food, reviews and of course coffee
I was in London and wanting a coffee so headed out to one of my usual haunts of Coco di Mama on New Square.
I ordered a flat white and took a seat, always like it when they bring the coffee to you rather than hanging around by the counter until they’ve made it.
The coffee arrived in a proper china cup with a little chocolate on the side.
The coffee was smooth and delicious, with a real coffee kick.
It’s one of my favourite places for coffee and they delivered an outstanding coffee again.
When I am in a new city or town, though familiarity normally means visiting a place like Caffe Nero for a coffee, if I do get the chance I do like to try somewhere new, such as Kiss the Hippo in London.
Up in Manchester, close to our office, I liked the look of Ditto Coffee so popped in for a coffee.
The place has a lot of wood and looked inviting. I ordered a flat white and they said take a seat and they would bring it over. One feature of many independent places I visit, is this level of service. Something I never see from the major high street chains. There of course you order a coffee and then wait until it is made.
Taking a seat I could look at my email as I waited for my coffee.
The flat white arrived after a while and looked great.
It was a delicious cup of coffee and I really enjoyed it.
I was in Cheltenham and had some time for a coffee. Wondering where to go I saw The Coffee Dispensary. I had been there in August 2019 and had a great macchiato back then (but didn’t blog about it). There is a nice calm environment, and they have seating inside and outside. As well as coffee they have a range of cakes and do sandwiches at lunchtime. I was a given a warm friendly welcome I ordered a flat white and took a seat. My flat white was brought over promptly.
It was well made and a good coffee. Nice to be back.
I was at an event in East London. I had caught the Central Line to Mile End.
Having left myself plenty of time I stopped for coffee at the Costa opposite the station. I had a flat white.
There was plenty of room and I went upstairs and enjoyed my coffee whilst checking e-mail and doing some work.
Up in Manchester I joined a colleague for breakfast at the Federal Cafe Bar.
I really liked the atmosphere. We found a table and I went to the counter to order a coffee. Having had some toast at my hotel I only wanted the coffee.
My colleague with the Turkish Eggs. Two free range poached eggs on whipped garlic yoghurt with hot chilli butter and za’atar and served with sourdough toast.
It looked amazing and my colleague said the eggs were excellent.
I had a great flat white.
Later I decided to go back there for a coffee, only to find the place full and no free seats. Well maybe next time I am in Manchester I will return for a coffee or even breakfast.
Popped into Caffe Nero for a flat white. They had a special offer of a coffee and a brownie for £4.50, so I had a flat white and a chocolate brownie.
It was just what I needed after going through my inbox.
The brownie was chocolatey and gooey, but wasn’t over rich, light enough to be enjoyed.
The coffee was excellent, there is something about the consistency of experience I find with Caffe Nero, virtually every time I have a flat white at Caffe Nero is I get the same kind of experience, which is nice.
Last week I attended an event, this was a real in-person event in central London. I have not done one of those for a while. I think my last in-person event was back at the beginning of March 2020. One thing I hadn’t missed was the conference coffee which was dire. I wonder sometimes why I even bother drinking it, as it was terrible.
However the venue, The Business Design Centre, did have a cafe on site and they served Illy coffee. So during the afternoon break rather than have a conference coffee, I headed to the cafe and ordered a flat white.
This was a well made coffee and it was delicious.
I was driving down the M4 one evening, when I decided I needed a break and I stopped off at Starbucks at Membury Services. Rather than go into the main services, I headed off to the Starbucks, which though a drive through, also has a large seating area. I prefer these to the coffee places in the main services building.
I was the only person at the counter, but it took a while for me to be served and then it took a while for my coffee to arrive. I guess they were busy with drive though orders, but even so, I wonder why one member of staff focuses on drive through orders and the other member of staff on the wall ups.
I had a flat white in a cardboard cup. It was, like a lot of Starbucks coffee rather bitter. However I had a nice break and then it was back in the car and time to continue the journey.
Killing some time before my train I went to Caffè Nero at Central St Giles. Nice warm welcome from the staff and I ordered my usual favourite, a flat white. I didn’t order anything to eat (as I wasn’t very hungry). I found a place to sit and drink the coffee. It was a really nice coffee, and a nice place as well.
We were away in London for the weekend back in August, and one thing that we wanted to do was to see how the other half lived and visit Harrods. Unlikely to do to much shopping there, but it was nice to visit.
Having explored (and got lost in the rest of the store) we found the food halls. As we explored we decided to stop for a coffee at the coffee bar. This is not the most relaxing of places to sit and have a coffee, you basically sit at a bar on barstools, we wanted to have a Harrods coffee drinking experience.
As you might expect I had a flat white, and to be honest it was rather good and I really enjoyed it.
If we wanted to be really “posh” I think we should have visited the tea room on another floor, but I doubt we would have been able to find it!
We did some shopping in the food halls, but I mainly just looked and gasped at the prices of some of the stuff on sale.