Damson Cafe

It's not much of a surprise if I tell you that this has become one of my more favourite coffee joints in the past few months. I used to frequent the Russell Square- Holborn area a lot, but now I've been searching for different pastures. 

Damson, I only have 3 words to describe it really - I love it. 

I love how when the sun sets and the warm glow from the lights inside the cafe draw you in. It's captivating. Your hands are icy, your ears are hurting from the wind, and you spot that little cafe sitting somewhere on St. Giles High Street... The warm glow and the thought of... coffee. 

Oh yes, the coffee is good. I never really bother writing about places I don't deem good enough. 

I come in from the cold and say Hi to the people behind the counter. They're friendly folk. They take notice of how their customers are feeling. 

There was once when I was squeezed to a corner at the long table you see up there. When the smaller table-for-two tables were free, they came to me, tapped my shoulder and said, "I'll clear that table up for you to use so that you don't have to squeeze in here." 

Service with a smile. And I like them for it. 

A fruit salad..... I was feeling guilty about having a super unhealthy fried chicken lunch. Haha. But in any case, I've taken to calling mum and dad from here. It's quite enough, and I get to stare out the windows and watch people go on by. Another nice little touch I think, is the fact that they serve you water with your coffee. It is a nice touch, because in most cafes you have to self-serve your own glass of water. Here they serve it to you personally on your table. Perhaps it could be that I'm making a fuss out of nothing... but.. it matters. To me at least.

They serve some pretty good sandwiches too. And brunch! Golly. Eggs florentine and brioche? Haha. I think they give Lantana a run for their money. But Lantana is much bigger and established I guess. Damson's shop is rather small - and they've only been around for a year or so. 

I took that picture about 10-15 minutes after I got my coffee, so the froth was already starting to lose it's shape. But you know what, I love it when the art goes beyond just the typical heart. 

Now back to the books.

Espressolab - Gardens

Another place worth noting back in Kuala Lumpur:

So there's this place (which debuted in Solaris Dutamas, but it ain't the one I went to!) at the Gardens, Kuala Lumpur that serves some mean dessert and coffee. 

Actually, I'm not too sure at all if it's at the Gardens, or at MidValley Megamall for this one reason - it's somewhat on the interlinking bridge between the two malls. But then again, the easiest way to find it is to head to level 1. It's right outside the TGIF. 

Again, the coffee surprised me. I'm used to having some pretty sub-standard quality coffee when I return to KL for my breaks, but this sure ain't sub-standard. It's really good (though not as good as RaW!) and really rich. The milk is frothed well and the coffee art (which is really important) looks great! I didn't really manage to get a picture here. I didn't bring my phone, nor did I bring a camera of any sort.

The dessert here? Simply to die for!

While it's really good on those fronts, I must say that I wouldn't really feel like coming back here again because of the atmosphere and the layout. 

The benches for dine in customers are really limited. I would say that they could serve about 10 customers at most, for the tables and chairs are situated just below the escalators that go up to the second floor of Gardens. Besides that, there is the constant human traffic passing by you at such close proximity, you'd kind of feel like your personal space is being invaded - not to mention that you'd also feel like your belongings will get stolen any second. KL is quite prone to petty theft. 

But even if that doesn't bother you, you'd have to (and I invoke my inner chinese Malaysian slang) ask the 'aunties and uncles' to please move (because they didn't buy anything and are just sitting there) so that you can sit down with your coffee and cake. It's pretty ridiculous, holding your coffee and cake in your hands, wanting to sit down to eat, for grumpy people who didn't even buy anything so give you a face when you want to sit at the tables provided for customers. Aunties and uncles can be really difficult sometimes. 

Unless Espressolab has a real store somewhere, instead of a simple coffee stand by a busy link bridge, I don't think I'll be coming back to this place. It's too much of a hassle, and I feel quite suffocated. Nevermind that a cup of coffee costs me RM12. I'd rather go to my regular 'kopitiam' for some 'Kopi ping' at RM2something than to completely hate my surroundings. 

