Café restaurants in England
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Brown Sugar
This trendy coffee shop-cum-bar is a favourite with university students, who fold into the oversize leather couches, nibble on a ciabatta sandwich (no ordinary bread here, mate) and talk about how much study they should be doing. A perfect hang-out.
reviewed
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Café Retro
This place is a poke in the eye for the corporate coffee chains. The paint job's scruffy, the crockery's ancient and none of the furniture matches, but that's all part of the charm: this is a cafe from the old school, and there's nowhere better for a hearty burger, a crumbly cake or a good old mug of tea. Takeaways are on offer from Retro to Go next door.
reviewed
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Milk Bar
Sister to popular Flat White cafe, Milk Bar arguably has the friendliest staff, all of whom are very relaxed Kiwis (hence the emphasis is on Antipodean coffee types such as flat white). This place has some of the best breakfasts in central London, with great big omelettes, homemade beans on toast, porridge, pancakes with fruit and honey, and so on, none of which exceed the £5 mark – just what you need on a weekend morning. The coffee is superb, too, and tea is served in mismatching flea-market bone-china cups.
reviewed
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Breakfast Club
This bright and quirky oasis in Islington’s Camden Passage follows in the footsteps of the Breakfast Club Soho and has just spawned its third location with the Breakfast Club Hoxton. But, despite the name, breakfast (£3 to £8.30) is not the only game here: it also does sandwiches, salads and decent pies (£6 to £13). All venues are remarkable for their super-friendly staff and craaaazy decor.
reviewed
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Primrose Bakery
Finally Covent Garden has a decent tea house. True, it’s tiny and has only three tables, but people squeeze round, order in one of the many varieties of cupcakes and pots of tea, and chat away for hours while comforting wafts of baking float from the downstairs kitchen. The £1.70 breakfast of toast and jams or Marmite is the perfect bargain. The decor is of a sort of 1950s America, without being too cutesy or ersatz, and we simply love it.
reviewed
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Rosie’s Deli Café
A much-loved Brixton cafe run by Rosie Lovell, a young cook hailed as ‘the new Nigella’. She’s certainly every bit as charming –and a real celebrity in Brixton Market and wider with her new recipe book, Spooning With Rosie – and she makes some fantastic cakes and biscuits, as well as quiches, wraps, sandwiches and salads that keep her loyal lunch customers coming back for more. It’s a Brixton must.
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Giraffe
There’s a kind of sunny Californian feel to family-friendly Giraffe, where the likes of coarse-cut chips (fries), burritos, vegetarian salad wraps and burgers are on the menu, and friendly service is a given. (In fact staff will just about serve you anything you ask for – within reason.) There are currently a dozen Central London outlets, including an Islington branch.
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Scoop
The queue outside Scoop can stretch down the street on summer weekends, and it’s no wonder: this is central London’s only true gelateria and, boy, does it set a precedent. Storms of ice cream swell in the fridge, all the ingredients are natural and the servings are huge. Try the pistachio, coconut, mango, pure chocolate or any of the incredible flavours.
reviewed
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Royal Teas
Royal Teas is not exactly vegetarian – you can get smoked salmon as part of a cream tea (£6.95) at lunchtime – but dishes are mostly comforting meatless things such as baked beans with melted cheese and Spanish-style eggs, and lots of baguettes and soups. We come for the ginger cake (£2.60) served with cream or ice cream.
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Pokeno Pies
Bang goes the greasy image of the great British pie shop: this is guilt-free comfort food at its best. The slick glass-fronted café-takeaway has cornered the local market in affordable and surprisingly healthy gourmet pies. There are over a dozen fillings, from richly flavoured Mediterranean lamb to Moroccan aubergine and feta.
reviewed
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Banners
This cafe is always buzzing - a bit too much so when the owner's kids start acting up - still, it's got an inexplicably magnetic power. The food can be hit and miss (veggie sausages and mash hit, cooked brekkies generally miss), the smoothies are invigorating, and the staff are friendly to locals and polite to strangers.
