City, Sandwiches, Cakes, Etc Restaurant Guide

Fans flock to this coffee shop trio for “always delicious” brews and “friendly, well-organised service” – they’re “so busy, it’s amazing that they don’t make mistakes”. The cute Covent Garden branch, established in 1978, is “the original and the best” – “tiny and crowded, but there’s something lovely about sharing a booth with strangers whilst nibbling an excellent pastry and drinking the best coffee in town”. Its follow-up was an early marker of Borough Market’s emergence as a foodie hub, while the roastery has moved to newer premises in Bermondsey.

Coffee aficionados have beaten a path to this Leather Lane institution since 2011 for expertly roasted, “lovingly prepared and delightfully served” drinks along with pastries and light bites. (The name is borrowed from T.S. Eliot’s J. Alfred Prufrock, who ‘measured out [his] life with coffee spoons’).

“Almost perfect, salt beef beigels [note the traditional European spelling], and that from a 69-year-old Jew! Just needs a tweek on the salting of the beef” – high praise indeed for this East End institution which “is still churning out high-quality salt beef with all the trimmings after all these years”, and with “smiling and funny service”, 24/7. There’s only one word for the team behind it: “legends!”.

“Exceptional cooking, especially from such a small (open) kitchen” – solo chef Nick Bramham turns out some “insanely good” meals at this “delicious, fun and cool” spot next door to ‘big brother’ the Quality Chop House. “It’s the loveliest of venues” – “both warm and quite sexy, though at lunch it has more of an airy feel”. It also has a “brilliant wine list by the bottle and glass”.

“One of the handsomest dining rooms in London… and they serve EXCELLENT kedgeree!” – The Wolseley Group’s theatreland outpost is “a recreation of Vienna in London” and its “classy” and “impressive” interior is “buzzing” from early breakfast onwards, especially with “a lot of successful meetings”, as its well-spaced, cossetting and comfortable interior is “ideal for those ‘serious’ discussions”, making it one of the most popular venues in town for a business meal. (Its location, off Aldwych, makes it an ideally placed rendezvous, convenient to Legal Land, the City and the West End). As with its more famous sibling near The Ritz, though, its appeal is wide-ranging, and it also serves shoppers, tourists and – in particular – “makes a great option when popping to a show”. “Despite Jeremy King’s departure, the Delaunay has retained its level of service” and “the food has changed little, if at all”: “authentic Mitteleuropean” dishes that “aren’t setting the world alight but are very reliable”: “a formula, yes, but a good one”. “Prices are not as high as you might expect either”. There is also “an adjacent ‘counter’ area, serving coffee and pastries”. Top Menu Tip – “one day I will order something other than the schnitzel… but it is soooo good!”; “always finish (or start!) with their superb Black Forest gateau or their apple strudel, all of which are made to authentic recipes in their kitchen”; “fantastic eggs royale”.

2022 Review: “You will literally not get a better toasted cheese and onion sandwich in this world!” – so say fans of Bill Oglethorpe’s market stall, which is a mainstay of Borough Market. On Saturday mornings and lunchtime, you can also eat-in at their dairy in nearby Bermondsey.

Down a cute Covent Garden alley, this tiny Scandi café with a handful of seats outside in summer is sweet in more ways than one: “the renowned Princess Tarta is criminally delicious and can be personalised to order… 100% authentic too!”

Fans flock to this coffee shop trio for “always delicious” brews and “friendly, well-organised service” – they’re “so busy, it’s amazing that they don’t make mistakes”. The cute Covent Garden branch, established in 1978, is “the original and the best” – “tiny and crowded, but there’s something lovely about sharing a booth with strangers whilst nibbling an excellent pastry and drinking the best coffee in town”. Its follow-up was an early marker of Borough Market’s emergence as a foodie hub, while the roastery has moved to newer premises in Bermondsey.

