The face of adversity

Monday the 2nd of February 2009 will be remembered by me as the day that 'adverse weather conditions' became the latest weasle words to be accepted into the vernacular as have ‘the war on terror’, ‘credit crunch’, and ‘the journey’ that every X-Factor contestant blubs about.

6.30am Monday morning Lisa, Lantana’s head chef, rang me tell me that she didn’t think it would be worth opening as no one could get to work. I opened the curtains and was amazed by the whiteness and the silence. Snow everywhere and not a car or bus on the road.


I thought I should still go into Lantana for a couple of hours to catchup on some paperwork so I went on to the Transport for London website to see what public transport was running. I smiled when I read that no buses were running and many tube lines were suspended due to “adverse weather conditions”. I love obtuse government speak. But as I proceeded on my journey to the café (a physical one, not a metaphorical one), I discovered that this expression had gained widespread adoption as the new word for snow. Shops displayed signs saying they were shut “due to adverse weather conditions”, every five minutes an announcement was made in tube stations about delays caused by “the adverse weather conditions” and the next day the newspapers told of school closures, losses to small businesses and numbers of people unable to get to work due to the “adverse weather conditions”.

I didn’t get to do any paperwork or play in the snow because I ended up making coffee for a steady stream of regulars who came into Lantana throughout the day. So for me, the best part about the adverse weather conditions is that it gave everyone an opportunity to talk and read about something other than the ‘global financial crisis’.

To the victor go the spoils...

of toasted banana bread with date and pecan butter.

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Jenny won Lantana’s mintie competition.

The entries
The judging
The longest mintie wrapper in London

The other entrants may take some consolation in knowing that this is not the first time that Jenny has taken first prize in a mintie wrapper tearing competition. At primary school Jenny won a packet of musk sticks for creating the longest unbroken mintie wrapper chain. She claims that her breakfast of choice at Lantana was a much better first prize. Note, champions eat bananas, not pancakes or fried eggs and bacon.

Going the full mintie on Australia Day

Step 1. Unwrap a mintie



Step 2. Eat the mintie



Step 3. While sucking on the mintie, tear its wrapper into a long unbroken strip




Tomorrow, lucky customers (and everyone is lucky at Lantana) will get a mintie. The person who produces the longest unbroken chain from their mintie wrapper will:

1. Have a long piece of paper

2. Have some explaining to do as to why they were away from the office for so long getting a coffee

3. Win a free breakfast at Lantana!

In with the new

New table
New customers

New menu

New Zealander


aka Geoff [Jiff]. But we love him anyway.

The good and the greater pub guide

My grandmother used to tell me that pleasures are often greatest in anticipation.

Take the welcoming sign of a country pub as you walk towards it on a cold winter’s day after a long muddy walk.



You close your eyes and can almost taste that first sip of bitter sweet ale as you settle in beside a warm, crackling open fire. Then you walk inside to an empty, soulless pub, hear Phil Collins playing on the radio, see a bar heater sitting in the fireplace and are offered Fosters and Becks on tap.

Anticipation > Pleasure.

On rare occasions, however, you walk through the door of the pub and the fire is blazing, you are met by a wall of laughter and lively conversation, offered a choice of local ales and are allowed, even encouraged, to order pudding and another bottle of wine long after the kitchen has closed and last orders have been called.

Anticipation ≤ Pleasure.

That is a very great thing indeed and was how I spent new year's day 2009; tucked inside the Compasses Inn at Lower Chicksgrove, Wiltshire .


According to the Good Pub Guide 2008 the acid test for a good pub is that it has some special quality that would make strangers enjoy visiting it. That might be “good value food”, “out of the ordinary drinks”, “lovely surroundings” or “extraordinary collections of bric-a-brac”. Above all, the Guide informs:

What makes the good pub is its atmosphere. You should be able to feel at home there, and feel not just that you’re glad you’ve come but they’re glad you’ve come. It follows from this that a great many ordinary locals, perfectly good in their own right, don’t earn a place in the Guide. What makes them attractive to their regular customers (an almost clubby chumminess) may even make strangers feel rather out of place.

I'm after something better than just good. I want to discover those rare pubs that provide greater pleasure than I could possibly anticipate.

After a week of field research I have begun devising an acid test for the Greater Pub Guide 2009. I would be very interested to learn about any pubs that have all of the following indicators of greatness:

A fireplace

Local ales on tap

A characterful publican


Friendly staff

A local permanently perched at the bar


A varied clientele covering a range of social demographics and ages

Good, hearty food inspired by the local produce

...preferably including some intriguing British pub classics eg. steak and kidney stew in Yorkshire pudding


And most importantly, a passion or theme of some sort displayed in the furnishings and décorations.

Farming tools at The Horseshoe Inn, Ebbesbourne Wake, Salisbury, Wiltshire

Photographs of transport at the Three Horseshoes, Burbage, Marlborough, Wiltshire

Hunting at The Museum Inn, in Farnham, Dorset.




Here’s to 2009 being the year of discovering greatness in all its pleasurable forms.

Lantana is on Holiday

Reopening 8am Monday 5 January

Until then, be nice to your family, remember to hydrate and make a resolution to have lots of good food and coffee at Lantana in 2009.

I was going to post a photo of this sign I put on the door of Lantana tonight but as I went to take the photo my camera said "change battery pack" so I tried to take one with my phone but it said "memory card full".

Yes indeed.

This customer is a cut above

Since opening our doors three months ago, Lantana has built up a small band of regulars who incorporate us into their daily routine.

One of these regulars is Steven, an Australian hairdresser from Sydney who is the manager of a hairdressing salon around the corner from Lantana which, I was delighted to discover, is called Clipso; upholding the great tradition of bad punnery which hairdressing salons (and bloggers) are renowned for.

Steven comes in on his way to work each day for a takeaway flat white and a porridge topped with toasted muesli, maple syrup and hot milk.



If he can manage to get away from the salon during the day, he returns to feed his three coffee a day habit and usually polishes off a friand or piece of banana bread as he stands chatting to us at the counter.

I didn’t realise until recently that its actually Steven I have to thank for finding the site for Lantana on Charlotte Place. Steven has lived in London for 7 years and, like many Australians, lamented the scarcity of good coffee and cafes. He says he used to walk down Charlotte Place on his way to work and "visualise a cool, quirky Australian type café” which served great food and not “shitty toasted sandwiches”. Voila! Lantana opened. That is some powerful positive visualisation.

Steven, you'll always have a special place in our heart at Lantana - a friand in need is a friand indeed.