The Caffeine Chronicles: Old Spike Roastery Review

Back in March, I spotted a new coffee shop and roastery on Peckham Rye, a few doors down from Pedler. Old Spike Roastery had only been open for a couple of weeks, but they'd already nailed the macchiato. Now that they've been open a bit longer, I decided to check back in.

They roast their own coffee in-house on a petite roaster they call 'Torberg'. I started off with a cortado (£2.50), which was brewed with a blend of Colombian coffee.

I don't often drink coffee with this much milk and my coffee-tastebuds aren't quite so sensitive to the notes, but it was smooth, rich and chocolatey. It went very well with the vanilla glazed Crosstown doughnut I tried. I like Crosstown doughnuts a lot but a lot of their flavour combos aren't my cup of tea — you can't go too far wrong with a classic vanilla, though.

I had asked earlier whether they served pourovers, which they don't (they take too long to make), but they do have a small machine for making brew-to-order coffee. Initially, I was that irritating coffee snob who rejected this idea, but, feeling guilty, I did try to order one. The machine was being used to produce a small batch of cold brew, though, so the barista made me an Aeropress-brewed coffee instead (£2.50). It was an African variety — I forget which — and had a very subtle, fruity acidity, so light and refreshing that it almost reminded me of tea.

Old Spike is only open at the weekends at the moment. There are a few seats inside, the best of which provide a great vantage point to watch the peeps of Peckham go about their weekending. If you can't make it out to Peckham, you can buy their coffee online instead.

So far, so standard. But what makes Old Spike more interesting than a lot of the other new coffee shops on the block is that they combine coffee with social enterprise. They are not-for-profit and set up to support local homeless people by providing jobs, training and housing. A pretty awesome initiative, that also makes pretty awesome coffee.

Old Spike Roastery. 54 Peckham Rye, London, SE15 4JR (Peckham Rye Overground). Website. Twitter.

"I've Been Sitting Waiting To Make a Scene for Hours"

Alex Ross Perry's new film Listen Up Philip is just the kind of film I used to enjoy catching at an earlybird screening at the Curzon: I'm not particularly excited to see the film and don't think it's worth £15, but could have been tempted for £8. Instead, I paid a tenner to catch it on Curzon Home Cinema, which I am now regretting. Not because I hated the film, but because it was just tedious enough that I started multitasking while I was watching it on Sunday night, which meant I had to watch most of it a second time on Monday. I don't think this has made me think of it more fondly.

Jason Schwartzman stars as the titular Philip, a 30-something writer on the verge of publishing his second novel, Obidant. To describe Philip as egomaniacal, arrogant and crushingly irritating is to state the obvious, and nor does it distinguish him from the film's other characters, none of whom is much more likeable. There's his girlfriend Ashley (Elisabeth Moss), a successful photographer with whom we start to sympathise after Philip swans off to spend the summer at the home of a Philip Roth-like writing god, Ike Zimmerman (Jonathan Pryce). Zimmerman himself is a cad of epic proportions, isolated from his seething daughter (Krysten Ritter).

The poster bills Listen Up Philip as Woody Allen meets Wes Anderson, and yes, the font on the poster is there, the music is there and even the vintage-inspired cinematography is there, but the film has too little heart and too much discomfort to be as enjoyable as anything by the two WAs. That isn't to say that I disliked everything about it — there are some great zingy lines in the script, especially the putdowns ("what's the problem?" / "She didn't like your book") and the self-aware self-centredness ("I've been sitting waiting to make a scene for hours"). Moss's performance is another of the film's strong points: her character is often overshadowed by Philip, of course, but Moss's Ashley is nuanced, complex and much more interesting.

I couldn't warm to Schwartzman's Philip, though; not even a little bit. The opening scene, where Philip meets with an ex-girlfriend to give her a copy of Obediant and to explain to her, at length, how successful he is, is up there with The Social Network in the awkward-scenes-at-the-bar stakes. The characters walk around the city, irritating and screwing over one another. Nothing really happens, and that is part of the problem: Listen Up Philip was at least 30 minutes too long, and the final act really dragged. Meanwhile, doleful trumpet solos only servs to remind you that you would much rather be watching Chinatown. Or something fun.

