Nigel suggested this place and he describes it perfectly:
"I couldn't find this gem on your site so I thought I'd tell you about it. The Grange Cafe, 188 Grange Road, Bermondsey. This is a completely unspoiled builders' caff that happens to be on my street. Authentic screwed-in plastic bucket chairs, formica tables, sergeant majors' tea served from a pot, and everyone's favourite revivifying breakfast food (eggs, bacon, chips and beans) for £4.10 (two eggs, two slices, all on a massive oval plate). There's also a fruit machine in there that, it is rumoured, only the owner, a taciturn and gruff man called George, ever plays. Service is quick, and there's a selection of red tops to read as you scoff, although reading the Guardian is tolerated."
The plates are huge. It's hard to convey how huge, but look at it next to that knife and fork. Lots of lovely, lovely bacon, pink and soft and meaty. The chips and more your fry types; thin, golden, pale, soft and crunchy. The egg swims in the bean juice, poking up like a volcano. All high quality and tasty.
Beautiful looking condiments. There's something in the light that gives them an oil-painting quality. The simple forms help with the still-life-ness, the mustard label adding a visual focus. Or something.
Surely these tables and chairs are design classics by now. Is there some committee we can talk to about getting them registered with a design museum or interiors magazine?
Nice big bright yellow menuboards. And, though you can't see them in these pictures, there's some good historical pictures and letters from people who ran the cafe in previous years.
And a very respectable cup of tea too.