I've been quite quiet on the blogging front of late, mainly because as you will have seen if you follow me on Twitter, I'm starting a new job in a new industry this week, and it's been a hectic few weeks handing over and signing off. But I had a few free days this week, which gave me time to visit Good as Gold, a new specialty coffee shop in beautiful Brockley, south-east London.
I've been frequenting Ozone Coffee Roasters' original London coffee shop in Old Street since 2012, and the Kiwi roaster's second London cafe in Bethnal Green has been on my to-visit list for a while. On Friday, I took advantage of a sunny day off work to divert my daily walk via Ozone II; although London is currently locked down, the cafe is open for coffee and food to take away.
After a cold, rainy January in London, 1 February was a gorgeous, sunny day. For once, I'd picked a good day to take off work. Of course, with the UK in lockdown, opportunities for fun were somewhat limited, but I got back on my bike and cycled to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and Hackney Wick. I wasn't planning on making a coffee stop, but I happened upon The Roasting Shed's Hackney Bridge location. I knew the espresso bar was in the area but had managed not to add it to my Google Map.
Although London is in lockdown for the foreseeable, we are still allowed to go out for exercise. Despite the cold, grey weather, I've been going for a walk, run or cycle ride every day. Well, mainly walking and running as I'm a fair-weather cyclist, which does limit the places within a reasonable distance. Much as I love running west along the river from Tower Bridge, I have done the same loop about 150 times in the past year and so I've been looking for other options.
While the UK remains in lockdown, I've still been able to seize small moments of joy by getting a takeaway coffee during my allotted daily exercise. Last week, my walk-of-the-day took me to Nine Elms where I visited the closest of District's three Aussie-inspired cafes; the other two are in Parsons Green and Mayfair. Unsurprisingly, I've missed travelling a great deal over the past year, so it was nice to visit a small piece of Australia rather closer to home.
The original Frequency Coffee has long been a favourite of mine, and its King's Cross location was convenient for my office. Working from home last year — and the foreseeable — has meant I haven't been able to visit owner Justo and his team as often as usual. But when I stopped by on a staycation day in November, I found out Justo was opening a second branch, on Camden Passage in Islington.
Before Christmas and when restaurants were still open in London, I was able to get a table at the London location of Six by Nico. Nico Simeone's small family of restaurants are currently located in six UK cities and specialise in themed, six-course tasting menus priced at a very reasonable £35. The restaurants are currently closed but will hopefully be back again soon when restrictions ease with another exciting theme.