Back on the Rails: Dishoom King's Cross Review

When the latest branch of Dishoom opened last autumn near Granary Square in King's Cross, only a few minutes' walk from my office, I couldn't wait to dally over some daal or to taste a bit of tikka. I had hoped to take advantage of the half-price food during the soft launch but I was not the only one to have this idea and the queues were insane. I finally got the chance to go with a couple of work chums in February, but there was a queue even at 6 o'clock on a freezing Thursday evening — even just to drink at the gorgeous, teal-accented basement cocktail bar.

Fortunately, it was much easier for my friend and I to get a table on Thursday evening. Perhaps the fuss has died down a bit now or maybe everyone else wanted to sit outside on one of the first truly warm and sunny evenings of the summer. The front-of-house system doesn't seem perfectly set up quite yet — on both visits, there was some confusion (this time, I gave my name and my friend's but when she arrived five minutes later, they claimed ignorance and sent her to the bar instead of our table) — but you can't fault the staff for friendliness. I was given a surprisingly refreshing salty lemon drink to sip while waiting to find out the wait situation, but was shown to my table in under five minutes.

Dishoom's King's Cross site is huge, occupying a multi-floor building that has retained some of the features of its previous incarnation as a warehouse (and before that a transit shed). Dishoom's restaurants pay homage to the Irani cafes of Bombay and the King's Cross branch in particular is influenced by a café near Bombay's Victoria Terminus. There's a big clock, ceilings that look like they are designed to hold a few suitcases, skylights and winding staircases. The 20th century industrial chic aesthetic is stylish, cool and apt.

While I waited for my friend to arrive, I perused the cocktail menu, which takes classic cocktails and quite literally spices them up. When I came before, I tried the 1948 Sour (a fruity syrupy concoction made with an Indian whisky) and my favourite, the beautiful Edwina's Affair (gin, rose, cardamom and mint). This time, I decided to order something quite different, the Chilli Martini (Portobello Road gin with pomegranate, lemon and chilli; £7.50), which had enough fruity sweetness to balance the fiery kick.

Then came the hard part: deciding what to eat. We shared some vegetable samosas (£3.20) to start. There only two of them, but they were also quite big, and nicely spiced. For my main course, I went for the chicken berry Britannia (£8.50), which came in a generously sized pot with rice on top. I didn't realise that it came with rice, so I was glad I had just ordered a garlic naan (£2.20) on the side and not more rice. My biryani was really good: the chicken was juicy and flavoursome, and the cranberry-dotted sauce was warm, rich and just spicy enough to keep it interesting. I also tried some of my friend's chicken ruby (£8.20), which was zingy and citrusy.

I've never been to Mumbai, but the atmosphere in Dishoom on Thursday night was certainly bustling. The wait staff were friendly and we weren't hurried out after we had finished our food — this did, however, mean that I kept on grazing long after I grew full, but it was all just so tasty! Dishoom is open all day — their breakfast bacon naans are also ace — and the food is delicious and good value. And if you go at night, don't forget to check out the dancing fountains in Granary Square; there's even an app that lets you control them!

Dishoom. 5 Stable Street, London, N1C 4AB (Tube: King's Cross). Website. Twitter.

A Rainy Day Brunch in Brixton

I was supposed to be playing cricket, of all things, on Sunday but rain stopped play before it even started and so I decided to seek shelter in the colourful arcades of Brixton Market, where delicious aromas from around the globe compete for attention. If you're looking for brunch, there is, to say the least, a huge number options. Last time I was there, I sampled Okan's tasty Japanese okonomiyaki, and this time, the prospect of authentic Mexican brunch won me over. My recent trip to Mexico has meant that I'm constantly on the look out for great Mexican food in London, and Casa Morita looked pretty good.