Ok, scratch that. I'd come back if I want good coffee - but I'll only have it for take-away. 

Food Foundry, and RaW Coffee

So while I was home, Sam brought me round to really nice places for food and drinks. One day, after we picked her sister up from work, we headed to this new place called 'Food Foundry' (Happy Mansion, Section 17 (Jalan 17), Petaling Jaya, Selangor)

My brownie at Food Foundry

One thing I gotta say about this place. The coffee ain't fantastic (yes, sometimes this really is all I'm looking for), but the CAKES and the FOOD are really quite worth the trip. 

It's funny though. I never would have thought that there was a cafe in the area it is situated in to begin with. We were driving round a housing estate, getting a little lost, and then we turned in to this block of apartments. The cafe at that particular block of apartments, next to some sundry shops and other food places. Turn the corner and bam! You find a nice little cafe that serves good food.

The prices are fairly reasonable. The brownie you see in the picture? It was SO DENSE! Ended up sharing it with Sam (and not being able to finish it even after that). 

Food Foundry - layout. 

The place is nice and quaint - there's one section with air-conditioning and the other without. I think they're working on that issue for now (I'm not sure, so don't take my word for it). But the seatings are nice and spaced out, and they definitely have got the deco right. It's something like what the Gardens cafe looks like (but not as extravagant) mixed with Muji.  

But one other place that I've absolutely come to love - R.A.W (Real and Wholesome) Coffee at 150 Jalan Ampang, KL. 

R.A.W. Coffee

Apparently this place has been getting a lot of reviews - something I'm oblivious to. But I'm glad to have been brought here. 

Counter on the left, seating area in the corner

It's a little awkward cafe that is situated at the lobby of this office tower. Not exactly the most cosy of places, but at least the seating area has been separated from the 'openness' of the lobby by the wide counter. The cakes and all look a little unappetising from the inside of the glass refrigerator.. But they're pleasant enough. 

THE COFFEE WAS EXCELLENT THOUGH. REMINDED ME OF LONDON! And that's a celebration in itself! I would come all the way to KL (I live in PJ) to get coffee. I'm that much of a nut!

So where Food Foundry lacks in coffee, R.A.W. makes up for it. And where R.A.W. lacks in cakes and dessert, Food Foundry takes the trophy in this little battle. 

Sam obviously gets happy whenever she manages to satisfy my fussiness. Here's her smiling. 

Win!

You don't say.

My Favourite Coffee Haunts (thus far)

Kaffeine

I was just having a conversation the other day with SW, about our favourite cafes. And she asked me to rank my favourite few.

"It's actually quite hard to say actually, " I replied. "It all depends on what you want to go there for."

I know that there are so many around London. More than I can count. More than I could ever visit, but here's a short list of what I told SW.


If it's just purely for the coffee?
- Store Street Espresso
- The Espresso Room

If it's for the atmosphere, I would divide it into a few categories:
a) For BOTH very close friends and acquaintances (the two extremes)
- Notes, Music and Coffee (St. Martin's Lane)
- Fork, Bloomsbury

b) For friends
- Kaffiene
- Wild and Wood
- Fleet River Bakery

c) For Family
- Lantana
- Look Mum, No Hands!
- Tom's Kitchen

d) For serious conversations
- Milkbar
- Salt (Great Queen Street)

e) For inspiring conversations
- Flat White
- Look Mum, No Hands!

A nice and quite place to study?
- Bloomsbury Coffee House


Do try them out and tell me if I got them right.

Fleet River Bakery

Quite a number of people who work or study in London would have heard about this little place - Fleet River Bakery. It's situated in Holborn, near the London School of Economics and Lincoln's Inn. A little gem of a place, if I must say so myself. 

I must say that my whole experience studying in London wouldn't have been complete without this place. It's a convenient, and very nice place, to meet with your friends for a chat. You can stay and do a little bit of reading, you can have a good breakfast, and have some nice cakes and scones for tea. 

The scones, as my friends have dubbed it, are the MOTHER of scones. They are huge! And very well worth the price. The cream.. the jam.. the texture. Heh. 

