people which you must navigate carefully to access the holy text. It’s also often quite hot – but now I’m clutching at straws. This place is awesome – I will and do go back again and again. 

Check out their website, or find them on Facebook. 

A review of Jam Cafe

12 Heathcote St, Nottingham, NG1 3AA

Returning from Australia fully versed in the attributes of Melbourne cafe culture, I found myself eager to seek out a replica breakfast-eating, coffee-drinking experience in my University hometown of Nottingham. A place which would fit into the everyday furniture of my life would be hard to find, or so I thought.

Picking up a copy of Impact, the uni’s surprisingly insightful student magazine, I found Jam Cafe featured as ‘Cafe of the month’. I soon worked up the courage to explore the rain-soaked, warren-like streets of Nottingham’s Lace Market, and managed to find Jam Cafe relatively easily.

Although marketed as an art/music/film cafe, Jam Cafe is nowhere near as pretentious as its image might suggest to the unaccustomed punter. Playing a sound track that could easily have been lifted from my own Ipod, I felt immediately at home slipping into a chair, being greeted by the friendly staff and offered a well needed menu. Familiar films playing on a screen at the back of the cafe, you can easily while away a few hours here alone without feeling like a lemon/plum/other suitably lonesome fruit. 

On opening the menu I was pleasantly surprised - great value for money, 10% student discount and loads of choice for any time of day. Homemade baked beans, dippy eggs with soldiers, salads, soups, sandwiches and a selection of hot pots can usually be found on the menu as well as more experimental dishes such as curried haddock... 

Jam cafe is probably my favourite cafe in Nottingham. I say probably because there are so many amazing ones in the city it makes it rather hard to choose. But Jam Cafe wins on its versatility alone, setting itself apart by covering all bases – quirky style, a great selection of fresh teas and coffee, a varied savoury menu as well as amazing cakes. This, along with the fact that it’s open in the evening with alcohol served and live music makes Jam Cafe almost too good to be true. 

Check out their website, Facebook and Twitter.