One of the biggest attractions of spending time in London is the sheer variety of amenities – and that variety might just be strongest in the capital’s cafés.
Whatever your culinary tastes, you shouldn’t have to look far to find a London eatery that can meet them. To provide a greater insight into this diversity, we have put together this guide to five particular types of café that aren’t hard to spot in this great city.
The Italian café
Italian! Yes, of course – where there are food spots, you can often confidently expect to see cuisine from this much-loved southern European country well-represented. However, you have probably never tucked into pizza and other popular Italian delicacies in a setting as casual and laid-back as that of Lanima Cafe in Shoreditch. It’s also good for relaxing afternoon coffees.
The traditional British café
London is a hugely cosmopolitan place in terms of its influences, and that’s much of the beauty of being there. However, there’s still a large market here for traditional British food and drink – the kind that would have made that historical fictional personification of Britain, John Bull, proud. We would especially recommend Bow Creek Café, at Orchard Place – not least for the beautiful setting.
The barbecue café
If you’re the kind of person who feels more sullen once the summer months come to a close and everyone puts away their barbecue equipment, you’ve got especially good reason to embrace London’s breed of barbecue cafés. One particularly good eatery falling into this category is Caboose, located on Brick Lane – it’s even a winner of TripAdvisor’s Certificate of Excellence.
The bakery café
It’s not just at an Italian café that you could get your chops around good pizza. You could also try a bakery café like Melissa Patisserie & Confectionery. Located in Camden, it provides fresh food and great service. As well as pizza, you could also try the cakes, pretzels and other tasty morsels on offer. The taste of the pastries could leave you feeling like you’re in Paris!
The quirky café
Some cafés just like to be, let’s say, a bit weird. A major case in point is Cereal Killer Cafe, located on Brick Lane. Here, you can eat absolutely nothing but cereal, complete with milk and topping, for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The broad choice of cereals here includes both familiar favourites and obscure classics.