Soho, Sandwiches, Cakes, Etc Restaurant Guide

2024 Review: This “small, often crowded” independent coffee shop by Soho’s Berwick Street market is a pilgrimage site for caffeine junkies, as the source of Antipodean ‘third wave’ coffee culture in Britain since its 2005 opening. And yes, “the coffee’s very good”.

2022 Review: “Still turning out wonderful cinnamon buns and coffee” along with some “excellent Scandi sandwiches”, this Nordic fixture in Soho remains “well worth a visit”.

“So good that they keep up the high standards they set themselves over the years” – Peter Dore-Smith’s Aussie duo of Fitzrovia brew stops started in 2009 on Great Tichfield Street. “They still do some of the best coffee in London, with proper flavours” plus very decent breakfast, lunch and baked treats, alongside coffee classes and one-to-one barista training. “It can be a bit of an awkward sit down but you can’t have everything!”

“One of London’s treasures”, founded in 1871 and now “the only traditional patisserie baking on the premises in Central London” – this French operation is “with Bar Italia the last authentic Soho coffee stop since Chez Valérie was taken over by private equity and destroyed into a chain”. “I doubt if anything has changed here in the last 100 years – even the chips on the paintwork are unchanged from my visits as a child with my grandparents”: it’s the place to go when you want to get “high on genuine old Soho atmosphere”.

2024 Review: “Great coffee and extremely moreish light snacks” is the simple-but-winning formula at this ethical and sustainable Scandi-style roastery that started life in Richmond six years ago and now has outlets scattered across some of central London’s foodie enclaves.