Plus Ça Change: A Return to Cambridge

I can't believe it's been two years since my last visit to Cambridge, but since Dr E moved to Australia, I don't really know anyone there. It's a shame because on a lovely summer Saturday, it's a lovely place. Yesterday was more autumnal, but it was nice to be back. I was meeting some friends and former colleagues for lunch, but I had half an hour to kill first, so I decided to re-caffeinate. 

When I lived in Cambridge, there weren't any decent independent espresso bars, but the internets pointed me in the direction of Hot Numbers, just off Mill Road, which I'll review in full soon. Spoiler alert: I was impressed.

Hot Numbers Coffee on Gwydir Street.

In a Lonely Place

It's been a while since I read a book that was both gripping and well written. I've already worked my way through most of my to-read list for the Southwark library system and they can be pretty slow to order in new books, so my reading selections have been a bit ad hoc. 

I enjoyed Lauren Beukes' The Shining Girls, a sort of sci-fi, noir thriller set in Chicago at various times during the 20th century, but it wasn't one of those books I would rush home from work to finish. J. Courtney Sullivan's The Engagements, as with her previous two books, was fun and well-observed, if sometimes frothy, and I powered through Waiting for Wednesday, as I have done with all of Nicci French's Frieda Klein series, but it wasn't exactly thought-provoking.

Enter How To Be a Good Wife, Emma Chapman's debut novel. This book has been on my wishlist for a few months and I finally picked it up from the library last week. The title reminded me of a book I read last year, called How To Be an American Housewife, by Margaret Dilloway, which is about a young Japanese woman who meets an American GI during the war and goes back to the States to marry him, guided by a book which shares its name with the title of the novel. If you like The Joy Luck Club and its ilk, you'll probably enjoy Dilloway's novel.

Chapman's book is quite different, both in content and in style, although the protagonist, a middle-aged woman living in an unspecified Scandinavian country, also seeks guidance from an outdated book, How To Be a Good Wife, which was given to her by her mother-in-law. As the novel opens, we can tell that something isn't quite right. Marta's grown son has just left the nest to move in with his girlfriend in the city. 

Never entirely emotionally stable, Marta now finds herself at an emotional loss. She stops taking her medication, despite the efforts of her much-older husband Hector, who grows increasingly concerned about his wife as she becomes more pensive and vacant, and then seems to lose the plot at a dinner where she meets her son's fiancée for the first time. Marta also starts to see a young blonde girl — sometimes happy and healthy, sometimes sad and bedraggled — but no one else seems to notice her.

As the novel progresses, we start to learn a little more about Marta's past. She met Hector when she was very young and he "saved" her after her parents' tragic death. The trouble is that she can remember almost nothing about her life before Hector or about her parents' death. But is something sinister lurking beneath the surface or is Marta really still suffering from a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder? She stops taking her medication to try to find the truth, but what if her unmedicated mind is just creating more problems and failing to arrive at any solutions?

For the reader, the problem is confounded by the fact that the entire novel is narrated in the first-person by Marta herself. We only have her take on events and feelings, and ultimately, when it comes to the ending, it is down to the reader to decide how reliable Marta's testimony is. Chapman wrote the novel — and particularly the ending — this way intentionally, in order to leave it up to the reader. I would have preferred a few more hints as to what the "right" answer might have been.

At only 256 pages, How To Be a Good Wife is fairly concise. It's not a thriller in the Nicci French sense; it's much more subtle than that and sustains an intense sense of unease throughout. It's also quite a lonely novel — Marta is often quite isolated, physically as well as emotionally — and a quiet one. It certainly doesn't have much in common with most of the ubiquitous Scandi-thrillers. 

Haunting, sad and ethereally beautiful, How To Be A Good Wife poses a lot more questions than it answers, but the themes of love, loss and memory have resonated with me since I finished reading it.

To Bea or Not To Bea (CLOSED)

Because Bea's Diner is only open at the weekends and because even I can only manage so many pancakes each month, it's nice to have other Bea's of Bloomsbury breakfast options. They have just opened a new branch near Farringdon station on Cowcross Street. It's the petite Tiffany-blue shop next to the station. This is how close it is to Farringdon station:

Bea's of Bloomsbury's Farringdon store.

Two of my friends work nearby and it's also about three-quarters of the way along my journey to work, so we decided to meet there for an important business meeting breakfast on Friday morning. The first thing I realised when I arrived is that this branch of Bea's is so small, there is definitely no room for any seats inside. There is a bench outside, but it was raining so heavily that even sheltering under copies of yesterday's Evening Standard couldn't keep us dry.

We had bigger problems, though. Namely what to choose for breakfast. Every time someone described one of the tasty treats to me, I kept changing my mind. I adore Bea's blondies and the chocolate chip banana bread also looked good, but in the end I went for a duffin. It was the right thing to do after my recent cronut failure.