There was once, when pouring the milk into my Flat White, the barista messed up the coffee art. 

There was nothing wrong with the taste, but I was pleasantly surprised when he said that he'd make me a completely new one. I didn't ask him to, and neither did I mind having coffee with sucky coffee art. But I guess, for the sake of trade and perfection, he did offer me a new one. 

And now that is what I call dedication and excellent service. 

Worth a visit, worth the time. 

And I can bet my undergraduate degree on that. 

The HighLine

In the last post I was talking about visiting the High Line in New York, and indeed, that's a very nice place to visit (and you should!). The only problem with that place is that there are no actual restaurants at the place itself, so it'd do you some good to eat before you go. There is a coffee stall (which I will talk about later), and an ice cream stall and one mini cafe that just sells cakes and sandwiches, but nothing substantial. 

We went to this Diner which is really close to the HighLine. I do recommend this place. It's really good, the portions are big, and the service is great too. The waiters are really friendly, and it's a A-listed restaurant. 

I promise you that this place, Star on 18, won't let you down. 

Now, the other thing that we did when we walked down the Highline was to stop by at the coffee stall. The name of the stall is Blue Bottle Coffee. Yes, it's the same one brewing at Brooklyn!

Their hot chocolate is really unique. It seems like you can really taste the dark chocolate (so in that manner, it's slightly bitter). It's not exactly very thick, but the consistency is just about right. It has right amount of milk, and just a whole mouthful of sinful melted chocolate. Sounds good no? 

Also, another thing which I find pretty funny about the American coffee places is that you usually have to ask for a double shot of espresso. I guess I'm too used to the ones in the UK. In that same manner, I keep forgetting to order double shots! And thus my coffee has less of a kick. Shame, because I can tell that the coffee is brewed really well. That's my fault. 

Ahhh.. Food and beverages. Who doesn't live for them? It should only be right that we live to eat and not eat to live. 

Darwin's Ltd.

There are actually two of these places in Cambridge, MA. I happen to go to the one on Cambridge Street (and that's the one I'm posting about!). 

Darwin's Ltd. is a splendid little place. It's pretty spacious, almost always buzzing with life. They serve excellent sandwiches. It's rather cute too, how they name the sandwiches after the local street names around the shop. It would be for that reason that some people might find that their favourite sandwich has different names if they went to the other shop! (note: I took that last sentence and paraphrased it from their website. Just to let you know) I've never tried the daily specials however. Those are pretty interesting because they sell it by weight. You tell the server what you want, and how much you want, and they'll cut it up, pack it, and weigh it. 

They also have a wide variety of salads for those who are of the healthier sort. And if you're one for pastries, they sell some cookies, muffins and (i think they're called) whoopie pies!

Anyway, although the lines are always long, it doesn't actually take forever to get your food. You'd be quite certain, actually, to get your food within a maximum 20 minutes (unless there's some monster at the front of the line making it hell for the server of course).

Their coffee is nothing really to shout about. Their cafe latte is just so-so. BUT, for some reason, their iced latte is quite good! Funny. And if you come in the evening, where there's less of a crowd, you'd actually be able to see the staff joking around and having a great time. I shouldn't be eaves-dropping, but sometimes the conversations are pretty funny (and they talk quite loudly too!).

There are plenty of seats and chairs, and a good large sofa for customers to sit on. Wifi is free and they don't really chase you out of there. 

I suppose that can be a good or a bad thing. 

Good because you can sit there and do your work and get all comfy and... well, you get the gist. 

But well, if everyone is gonna do that, then pretty much.. You won't be able to find a seat sometimes. And that's possibly the only downer. It does tend to get overrun by people interacting only with their computer screens. 

But otherwise, I really like this place. It's my escape from the over-populated and gimick-y Harvard Square area. It has more of a local flavour, and the neighbourhood is just lovely. 

