Two Cafes in Central London / Supermarket Construction for Kids

CoffeeBeer >> Double Shot Buzz >> London 2

On New Year's Day of this year, my sister-in-law flew over to London from California for a two-week holiday. I myself wouldn't have picked early January to visit the UK; but Carol's a California girl who currently lives in Bakersfield, so winter is pretty much a novelty. And it was the only time she could take off from her job and classes. So I decided to take the train down to that There London for a couple of nights, simply because it was a good excuse to get away from frosty Yorkshire.

The flat that Carol had booked was way down in Beckenham Hill, technically in Kent and a 30-minute train ride into Central London. Fortunately there was a Thameslink train station just behind her building, so we were able to get directly to Blackfriars or Victoria. On our first morning together, I had originally suggested a cafe in Covent Garden for coffee and a croissant, where we could continue on to do some other things. But by the time jet-lagged Carol was ready to leave it was nearly noon. And after a ridiculously slow walk from the Embankment station, because Carol was unable to walk quickly and kept having to stop to blow her nose, by the time we got to the Chestnut Bakery, it was already afternoon, and we were both freezing. So we decided to settle in, get warm, and have some lunch.

This cafe and bakery has a Moroccan-Mediterranean feel to it, with the bakery counter in the front and communal tables along the side. The place offers focaccia breads, sweet pastries, flat breads baked in a clay oven, sandwiches, a variety of hummuses, bagels, and other yummy dishes. The two of us sat across from each other at a communal table, next to a family who were speaking another language (I couldn't figure out if it was Italian, Spanish, or something else). I had the Chestnut Baked Eggs with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Carol had the Eggs & Mozzarella. Both dishes were baked in stone dishes and were very, very hot, and my sundried tomatoes were absolutely scrumptious. And the "world bread" that was served with our meals was freshly baked and crusty, just like the kind of bread one finds in France, and it was perfect for dipping into the egg dishes.

Our Cortados were served in pottery glasses, and they seemed to become much richer and more flavoursome as we reached the bottom of the glasses. They tasted as if the coffee beans had been ground really fine, as they are to make Turkish, Armenian, and Greek coffee, so this was really special. Having had both a Yemeni Cortado and a Vietnamese Cortado last year that were both delicious, I've come to the opinion that the Cortado is a drink that goes well with any country's style of coffee making.

The group next to us were sharing pizza-style flatbreads that looked really good. And fortunately, for a very stair-weary Carol, the "restrooms", as she called them, were on the ground floor. The original reason I suggested this place was because it had recently won an award for the best croissants in London. So before we left, I bought a croissant to take away and eat later.

Originally founded in Kuwait in 2019 by Chef Ahmed Al Bader, Chestnut Bakery started off as a delivery brand. The Covent Garden cafe, with another in Belgrave, were opened later as a move to bring their artisanal breads and pastries to London. Using worldwide baking traditions, Chestnut Bakery not only serves great food, but it does a lot of good work for the local community. They work with Only A Pavement Away, which is a charity offering jobs to people facing or experiencing homelessness, prison leavers, and veterans. They also donate food to the Felix Project which helps feed the homeless across London, and they raise money for the Chelsea Pensioners. They are very environmentally conscious as well. So no wonder this place has such a great atmosphere.

On my second and final morning in London before catching the train back to Sheffield, Carol and I took the train up to Blackfriars to visit Tate Modern. And for a coffee before our art visit, I suggested a place that was only a five-minute walk to the gallery.

Founded in 2020 by Laith Toukan, Saint Nine Coffee was named after the original nine coffee bars that Toukan ran in Toronto, Canada. This London location is a very small place, but it's also very friendly, arty, and trendy, and there was pleasant ambient music playing. Carol and I seated ourselves in a couple of the very comfy stools at the window bar. There were only about eight seats in the place, with a little more seating outside where some young people were standing, braving yet another bitterly freezing morning.

Our cortados were very smooth and topped with nice rosettes, which Carol thought resembled mushrooms. The two of us shared a large cinnamon roll that was fresh, crusty, and surprisingly good. A young businessman was sitting just down from us working on his laptop. There's a really nice mural on the end wall, created by artist Gabe Sapienza, that slides up and curls across the ceiling of dressed-up young people sitting at a table. It hurts my neck to view the whole thing. As I craned my neck upward, I noticed a second mural picking up on the ceiling where the first ended, and it continued across to the front door. On this mural I could see several bikini-clad women, a person in a boat, and other seaside features. But they were all upside-down to me. And out our window we had a view of the Market Space building across the road, as well as the Bankside 2 building.

As we had just run out of the coffee I had brought from Sheffield for our rented flat, and Carol was going to be there for another ten days, she bought a bag of Kiandu Ab Kenyan coffee from Campbell & Syme, and later she told me it was pretty good.

Speaking of cold weather reminds me of a recent WhatsApp conversation, just after it snowed, with my friend who recently moved from an urban location in Sheffield to a slightly suburban street:

Kids are on the street throwing snowballs and sledging. It's much more pleasant than hearing Co-op and Sainsbury vans at 4:00am. Ah, you've discovered that suburban life... It's much preferred, although a longer walk to the shops…but I do prefer silence and children playing than fucking trucks and buses. But it's also handy to have a shop across the road. Oh well, silence, a shitty Tesco it is. Tell the little children to build a Sainsbury's on your street. It's good for them to have a project. I feel a million miles away in this weather. But the witching hour is now upon us. The children have retreated indoors. Well, it's 4:23pm, and it's time for them all to gather round the fire with cups of hot chocolate and sketchpads so they can start to draw out those plans for the Sainsburys. Damn right!