Casa Morita has just launched a weekend brunch menu, which, as you might expect is pretty heavy on the huevos. Unfortunately, I'd had eggs on toast for breakfast and so couldn't really order the huevos a la Mexicana. Instead, I chose the molletes with chorizo (£5.10), half a toasted bun, served with refried beans, cheese, pico de gallo and avo. The food was very tasty — comparable to some of my breakfasts in Mexico — and just spicy enough. Next time, I would like to try the chilaquiles, which I discovered in Oaxaca, although the all-day menu, with tacos, other street-food dishes and cocktails galore, also looks great.

With a homemade limeade, the meal cost me all of £7.50: pricier than DF, but not bad for Brixton. The restaurant itself is colourful and funky, with a few tables inside and a couple more outside under the arcade. Qué bonito!

After brunch, I walked over to the other side of the market, across Atlantic Road, and went for coffee at Federation Coffee, which I've wanted to try for a long time. I saw on their website that they would soon be introducing a brew bar and had hoped to be able to have a pourover, but the brew bar hasn't arrived yet and the espresso machine was broken, so it was batch-brewed filter coffee or nothing.

I always feel like a terrible person when I ask about hand-brewed filter coffee, but it does usually taste much nicer; however, Federation's brew with Campbell & Syme coffee, was rich, fresh and very flavoursome. I also tried a tasty, fruity, almondy cake called a friand, which worked well with my cup o' joe. Plus, the window seats are excellent for people-watching. Federation is a great little place for a coffee stop in the Brixton area. Perhaps when I return, the brew bar will be installed or, at least, the espresso machine will be working again so that I can sample the macchiato.

Casa Morita. 9 Market Row,  Brixton Village Market, London, SW9 8LB (Tube: Brixton). Website. Twitter.
Federation Coffee. Unit 77-78, Brixton Village Market, London, SW9 8PS (Tube: Brixton). Website. Twitter. Instagram.

The Caffeine Chronicles: The Black Penny Review

While I was on holiday, I got an email from The Nudge about The Black Penny, a new coffee shop in Covent Garden, which was offering lunch or a coffee for a penny to celebrate its soft launch. Sadly, I missed the soft launch, but I did stop by on Saturday afternoon to, er, spend a few pennies.

The cafe, with its chic, dark exterior and handful of tables on the pavement under the awning, seemed familiar, and I soon realised that The Black Penny is occupying the site where another coffee bar —  Salt — used to be based. It was a sunny afternoon and all of the outdoor tables were occupied, so I took a seat in the window instead and decided what to order. The breakfast and brunch menu sounded pretty great, especially the crispy duck hash, but I had already brunched so I studied the sweet treats instead and picked out a raspberry and coconut brownie.

The coffee menu is quite extensive, but only lists one hand-brewed filter coffee option — siphon — but although I could see the siphon, it wasn't available. Instead, I ordered a flat white with almond milk (£3.30, I think). The coffee is from Ozone and there were a couple of varieties on offer. The barista made my drink using the Opus blend, which I've tried before and which I like a lot: it's chocolatey and nutty — even if you don't add almond milk!

Both the coffee and the brownie tasted great, and the window seats and pavement tables are great for people-watching as Covent Garden passes by. The cafe itself has an industrial-chic vibe with dark brushed-metal tables, exposed-brick walls and cool pendant light bulbs. Like the coffee shops of yore (which were known as 'penny universities' because for the princely sum of one penny, you could gain admission, a cup of coffee and access to a range of political and academic debates and discussions), The Black Penny hopes to be a place of discourse and debate as well as caffeination and they will, in due course, be hosting events, lectures and seminars in the basement Seminar Pit.

If the penny hasn't already dropped, I really like The Black Penny, and it makes a nice addition to the calmer end of Covent Garden.

The Black Penny. 34 Great Queen Street, London, WC2B 5AA (Tube: Covent Garden or Holborn). Website. Twitter.

May Favourites

I was out of the country for the first half of May, but managed to pack a fair amount in to the latter half, catching up with friends back in London. Here are some things that tickled my fancy this month.