I'd give this place a B+. :)

(On a random note, I've noticed that I only write about places I like. I never have the urge to talk about bad places that I've been to. *shrugs* I don't see myself changing)

Crema Cafe

Introducing: A little place in Harvard Square where I go to to have my daily fix. I found this place by chance actually, mainly because the chain that I had been going to, Peet's, was closed for renovation. Peet's was quite good, wayyyyy better than Starbucks, but it wasn't just quite right. So although it caused me quite a bit of inconvenience to close for renovation, it helped me find Crema.

Crema is a delightful little place. It sells some cakes and other treats like muffins and cookies. It also has some quiches too. The ambience is a little dark, definitely not that conducive for people who came by to read, but it's good for chit-chat. A sign hung up on the second floor reminds customers to be polite enough to leave after an hour so that other customers will have seats to sit on when they come in.

The coffee is great, that much I would say. It is just the right strength (for me at least. Like I have mentioned before, I like it pretty strong). The only problem I would have is that it is pretty inconsistent in a peculiar way:

If you have your coffee in-house, it would come out great. And... If you didn't, and ordered take-away instead, it comes out pretty bad. My cafe latte comes out tasting like just hot milk. Strange, how it's supposed to have two shots of espresso. 

My conclusion?

Why, sit down and have a cup of coffee in the cafe of course!

And perhaps you'll get to meet some interesting characters too. I had a great conversation with this old man the other day about South East Asia and China. 

How about that for another great coffee place?

Milkbar

Milkbar.

3 Bateman Street W1D 4AG

I came here once with my parents when they were here in London to visit me. Decided to go back again just the other day. Milkbar is actually a sibling of Flat White, but it is a younger sibling at that. Note how (in the picture above) it says, "Part of the Flat White network". Unsurprisingly, this calls for some comparison between the two. 

This time, the theme of the deco was 'war'. Why, I have absolutely no idea. I swear that sometimes I should be less pre-occupied with the thoughts of having good coffee and ask the staff more about the place itself in general. But in any case, I do hope they keep the decoration up. I quite like it. When it's just the bare walls, drinking coffee can be a little dull on your own, with nothing to look at, if you get what I mean. It's nice to glance around and see some interesting things hanging from the walls. They had tanks up (and I think they painted/sketched on the 'tank tracks' too!) on the walls, with pictures, and toy guns. 

It seems that Milkbar is doing so good that they even have their own merchandise! And yes, I am finally getting around to telling you about the drinks they have here.

The coffee is brilliant (as usual, with all the posts so far). Drawing comparisons with Flat White, I must say that I prefer Milkbar better (once again Flat White is moving lower in the ranks. I feel pretty sorry for Flat White, but this can't be helped!). I ordered my favourite coffee (you should be able to tell what it is by now) and it came out just perfect. Fantastic coffee art. The foam was perfect. The coffee was smooth and velvety with a strong coffee that just lingers in your mouth pleasantly. 

The chairs were really comfortable to sit on and the feeling that you get from this place is just right. They have books for you on the shelf if you feel like reading. They also have light bites (croissants, sandwiches, and the like), and milkshakes! And boy oh boy do they really give you a large cup for it. It was wayyy too much to handle. Good for sharing it is.

On a (not-so-) random side note, I found this site that can be pretty useful for coffee/cafe hunters in London. It's called the London coffee guide. I might be using this to find more coffee places.

Linked it at the side for your convenience. :)

Flat White

Flat White. Supposed to be one of the best places in town for a flat white (as the name says. lol) Went there with a friend of mine after his exam. Like I said in my previous post, I really really wanted to try it out. Been told about it's fantastic coffee and I told myself that if I didn't get it then, the inertia would ensure that I'll never get around to it. 

Hey Dudes.

It's quite a cool place really. Very Arty-Farty, if I may say so. Nice, comfortable chairs. It seems to be full of people who bring in their art work (like the guys in the picture on the right). Some come with sketchbooks and pencils and.. I don't know. Lots of stuff. On the (white) walls behind me are framed pictures of cameras, and it adds a whole other dimension to this place.


They sell retail coffee here too. Their own brand I think. Not too sure about that. It's like, £7 for a bag of coffee beans.

