6 London cafés to go to when you're overwhelmed
Rare spots for when every brunch starts to look the same.
1. OULA
A pink Tunisian café built by chef Boutheina Ben Salem as a tribute to the women who taught her to cook. The room feels soft and enclosed, like being held, and the staff treat you like a guest at home. Order the brik: crisp filo, tuna, capers, a runny egg, a squeeze of lemon and mint tea with pine nuts.
📍 93 Mortimer Street
2. LOTUS REALM
This Chinese tea house is all pastel pink and green, with private booths and a tea master who’ll tell you where each leaf comes from. Order the pu-erh with coconut and rose cream, or the jasmine and black sesame mousse cake. And after dark the downstairs bar mixes cocktails with tea.
📍 4 Berners Street, W1
3. PIQUE-NIQUE
A proper French kitchen hiding in a park pavilion, run by the team behind Casse-Croûte. The menu is chalked on a board every day and changes with the season. The house dish is spit-roast Bresse chicken, but the one to share is fish en croûte: a whole fillet baked in golden pastry and brought to the table to slice.
📍 Tanner Street Park, SE1
4. ROCHELLE CANTEEN
Margot Henderson opened Rochelle Canteen in an old Victorian school almost twenty years ago. Today her son Hector runs the kitchen, and her daughter Frances runs the room. The menu is British and seasonal, changing daily: think mussels with chips or a slow stew.
📍 Arnold Circus, E2
5. CASTIGLIONE
This is one of the best-designed coffee shops in Europe. Inside are faceted stone counters, a coffered ceiling inspired by Kubrick’s 2001, and a huge screen of slowly shifting light, a nod to the artist James Turrell. The owner, Roberto, makes every cup himself, regulars come for the Spanish latte and the coffee bombón. Matcha people say it beats the viral spots in Soho.
📍 Whitcomb Street, WC2
6. MARKET COFFEE HOUSE
It sits in the oldest Wren-era building in Spitalfields. Here you can find red leather booths, warm low light, and a back room panelled in 1670 with a fire lit in winter. The menu is small plates, with French wine and Belgian beer.
📍 50–52 Brushfield Street, E1