A duffin is a doughnut-muffin hybrid. It's shaped like a muffin and made from muffiny cake, but has a jammy centre and is deep fried and dunked in sugar. Pretty sinful. Pretty damn tasty too. For me, a custard or chocolate filling would have made it even better, but I was happy.

Sweet duffins.

Bea's also serves Square Mile coffee, so I washed down my duffin with an impressively strong and smooth double mac.

And coffee too!

I probably shouldn't make it too regular a breakfast date, but it's the perfect occasional treat after a hard week.

Bea's of Bloomsbury. 43 Cowcross Street, London, EC1M 6BY (Tube: Farringdon). CLOSED

The Caffeine Chronicles: Notes at Tileyard Review

Update: Notes' Tileyard Studios branch is closed, but you can visit their other branches in King's Cross and Trafalgar Square.

King's Cross is full of surprises. I suppose it always has been, but now they tend to be good surprises. Since the sad demise of the Brewhouse on York, I've been at a bit of a coffee loose end in N1, because I can't go to Caravan every day, more's the pity. But when I visited Notes in Covent Garden a few months ago, I discovered that they had a north London outpost. 

I was put off by the N7 postcode, but it turned out to be only a ten-minute walk up York Way from my office. You can get the 390 bus on York Way, outside King's Cross station, but it shouldn't take you more than 15 minutes. Just go past Grauniad Towers...

And past the long disused York Road Tube station...

Then turn right when you get the 'Apothecary' sign on Vale Royal. You may think you're going the wrong way, but if you persist, you'll reach Tileyard Studios — a "music and media hub." This means you overhear conversations like, "We've got Paul Young and Nik Kershaw," while you sip your coffee.

You can sit inside — the design is pretty similar to the two central London branches of Notes — but on both of my visits, it has been gloriously sunny, so I've sat out on the lovely terrace. What with the showbiz types and the sunshine, you can almost imagine you're in LA. Well, this summer, anyway.

Notes Coffee's Tileyard outpost, near King's Cross.

As with the other Notes cafés, there is a selection of sandwiches, salads and frittatas if you need more sustenance than a coffee. And judging by their Twitter feed, they sometimes do burgers. Last time, I ate the chicken, bacon and cranberry baguette, which was great and very filling.

 On both occasions, I ordered my usual double skinny macchiato, and it was good. A little on the milky side for my liking, but rich and smooth, like at its sister cafés. The intense midday sunshine on both of my visits did, however, make my coffee photography a little tricky. It's a small sacrifice for a lunchtime that transports you far away from darkest not-even-really-King's-Cross.

Double skinny macchiato at Notes.

Notes. 6A Tileyard Studios, London, N7 9AH (Tube: King's Cross or Caledonian Road & Barnsbury Overground). Website.

Saturday Grazing and Stationery Shopping

Today was filled with many of my favourite things. This morning saw the second meeting of the South London Doughnut Running Club (SoLoDo RC, if you will). I've been doing a six-mile circuit of the Thames pretty much every Saturday morning since I moved SOTR, but when some of my friends heard that the reward for my virtue was a doughnut at St John Bakery on Druid Street at the end of the course, they wanted in.

Chocolate custard doughnuts at St John Bakery.

I went for a chocolate custard doughnut and it was pretty well-constructed, which meant that most of the custard ended up in my mouth instead of on the floor. Afterwards, we grabbed a coffee from Monmouth, and then went to sit on the Ropewalk. Most of my friends had Reubens and root beer from Monty's Deli, which they proclaimed to be the best Reuben they had ever eaten — and this group included North Americans. 

I only had £2.50 left and wasn't that hungry, which ruled out a lot of the food options, so I headed to Hansen & Lydersen, where some very good-looking open smoked salmon sandwiches were being lined up. "But I spent all my money on doughnuts," I said sadly when I found out they cost £3 each, to the amusement of the friendly stallholders and the other customers. They let me have a "small" one for my £2.50, and it was a good 'un.

Smoked salmon snack.

I also spotted a juice stall with the most puntastic names ever: The Fennel Countdown had the best name, while My Funny Melontine sounded the tastiest. Another day...

In the afternoon, I needed to pick up a few office supplies, which turned into a not-that-mini stationery haul. I made the mistake of going into the London Graphic Centre, and spent 20 minutes deliberating between the Starlet neon pink notebook with a mini-dot grid on the paper, from a brand called Nuuna, and a Paperways A5 notepad with a turquoise grid print. In the end end, I went for the Nuuna notebook, and I love its flexible, glossy pink cover. I also picked up a few coloured pens and a hot pink, magnetic, retractible paper cutter.

Heal's was having a bit of a refurb, but I did spot a collection of gorgeous handle-less mugs with letters of the alphabet — the typography was drawn by Danish architect Arne Jacobsen. I don't need any more mugs, but I thought it would make a great pen holder.

I also popped into Habitat with the explicit purpose of buying a bin for my bathroom. Naturally, I also came out with a bright turquoise candle and a blue clock for my kitchen. It isn't my fault my oven display shows the temperature not the time whenever it's turned on.