Hmm.. Anyway, the big question from this visit would be.. Whether Flat White really has the best flat whites in London?

Well... This I must say.

The flat white was good. But, it wasn't the best that I've tasted. In fact, I actually think that the one in Wild and Wood was nicer. It doesn't seem strong enough for my liking (yes, I do like strong coffee. I don't particularly like putting sugar in my cuppa either). I guess it'd be perfect for those who would actually like their double shots to fuel their caffeine reliance, but who doesn't actually like their coffee to be so bitter. 

I'd rank this place high for the overall atmosphere though. That is, if you want to enjoy music and if you like the whole arty farty thing going on. If you want a place for a quiet read then maybe Store Street or Wild and Wood would be the place for you. 

More coffee/ travel places to come! Yes, I did intend for this blog to be a travel-cum-food/cafe blog, but I'm having exams at the moment, and blogging about travelling just isn't the most convenient thing for me right now. 

Cheers!

Wild and Wood

And so I decided to take a study break and get myself some coffee and a light bite for lunch. There are times when you just can't be bothered to deal with your work anymore. Or at least, I couldn't. Decided to go to Wild and Wood down at New Oxford Street, which is not a very far walk from Holborn. It's in the same area really. This is still my favourite coffee place in London, and in my opinion, the best cafe that I know of as of yet! Their coffee is brilliant and they have this really nice, old touch to the overall ambience.

I really like the food that they serve here. Light bites they are, but enough to keep you a smile on your face. I particularly like the Gruyere cheese, bacon Quiche. Their carrot cakes are really good too! The only thing about it is that it is a gamble as to what you'd get. They change the cakes on display every now and again. 

I think it's run by a couple, but I'm really not sure. I haven't actually asked them, but I would one day. I've quite a bit of time in this country to strike up a proper conversation with them. 

They really know how to decorate the place as well. Cute little postcards and pictures line the walls, and they have some good music playing too. I like how old school it is. CD's and a small boom box.

They have a little corner at the side (I didn't manage to take a picture of that) which looks as if it was made for people who would just like to come to a cafe alone to read. Might be nice if you'd like to read undisturbed. It's called 'the nook'. lol.

That's their selection of coffee. I personally think that they have the best Flat White that I have ever tasted. Their latte's are not too bad, it's really quite good, but I'm just a flat white person. haha.

I heard that there was a cafe down Soho called 'Flat White', and as their name implies, they're supposed to have one of the best in London. Well, when I finally make my way down there I'll definitely see if Wild and Wood would still top the charts, or if Flat White would remain supreme.

My friend says that Wild and Wood's Cappuccino is really good too. I'll take her word on that. I don't particularly like that style of coffee.

But all in all, Wild and Wood, definitely the place to go.

Store Street Espresso

And so I started off my day looking for a cafe to sit down and study for a bit. And as usual, not just any coffee would do. It had to be good. And so I did what I always did; i consulted my good friend, Google.

This particular place got my attention simply because it's relatively near to where I live, and not far away from Senate House library. It's called Store Street Espresso, and as the name indicates, it's on Store Street.

It's a place which makes you feel really happy inside. The decoration plays a major part I think. Frames on the wall with modern art, books for customers to read, tables that are at just the right height.. the list could go on. But what they definitely got right, is the quality of their coffee.

I got myself a flat white. God that was amazing.

It looks like an ordinary cup of coffee all right, but I assure you that it isn't.

Sounds like I'm raving about it too much? Maybe.






You can probably tell that all the other customers in there probably loved it as well. I did try to find a nice and quiet cafe to study, but if you were looking for a quiet place to concentrate and do your work, this would probably be the wrong place.

Though, it is perfect to just chill out with a book, or some friends for a nice chit-chat.

Try it out some day. 

All in all, it's a great place to grab a bite. I was so blown-away by the coffee that I had a second cup to take away! Got myself a latte this time. It was just as good, but I think the flat white trumped it. Hands down.

And the guy has really nice handwriting too.