“One of London’s treasures”, founded in 1871 and now “the only traditional patisserie baking on the premises in Central London” – this French operation is “with Bar Italia the last authentic Soho coffee stop since Chez Valérie was taken over by private equity and destroyed into a chain”. “I doubt if anything has changed here in the last 100 years – even the chips on the paintwork are unchanged from my visits as a child with my grandparents”: it’s the place to go when you want to get “high on genuine old Soho atmosphere”.

2024 Review: This “small, often crowded” independent coffee shop by Soho’s Berwick Street market is a pilgrimage site for caffeine junkies, as the source of Antipodean ‘third wave’ coffee culture in Britain since its 2005 opening. And yes, “the coffee’s very good”.

2024 Review: A “spectacular breakfast” – “the options are hard to choose from, but none are a poor choice” – is the top culinary feature at these Kiwi haunts, whose zeitgeisty vibe and in-house roasting (omg the smell in Shoreditch!) makes them a magnet for a “top notch coffee” at any time of day.

2022 Review: “Still turning out wonderful cinnamon buns and coffee” along with some “excellent Scandi sandwiches”, this Nordic fixture in Soho remains “well worth a visit”.

“So good that they keep up the high standards they set themselves over the years” – Peter Dore-Smith’s Aussie duo of Fitzrovia brew stops started in 2009 on Great Tichfield Street. “They still do some of the best coffee in London, with proper flavours” plus very decent breakfast, lunch and baked treats, alongside coffee classes and one-to-one barista training. “It can be a bit of an awkward sit down but you can’t have everything!”

“So good that they keep up the high standards they set themselves over the years” – Peter Dore-Smith’s Aussie duo of Fitzrovia brew stops started in 2009 on Great Tichfield Street. “They still do some of the best coffee in London, with proper flavours” plus very decent breakfast, lunch and baked treats, alongside coffee classes and one-to-one barista training. “It can be a bit of an awkward sit down but you can’t have everything!”

“Really splendid open sandwiches” (smørrebrød) to eat in or take away are the most eye-catching items at this Nordic café in Fitzrovia from a Dane (Bronte) and a Swede (Jonas), who also import and distribute food and groceries from Scandinavia. After 18 years they opened a second café, ‘SK Vicky’ near Victoria station, in spring 2025. Top Tip – “the Shrove Tuesday Fat Buns look astonishing”.

2024 Review: “Great coffee and extremely moreish light snacks” is the simple-but-winning formula at this ethical and sustainable Scandi-style roastery that started life in Richmond six years ago and now has outlets scattered across some of central London’s foodie enclaves.

2022 Review: Following closure of L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon and the death of the man himself, this Picadilly café is now one of two London ventures opened in late 2019 by the group he founded. It’s all very chic and continental, but you don’t come here for culinary adventure – but to buy or snack on everyday staples (lots of tempting patisserie and viennoiserie, lasagna, club sandwich, Caesar salad…).

2022 Review: This aptly-named, all-day café in Barnsbury is the local hot-spot for weekend brunch – “if you can get in before the queues”. “Courgette fritters, pancakes, banana bread” all get a shout-out, along with a “seriously good Virgin Mary”. It’s less frenetic during the week, when they take bookings.

2022 Review: It’s a bit less nook-like than it looks, if you head to the larger basement of this summer 2020 Highbury newcomer: a deli by day and neighbourhood café in the evenings. With a vague connection to Linden Stores (RIP), which it replaced in 2020, there’s a Turkish twist to the contemporary European small dishes and sharing plates. Limited early feedback, but very positive all-round.

“Be prepared to queue, as these are very popular irrespective of the gentrification label they have undeservedly been given” – a duo of hip East End bakers, which support at-risk young Londoners and operate out of an urban-grunge alley near Dalston Junction (the original), now with a Harringay spin-off in Green Lanes. As well as pastries, cakes and bread to take away, both provide excellent brunches: “towering sandwiches plus good coffee”. “Wish there was one in our neighbourhood instead of the ever-expanding Gails juggernaut!”