I finally made it to Counter Café. Hell, I've been reading about this place for a bloody epoch. But each time I decided to go, checking the address on Google maps left me completely deflated. The gnarling pangs of a hungover Sunday morning demand immediate appeasement.
And yet this Sunday, by a random conjunction of stars I finally made it. Yes, me lads. The intrepid blogger has once again prevailed.
Veni, vidi, vori.
I came, I saw, I devoured.
I'm reticent to utter this on the unerasable WWW, but the vibe upon entering the place was amazing. I'm sorry. I'm not usually this corny.
Said conjuncting stars had granted us a further happy coincidence, a hippie quirky danish festival on the grounds. There was some folky live music, people selling stuffed birds in cages. I admit by the end of the visit the folky music felt like somebody had put a feral cat into pillowcase and was batting the shit out of it. But that's what all folky music does to me after a while, so no offense taken.
The food was what you would traditionally expect of these industrial, rustic hip places that have popped up in East London recently. Eggs benedict, chorizo, arugula, cherry tomatoes, artisan cheese. All rearranged in someway or another on these menus, in one order or another, but samey samey. Sorry, I'm doing a quick rant about the easy formula that is unfortunately homogenizing the restaurant scene in Britain. Bear with me, it's almost out. I would just like for someone to say fuck understated and go nuts, not in a ponsey Heston Blumenthal kind of way.
The eggs were cooked to absolute perfection, and of a fluorescence of orange only the Kobes of chicken can procure. Regular pat downs, the odd shot of bourbon, I surmise. The latte was a bit watery. As usual.
Hackney Wick, it turns out, isn't that terribly far. There are two buses that make the trek from Stokey, and I suppose other bits of the East. The Counter Café is in a warehouse space, on the canal, exactly opposite the Olympic Stadium. It's a great little cycle along the canal. Quite the nice change of scenery. There are several sofas and tables across which sprawl a mix of patrons, from the eccentric to the decidedly suburban.
A great little escape. Highly recommended.
Infos
Counter Café
4a Roach Road
City of London, Greater London E3 2PA
07834 275920
you can also get the overland train across from dalston or canonbury to hackney wick, and you can take your bike on it too.
ReplyDeletesounds delicious this place.
4a Roach Road...hmmm...
ReplyDeleteYeah, Mike, we took the overground and came back on the bus. Because it's such an expedition, we ended up enjoying the bus ride home a lot. We never get to see that bit of town and we missed it on the overground. It kind of took same time there and back, so from Hackney/Islington, I would cycle or bus it. But you can come in from the West quite easily on the overground. So if you're on the wrong side of the force you can still act cool quite conveniently.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous. Name thyself before thy make thee sly a parters, thy pussy.