CULTURE, SHOP, TEA BREAK
After a morning spent in the edifying surrounds of a cultural institute – or satisfyingly spending cash – there’s nothing like a refreshing cup of tea and slice of cake. Luckily, some of London’s best museums, galleries and shops double up as some of the best cafés in town.
THE NATIONAL CAFÉ BY PEYTON & BYRNE
THE PROUD ARCHIVIST
Occupying a prime corner on the so-called ‘Haggerston Riviera’, this spacious canalside spot does many things right. It has plenty of tables overlooking the water with the narrowboats surfing by, making it a great place to pause for brunch and lunch. It offers down-to-earth food (French toast; bacon buttie; soups; sandwiches) that’s well-priced. And there’s also a good bar with guest ales, wines and cocktails, meaning once you’ve taken part in The Proud Archivist’s more cerebral pursuits, you can enjoy rewards of another kind. The gallery exhibits well-chosen contemporary work from local and international artists, and there’s also an array of events and activities including live music, comedy, yoga, lectures and film screenings. If you’re planning to café hop, the wonderful Towpath is just a few minutes away (see here).
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2-10 Hertford Road, N1 5ET.
020 3598 2626
Haggerston Overground.
SOMERSET HOUSE
There are an overwhelming number of cafés to choose from at the Thameside culture hub Somerset House. Skye Gyngell – the chef who turned a garden-centre café (see here) into a Michelin-starred destination – wowed when she opened the wallet-raiding Spring restaurant here in 2014. But she also offers a taste of Spring on a tighter budget in her conservatory-style Salon, where a concise menu and garden-inspired cocktails are perfect for a light lunch or apéritif. A more butch take on the seasons (plus riverside views) can be had at Tom’s Terrace, which serves masterful renditions of comfort food favourites on the waterfront. Somerset House also finds space for Tom’s Deli (good for a brief coffee break), and Tom’s Kitchen, which comes without the views but a solid menu (branches also at Chelsea, St Katharine Docks and Canary Wharf). The latest addition is Pennethorne’s – a sophisticated café-bar serving everything from breakfast to dinner. And most informal is a handy Fernandez & Wells, which features café breakfasts and lunch and the option of tea outside in the striking Palladian courtyard.
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Strand, WC2R 1LA.
Spring Salon: 020 3011 0115, www.springrestaurant.co.uk
Tom’s Kitchen: 0207 845 4646, www.tomskitchen.co.uk
Fernandez & Wells: 0207 420 9408, www.fernandezandwells.com
Temple tube.
KENWOOD HOUSE
The food at this English Heritage stately home is somewhat outshone by its surroundings: the eighteenth-century abode itself, remodelled by the architect Robert Adam, is stunning, as are the landscaped gardens. The house’s history is of passing interest (the last resident was brewing tycoon Edward Guinness), and the art collection is amazing, featuring works by Rembrandt and Turner. The Brew House Café is canteen-style but bright and bustling, with generously filled sandwiches, good cakes (try the banana muffins) and cooked breakfast or soup on the hot plates, while the smaller Steward’s Room serves more health-conscious fare. Look out for events celebrating seasonal produce (‘Rhubarb Festival’ is fun). If weather permits, eat outside on the very pleasant terrace. Expect to walk across the Heath for 25 minutes from Whitestone Walk to reach it (although there’s also a car park just two minutes away).
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Hampstead Lane, NW3 7JR.
020 8348 1286
Hampstead or Golders Green tube.
THE NATIONAL CAFÉ BY PEYTON & BYRNE
With London restaurant fashion so hung up on exposed brick, bare concrete and unfinished wood, the National Café’s twee wainscotting and tinkly tearoom vibe is refreshing, and a haven from the selfie-stick insanity of Trafalgar Square outside. The food is a bit more modern, though: from the baked eggs with kale and chilli at breakfast through gastropub-type lunches and dinners, it’s all a good representation of British cooking (although in the way of the P&B chain, mildly uncomfortably pricey). Next to the bistro is a more informal self-service area, with a table heaving under the weight of pastries and cakes. There are packaged sandwiches to pop on a tray and tea in paper cups. It’s not the only place Peyton & Byrne serve refreshments to museumgoers – you’ll also find the cafés at the Royal Academy of Arts, The Wallace and the Imperial War Museum among others – but this is the most charming.
