Just goes to show, there's always another cafe to visit. I've walked past this place thousands of times, never went in, despite suggestions from Patrick. And it's a splendid place. Busy, cosy and friendly.
A delightful ebcb - the roundest chips I've ever seen, and the sunniest egg. Very respectable amounts of bacon and beans. A great way to start a day.
Lovely simple condiment cluster. Very metal and clean.
It's a place of nice little booths, dark green leathery stuff, deep marble/rock/something effect tables. Lots of good places for solitary paper reading.
Russell,
I can now die a happy man !!!
This is a great cafe, one of my favourites. It should be the replacement caff for devotees of Lino's in Store St., when it closes (soon I think). Nearest wc's are on the first floor of Heal's (or Habitat), close by in Tottenham Court Rd.
Posted by: Patrick | December 12, 2005 at 06:27 PM
The Book! The Book!! Part II.
Called into the Oxford St Bookshop in Leederville, West Oz tonight and nearly panicked as I couldn't see the book on display. Finally found THE LAST COPY.
Took it to the smiling salesperson who said, "Oh! We love this book! We can't keep up."
"Has it been selling well, then?" I asked.
"Oh yes!" she replied. "We have to keep getting it in."
Then followed a chat about what fun the book is and how we should use it as a tavelogue the next time we're in London.
I had dinner at the retro hamburger joint next door and regaled my fellow diners with snippets and showed them the pictures. We were especially impressed with the descriptions of chips.
Posted by: Poss | December 14, 2005 at 11:06 AM
Oooh, I know this place so well. A thousand plots were launched in here during the dog days of the first internet boom. I started my web career beneath Cyberia on the corner of Whitfield St and ended it at NetNames across the road on Tottenham Court Rd. I used to plot world domination in here (it's very narrow at the back, sort of secret and safe).
Posted by: Ivan Pope | December 21, 2005 at 01:29 PM
wonder if the shirt will be up for sale again? =)
Posted by: ashley | December 27, 2005 at 01:07 PM
that's the nearest sandwich shop to my office. i used to go there every day
but i've recently switched allegiance and started going grabbing a baguette from the french place on whitfield street.
i'm so ashamed.
Posted by: funkypancake | January 04, 2006 at 08:51 PM
and now i'm even more ashamed. the french place is called 'pain du jour' and is on Goodge Street, not Whitfield Street.
ooops.
but their baguettes are very tasty/tastey/nice
Posted by: funkypancake | January 06, 2006 at 03:08 PM
I gave (and luckily received) the ebcb book for Christmas, as no doubt did a lot of people, and enjoyed reading it very much. Me and my friend Trevor are regular visitors to Bar Bruno, but must start to spread further afield and try some of the other entries. However, I have always found that there's nothing wrong with being habitual (as your menu selection atests). I do have an admission though, I am a egg, bacon, chips, sausage and tomato fan (not a big bean man). You're eating out after all, why not go the whole hog so to speak. My favourite cafe used to be on Shaftsbury Ave (opposite the Odeon) sadly not there any more, but a lovely fry up. Does anyone remember it?
Posted by: Andy Anderson | January 07, 2006 at 02:42 PM
Andy - very glad you like the book. I don't remember the place you're talking about, I don't think. But I bet someone here will - have you tried classiccafes.co.uk - Adrian always seems to know the places that have died?
Posted by: russell | January 09, 2006 at 01:52 PM
was the cafe you were thinking of called
"velotti's " ? lots of four seater tables and a small raised section at the back. counter on the right as you went in and the food used to come out of the kitchen via a little seving hatch with curtains ?
it was a favourite of mine when i used to work around the corner in earlham street in the mid to late eighties. they used to do cracking spam fritters as well as a top fr-up.
Posted by: mark whitfield | January 09, 2006 at 02:11 PM
Not sure about the lack of buffer zone between the beans and the egg there in that second shot. I think it needed a hash brown or potato scone to divide the two. On the other hand some people aren't bothered in the least by egg/ baked bean mingling.
Posted by: jim | January 11, 2006 at 10:52 PM
what could be better rapakivi granite under the plate in the perugino
Posted by: nuna | January 19, 2006 at 10:10 PM
That has to be the best looking ebcb I've seen so far,I'm gonna have one more cup of tea then off to Sheffield market for a nice English :)
Posted by: dom | March 08, 2006 at 09:54 AM
I renewed 'egg bacon chips & beans' from Charing Cross Road library so often my partner bought it for me. We had already encountered some bad cafes and were discussing the merits of some kind of listing, unaware of the book. Thank-you! Unfortunately Lino's was already closed, but other cafes in W1 have been tried and happily revisited. I'm glad to see 'Raffles' of Paddington is on the website, a student haunt of mine. May I put forward the 'Cherry Tree cafe', on Muswell Hill Road, N10; althought I can't say I've tried the ebcb being a veggie, prehaps you could send a guinea pig, they'd get to walk through Highgate Woods.
Yours gratefully,
Hot tea.
Posted by: Hot tea | February 01, 2007 at 10:02 AM