UPDATE: Now closed.
The Metropolitan is a classic cafe favourite. And rightly so. Faded 50s/60s atmos, bohemian credibility and magnificent chips. Brown, crunchy and austere like you might get in a Soviet chippy. Great, reduced, beans, all the juice boiled away to make a lovely beany paste. The egg all pale and interesting and the bacon stringy but nice. A curate's eggbaconchipsandbeans.
The first thing you notice is the green. There's green everywhere. The second thing you notice is the smoke. They really smoke hard in here. There was only three people in this morning but the smoke was so thick it slowed you down.
I really like this place. I can tell I'll be here again. There's all this history underneath the green paint.
I wish we could get eggs, bacon, chips, and beans in the States. Your bacon looks particularly fantastic. Sadly, over here, we just have cheese fries-- er, cheese chips?-- to which a friend and I have also (in part) devoted our blogs:
http://gus.protest.net/friesandpropaganda.shtml
Our major complaint about fries (chips! sorry) is often that they're cooked in such a way as to present an edible temperature on the outside, but a tongue-searing heat when bit into. Do you have this issue in Britain?
nice to find a kindred spirit overseas :)
Posted by: gus | June 12, 2004 at 03:27 AM
i'm a big fan of cheese fires. there's a american style place called Ed's Diner that does some lovely ones.
We don't have the same heat retention problem here; the service is normally too lousy for anything to be that hot.
I'm going to check out your blog now. I spent 4 happy years eating crap food in the states, it would be nice to relive that.
Posted by: russell | June 16, 2004 at 09:22 PM
As mentioned on the "Classic Cafes" web-site, this cafe is due for refurbishment.
I walked past this Monday, it's now been altered totally, with none of the original fixtures and decor left. At least it's not a wannabe KFC or MacD clone.
I didn't go in but it looks like a reasonably pleasant cafe, with a younger clientele.
I only went to the Metropolitan twice, after reading "Classic Cafes". It had a great period feel, but the fixtures and fittings were quite clearly coming to the end of their natural life - as indeed were most of the customers.
Posted by: Patrick | October 12, 2004 at 08:53 PM
At the risk of offending the classic-cafe purists, the post-refurbishment Metropolitan is still a decent place to visit.
I've just had a quick stop over at the caff, which has been tastefully repainted. The lower walls are the same brown colour, the upper walls are now cream-coloured. There's a nice set of metal-frame and leatherette chairs,decent tables, and reasonably pleasant laminate-floors. The Turkish owners have decorated the walls with these colourful, tasselled thingys. The place was pretty crowded, always a good indicator of cafe longevity.
The old Metropolitan luminous-green exterior and awning remain intact, as do the menus. Cafe foodies will be glad to know that you can still get the same caff grub.
Those still yearning for an old-style caff can get their fix at the Italian-owned Costella Cafe (formerly known as Mario and Mike's), up the road in Boscobel St. Though partially altered, it still retains enough of a "classic-cafe" ambience to give you a high ! It's open 7ish to 4pm Mon -Fri, till 2pm Sat. The owner's a nice guy,and I'm sure he'll welcome the custom.
Posted by: Patrick | March 26, 2005 at 01:48 PM
Looks like a really, really nice place to dine!
Posted by: Green Tea Diet Guy | March 18, 2007 at 11:31 AM
I worked at the Metropolitan Cafe in the late 80's, the Bakay Family owned it then. It is one of my fondest memories of living and working in London. When my daughter turns 18 we will visit London, and I will take her to one of the greatest caffs in London!!
Posted by: Dianne | April 28, 2008 at 10:37 PM