The Caffeine Chronicles: A Long Overdue Espresso Room Review

I discovered The Espresso Room, tucked away in plain sight on an interesting stretch of Great Ormond Street, soon after starting to work in King's Cross, a good three-and-a-half years ago. It came top in my first round-up of London's independent espresso bars, and second in last year's list, and receives regular mentions on this blog. 

It is perhaps odd, then, that I've never given it a full write-up. And of late, I've been neglecting The Espresso Room, partly because I've been so busy at work and it's a bit of a jaunt from the office, partly because of the appalling winter, and partly because of my discovery of Prufrock and the arrival of Caravan.

Anyway, when I saw on Twitter that it was The Espresso Room's fourth birthday yesterday, it was the perfect impetus for me to return. I even still had a loyalty card with only one missing stamp! When I arrived, the festivities were in full swing: there were colourful balloons outside the usually unassuming store front, and the promise of tiramisù and beer later on.

The Espresso Room, one of my favourite London coffee bars.

The Espresso Room is tiny. It really is just a room, and not a very big room—more of a large cupboard really—with just a couple of seats inside and a few more benches on the pavement when the weather is sufficiently clement. 

The staff are always friendly and cheerful, although it's usually best not to go in during the lunchtime rush if you want coffee, soup, a blondie and a bag of coffee beans that you want grinding. I used to always get my ground coffee there (bring back Finca La Fany!), but now that I have my own grinder, Monmouth and Caravan are both more convenient.

A double macchiato is £2.60, which is at the pricier end of the double-mac spectrum, but the coffee is excellent. Plus, you get to say when on the milk front, which is always a winner in my book.

Double macchiato from The Espresso Room

Food-wise, there is usually a soup of the day, served with bread, and a few different posh sarnies and cakes. As I'm fussy about sandwiches, it was always a bit hit and miss as it whether I'd find something to my liking, but the cakes are always good.

It wouldn't be a birthday without presents, except I gave The Espresso Room the gift of the mark-up on a KeepCup. I've been thinking of getting an 8oz one for a while, for those days when I need to take my Aeropress brew for a walk, but baulked at the online cost of £13.70, including delivery. Luckily, The Espresso Room had the colourway I wanted ('twilight' from the Cosmic Sky series) for only £8. Bargain.

Happy birthday, Espresso Room! I promise I'll stop by more regularly in future.

The Espresso Room. 31–35 Great Ormond Street, London, WC1N 3HZ (Tube: Russell Square). Website.

You've Gotta Roll with It: B.O.B.'s Lobster Review

I had been hoping for a return visit to Burger & Lobster when we had a family dinner on Monday, but the mama felt it would be disloyal to go without the papa, so we went to Wahaca instead, which was nice as always. After a bit of a tough day at work today, though, I thought I deserved a bit of a treat and luckily, I remembered that when I went to Elliot's Burger Bar at Borough Market, I had spotted a red VW camper van serving lobster rolls. I put two and two together and made what I will dub LoRoThu: lobster roll Thursday.

B.O.B.'s Lobster's Borough Market pop-up.

They're all so friendly!

Everything about B.O.B's Lobster is fun, from the retro van, to the foam-hand-bearing staff (who are incredibly friendly), to the cute olde-worlde tickets you get to exchange for your drinks, to the deckchair seating. The menu is pretty simple and, unsurprisingly, mainly lobster-focused. I was torn between the lobster roll and the lobster mac and cheese, but in the end, my purist side won. You select what you want from a little checklist, hand in your order and take a seat on one of the red deckchairs or wherever you can find to perch.

Red as a lobster.

While you wait, you can pick up your drinks from the bicycle drinks cart. I ordered a home-made lemonade, but they also have beers and Prosecco.

After a brief wait, my lobster roll arrived. It was on the petite side compared to many of its US confederates, but more than enough for a hungry Bex, especially with the accompanying bag of Pipers black pepper and salt crisps that I didn't really need. 

The roll was a delicious toasted brioche that was just sweet enough. As for the lobster, it was fantastic: tender, flavoursome, and just oozing with buttery, garlicky juices. Fortunately, they provide you with a hand wipe; I was definitely not dressed appropriately for a lobster roll today.

Lobster rollin' in the deep.

Then I eated it.

My roll, crisps and lemonade came to £14.50, which makes even Burger & Lobster seem pricey. The roll itself was £11, and most of the other mains were cheaper: the lobster mac and cheese was £8, as were the ahi tuna tacos, and the lobster bisque was a steal at £6. I'll definitely be back to try the mac and cheese — and to chat to the staff, who are all so happy and nice.

B.O.B.'s will be in Borough Market Tuesday to Saturday from 7–10.30 pm, until September. They also do take-out, so if it's packed, you could always take your supper and sit by the river.

B.O.B.'s Lobster. Stoney Street, Borough Market (near Elliot's). Website.