Whenever I complained about the coffee in London people would ask "have you been to Bar Italia in Soho"? What better place to begin this pilgrimage than at the godfather of coffee houses.
A classic Italian espresso bar, if I wasn't sitting across the road from Ronnie Scott's I could swear I was in Pellegrini's in Bourke St Melbourne. Same floor bolted vinyl bar stools lining a long mirrored wall (not a bad hair day or large group venue), same nonchalant 'I could think of better things to do than wait on you' waiting staff and same mix of city workers, Italian men and groovy young things drawn in by the retro kitsch...
and the coffee: lovely strong Italian style coffee served in a normal sized cup with nice thickly textured milk; but relatively expensive at 2.50 (ludicrously expensive if you convert to Australian dollars but what's the point).
I just had the coffee but I did see some impressive paninis walking by including a prelude to a heart attack: a chicken schnitzel ciabatta sandwich.
2 comments:
Dont mean to be rude but your coffee is just as expensive as Bar Italia.....As a Londoner born and bred, the more i travel the more i dislike London and all its chains....i love indivdual cafes like your's, but i do feel that more people would visit them if the prices matched the likes of bucks and nero's etc...
Dear Anon, I find it interesting that you expect independents to be able to charge the same prices as global chains like Starbucks and Café Nero who have hundreds of stores and therefore far greater bargaining power with their suppliers than one off independents. Not only do independents like me not benefit from the economies of scale that chains do, I am using organic milk, high quality beans (twice as expensive as loads of other beans on the market) and employing skilled baristas who do not, and should not, work for minimum wage. The reason I’ve made these choices is because I want to create fantastic coffee. Instead of comparing independents and chains on price, why don’t you compare us on the taste of the coffee. If you compare our coffee to a Starbucks’ coffee and can honestly tell me that you can’t taste the difference, I’ll shout you a coffee – a Starbucks coffee.
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