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Newens Maids of Honour
The name of this quirky Kew tearoom a short distance from the main entrance to Kew Gardens comes from its famed dessert (£3), supposedly created by Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s ill-fated second wife. It is made of puff pastry, lemon, almonds and curd cheese, and anyone visiting should try it at least once.
reviewed
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Almonry
Vying for the best-setting award, this traditional teashop cosies up to the cathedral, spilling into attractive gardens left of the Lady Chapel. Alternatively, you can shelter in its atmospheric 12th-century vaulted undercroft. Meals here are simple, but there's a also a wide range of caffeinated pick-me-ups.
reviewed
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Café And
A trendy café, hip record store, contemporary art gallery and retro furniture shop all in one, this is your one stop for everything you might possibly need in the Northern Quarter. The toasties and wraps are delicious, but it's the excellent organic soups that kept us coming back for more.
reviewed
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Café Incognito
An arty hangout between the university and the nightspots of Mutley Plain, this groovy café has free wi-fi and in term-time is packed with students writing essays. Robust bistro food includes chicken fajitas, memorable chilli and an utterly satisfying homemade sticky toffee pudding.
reviewed
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Heaphy's
Squeeze into one of the benches at this chaotic Glasto fave and settle in; the food might take a while. When it does you'll find hearty pizzas, doorstop sarnies and hot chillies on your plate, washed down with English tea or fresh-squeezed fruit juice (organic and ethical, of course).
reviewed
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Star Café
So Soho, this wonderfully atmospheric cafe has vintage advertising and Continental decor that makes it feel like not much has changed since it opened in 1933. It’s best known for its breakfast, particularly the curiously named Tim Mellor Special of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs.
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Fernandez & Wells Café
A wonderful Soho mini-chain, this is one of the three branches of Fernandez & Wells, each located within 200m of each other in small, friendly and elegant spaces. The Café and the Espresso Bar both do sandwiches and incredibly good coffee.
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Fernandez & Wells Espresso Bar
A wonderful Soho mini-chain, this is one of the three branches of Fernandez & Wells, each located within 200m of each other in small, friendly and elegant spaces. The Café and the Espresso Bar both do sandwiches and incredibly good coffee.
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Mortons
For a quick bite en route between colleges, look out for the ever-popular Covered Market (103 Covered Market); Broad St (22 Broad St); Little Clarendon St (36 Little Clarendon St); New Inn Hall St (22 New Inn Hall St) for its fine selection of innovatively filled baguettes.
reviewed
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Renaissance Café
Light streams in through floor-to-ceiling windows at this contemporary café, hidden away in the Wharfside Shopping Centre overlooking Mount's Bay. Club sandwiches, ciabattas and salads feature, with more-substantial mains by night and late-night music at weekends.
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Lounge Café
As much a bar as a place to eat, this self-styled ‘original urban retreat’ has breakfast, day and evening menus with everything from vegetarian fry-ups and burgers to meze platters. It’s an excellent place for a cocktail and a nosh, and there’s live music.
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Kew Greenhouse
This delightful botanically themed cafe will help set the mood for a visit to nearby Kew Gardens. Food is all about simple staples, such as jacket potatoes and sandwiches, as well as a daily surprise. Perfect for a cup of tea and cake.
reviewed
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Browns
With a door policy that makes Groucho's look slack, Browns nevertheless is one of the most easy-going, stylish places around. Spacious (you can normally find a seat here) and split on two levels, it also dishes out excellent-value canteen-style meals.
reviewed
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Chy
Chrome, wood and leather dominate this stylish café-bar with a patio above Towan Beach. Perfect for a gourmet breakfast or lunchtime salad, or pitch up late when the DJs take to the decks, the beers flow and the beautiful people arrive en masse.
reviewed