1. The Riding House Café. When I lived in Marylebone, I used to go to this chic and colourful Fitzrovia bistro fairly regularly, but the past few times I've tried to go, it was booked up way in advance. We did, however, get lucky and score a table for a girls' brunch on Saturday. I've had the burger there many times and it's great, but I was in more of a brunch mood and went for the avocado benedict: poached eggs with hollandaise sauce over smashed avocado on a toasted muffin. It was, of course, delicious. Most of the cocktails are riding-themed, in line with the restaurant's name, and I ordered the Horse Whisperer: gin, apple liqueur, rhubarb bitters, ginger and egg white. What a nice way to spend a sunny Saturday!

2. Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami. Thirty-something Tsukiko bumps into her former high-school Japanese teacher in a small Tokyo bar one night. Both are lonely and a tentative friendship develops between the two of them. Not much more happens in Kawakami's novel, but it is so atmospheric, tender, beautifully written and funny. For anyone who has ever visited Tokyo, this story will evoke the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of Japan's enchanting capital city.

3. Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Partly because Strange Weather in Tokyo put me back in a Japan frame of mind and partly because it's mentioned most weeks in the advertorial segments of several podcasts at the moment, I decided to check out David Gelb's excellent documentary on Netflix. The eponymous Jiro is the head chef at a three-Michelin-starred sushi restaurant in Tokyo's Ginza district and the film explores what it takes to rise to the top of a hugely competitive industry. In particular, Jiro's lifelong devotion to becoming really, really good at one single thing is fascinating and inspiring. We meet Jiro's two sons — one of whom still works under him and one of whom now has his own restaurant — as well as critics, suppliers and customers. I wish I'd known about Jiro's restaurant when I visited Tokyo, although getting a reservation is very hard, as it sounds like it would be an unforgettable meal.

4. K Place. My brother and sister-in-law lived in Korea for a couple of years, where they met while teaching English. As such, they are the experts in our group of friends on the most authentic Korean BBQ in London. We've always enjoyed going to The Old Justice, a pub serving Korean food near Bermondsey Station, but they have now relocated to Monument and rebranded as K Place (I thought The New Old Justice would be better). They officially open today but we went a couple of weeks ago during their soft launch. The prices are, unfortunately, more in keeping with its new City location and the only soft-launch discount was off the all-you-can-eat buffet, but the food was even better and still pretty good value. We ate our fill of beef bulgogi, pork and sides, with a few beers and some soju for about £25 per head. They don't seem to have a website or anything yet but you can find them at: 1 St Mary at Hill, London, EC3R 8EE (tel: 020 7621 0002).

5. Mad Men series finale. There are only a few TV shows that I have watched at the time of first broadcast and from the beginning throughout their run: Friends, Dawson's Creek, Gossip Girl and now Mad Men. When Matthew Weiner's show made its début in 2007, it quickly became my favourite show, and while it didn't pioneer the antihero, Jon Hamm's Don Draper managed to be charismatic, compelling, mysterious and intensely frustrating in equal measures. When The Good Wife arrived on the scene in 2009, that soon took over as my favourite show, but I still loved watching Mad Men each week. It's the very definition of 'slow burner' but the attention to detail, the fine acting performances and the flawed but complex characters kept drawing me back, even during the weaker fifth and sixth seasons when there seemed to be too many characters for the small seasons.

I was also annoyed by the decision to split the last season into two halves, but the second-half of season seven was really good and although the ending wasn't perfect, it was very fitting and gave viewers perhaps more resolution than they might ever have hoped for. If you haven't watched the show, I would recommend giving it a try, but I do suggest that you don't binge-watch. A few of my friends quickly burned out by trying to watch too many episodes in one go; slow burners are definitely more enjoyable if you don't rush them. Mad Men, I'm going to miss you!

Mexico Travel Diary Video

OK, this really is the last post about my recent holiday in Mexico, I promise! I made a short video with some of my highlights from the trip.



If you've been thinking about planning a vacation to Mexico, I'd highly recommend it as a holiday destination. You can read my overview of the trip here, and other Mexico blog posts here.