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Trafalgar Square, WC2N 4DN.
020 7747 5942
Charing Cross tube.
BRANCHES: Royal Academy of Arts W1J OBD; The Wallace Collection W1U 3BN; IWM London SE1 6HZ.
TANGERINE DREAM CAFÉ
The gorgeous Physic Garden in Chelsea’s heartland, with its carefully maintained lawns, winding pathways and pretty collections of medicinal plants, is a secret sanctuary for Londoners in search of serenity. It’s just as well, as you have to wander through the gardens en route to the café (and pay a £9.90 entrance fee; kids go free). The café itself has a church-hall feel to it, and the trestle table centrepiece heaving with fruit- and vegetable-filled savouries and cakes certainly puts one in mind of a fête, in a very good way. Choose from delicate tarts filled with goats’ cheese or sun-dried tomatoes and golden-crusted salmon coulibiac. Then follow with incredibly moist orange-and-almond cake, chunky courgette-and-walnut loaf, or rhubarb-topped cheesecake. The food is clearly inspired by the botanical. There are tables inside, but the best spot, naturally, is outdoors at the awning-covered tables that overlook the gardens.
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Chelsea Physic Garden, 66 Royal Hospital Road, SW3 4HS.
020 7349 6464
Sloane Square tube.
V&A
As befits an institute celebrating the very best in art and design, the museum restaurant at the V&A (the oldest of its kind in the world) is truly gorgeous wherever you choose to sit. The courtyard space, with its ornamental pond, is heavenly on warm days; the Farrow & Ball-esque canteen is also quite chic; and for antique, decorative charm there are the three high-Victorian dining rooms, named Poynter, Morris and Gamble. Each manifests a different aspect of nineteenth-century design theory – Gamble is the best, with sinuous Ionic columns, exquisite enamelled tiles and preachy Evangelical maxims (‘hunger is the best sauce’) disapproving of your excess through the medium of stained glass. The food is lovely too: cakes mainly, with sandwiches and daily hot lunch specials.
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Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL.
020 7942 2000
South Kensington tube.
LONDON REVIEW CAKE SHOP
Bloomsbury’s London Review Bookshop is beautifully curated, well-loved and charming to shop in. So it follows that its adjoining café is as carefully considered. There are lovely homemade cakes – rose and pistachio, chocolate and Guinness, lemon and courgette – as well as a small menu of quiches, sandwiches and salads. Tea is a ritual here, with certain infusions served in beautiful glassware that lets you watch the loose leaves unfurl as they brew. You can cram into the small indoor space, or order to take away and enjoy your cuppa at one of the tables in the rear courtyard. Just remember to buy a book first, of course.
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14 Bury Place, WC1A 2JL.
020 7269 9045
www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk
Holborn tube.
ROSE BAKERY
Unless you’re a sneaker aficionado, or a student at the London College of Fashion, you might not have come across Dover Street Market, the cutting-edge high fashion emporium created by Comme des Garçons-founder Rei Kawakubo in Mayfair. The sixth-floor bakery is as stylish as the rest of the store: there’s earthen crockery, magazines (Dazed & Confused, i-D, Highsnobiety) strewn for casual reading and simple communal sharing tables. The cakes are to savour: the mini carrot cakes fit for one are a delight and a constant, and the rest change with the seasons (chocolate brownies come winter; lemon polenta cake come summer). The food here is also excellent – seasonal, ambitious and exciting – and the Union Roasted coffee is perfectly smooth.
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17-18 Dover Street, W1S 4LT.
020 7518 0687
www.london.doverstreetmarket.com
Green Park tube.
