London, Sandwiches, Cakes, Etc Restaurant Guide

From the owners of 'dirty' ice cream parlour Mamasans, Florence Mae Magnaloc and Omar Shah, a Filipino bakery. Breads, sandos and dessert-based drinks.

At the same time as planning for a full Rita's restaurant in Soho, this epic sandwich and taco shop is also rising from the ashes (the Coal Drops Yard branch closed in 2020, RIP); this time there will also be American-style subs on the menu.

This “eccentric but marvellous treasure” is a Soho landmark and “one of the few remaining original London pâtisseries”. “Gateaux to die for” and “wonderful tea and scones” provide a “trip down memory lane” in premises opened by a Parisian exile in 1871 and graced by Karl Marx and Virginia Woolf as well as generations of Soho bohos.

This “stylish and serious”, coffee-shop operation with two sites in Fitzrovia is “still one of the best independents in London”, 10 years after pioneering modern Antipodean-style coffee culture in the UK. They serve “brilliant coffee” (naturally), “a nice range of pastries” and “excellent sandwiches”, and have a “good vibe at both locations”. “Only the slightly monastic seating lets things down” – and there’s “not enough” of it!

Max Halley’s cult Stroud Green café has won renown as an “outstanding, cheap ’n’ cheerful” gourmet option, thanks to its wild, wacky and wickedly enjoyable selection of sarnies, each of which amounts to what’s effectively a meal between slices of bread (be prepared to get your hands dirty).

“A lovely, local independent coffee shop” on the distant borders of Chiswick and Gunnersbury combining “laid-back music on vinyl (some of which you can buy)” and a “cosy” vibe with “great pastries” and other simple fare, plus some fine brews (using Union coffee).

London’s original Flat White was served at this early-wave, Kiwi coffee stop, which first hit Soho’s Berwick Street Market in 2005; and its legendary brews and “great staff” have maintained a fair following over the last 15 years. Its brunch-friendly options include pastries, smashed avos on toast and homemade banana bread.

“Good coffee… and the food’s OK too” – this Borough Market café remains one of the top caffeine hits in SE1. “It’s great for breakfast” too.

“Perfect coffee every time” keeps caffeine fiends crawling back to this small and serious chain. “Baking from Fortitude Bakehouse is a good complement”.