Coffee and cake - the cake part is important!

miss annie

Chaps, I have a daytime date on Saturday afternoon (with a fellow who made boulders for the 127 hours film!) and want to go for coffee and nice cake. SG, Crouch End or Muswell Hill, any suggestions? Ta very much. Miss A

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

poxy

That's Honeycomb. There's a much more chichi place, Coffee Cake, on the other side of the same road just past the pub. <http://www.coffee-cake.co.uk/>; Warning: The website mentions 'philosophy' and has awful music.

ADGS

Ever so slightly further afield, but High Tea in Highgate is good for this.

127 Hours sounds like possibly the least appealing film ever made.

Jenowl

I went to Coffee Cake on Saturday. The cakes are delicious (we chose apple and vanilla, and mango and raspberry) and the staff are very nice. They also do very good salads.

andy

Nice new slightly bonkers Russian baroque inspired cafe at the bottom of Crouch Hill. Maybe called Circus?

graeme

Coffee Circus.
Is slightly eccentric in the decor, but good coffee. Cakes were alright, standard fare. Hot toastie was 'ok', nothing special. Mushroom soup was lovely.
Friendly enough staff.
Though of course it's not a relaxing atmos - suffered from the scourge of CE on Sunday - screaming weans in massive pushchairs.
Queue for seating.

miss annie

Marvellous! Thank you. Coffee Cake sounds like a winner. Thank you poxy for the warning about the website - I'd have gone for "we sell amazing cakes, here are some lovely close up photos of them". ADGS, yes, I would rather hack off my own arm than go and see it. High Tea is lovely but maybe a bit too girly for a date?

katiejane

I'd recommend coffee and cake too for what its worth.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

ADGS

I suppose High Tea is a little twee, but I've never found that offputting. Then again, I like Belle & Sebastian so may not be a representative sample.

tosscat

The heating was set to incinerate in Honeycomb last time I was in, but apart from that it was nice.

Kate Jones

Good for Food on Blackstock Rd is the other direction, but delicious cakes and coffee and generally a nice place to sit and chat. Also the Front Room (or is it Living Room) just off Stroud Green Rd (across from Nandos) is great and has nice homemade cakes.

ADGS, I like Belle & Sebastian too so the representative sample is larger than you thought ;-)

graeme

@ADGS and @Kate Jones,
even the Stevie Jackson songs?! Ugh....
'Write About Love' is a grower of an album.

miss annie

Stuart Murdoch has written a new book - 'The Celestial Cafe'. I believe it's a collection of musings from his diaries but haven't had a chance to examine it.

ADGS

I started the book but then quickly abandoned it. I even felt B&S had sold out slightly when they started giving interviews, and reading his thoughts at length was just far more insight into the real man than I wanted.
(This is not something I feel about bands generally, it's specific to the B&S band image/concept)

woolly

I like <a href="http://www.the-haberdashery.com" target="_blank">Haberdashery</a> on Middle Lane. They serve everythng on mismatched vintage crockery and it's a small but pretty looking place. It gets busy on Saturdays though.

Hope you have a nice time.

Jenowl

Beware going to Haberdashery if you just want coffee and cake. You'll need to go at a non-busy time, otherwise they will only give you a table if you order a full meal.

miss annie

I like Haberdashery but wouldn't contemplate it at weekends or teatimes because of the pram issues noted above. The best time to go there is between 3 - 4 on a weekday when mothers and nannys are doing the school run. Easy to get a table and relatively quiet.

graeme

Haberdashery seems overpriced to me - think it's £7.50 for eggs benedict. That's pushing it I think.

Plus yeah, is always chaos. Somewhere that doesn't admit prams/children is required to add a bit of balance. Not even safe in the pub now, though have never seen sprogs in the Harringay Arms. Maybe they should do nice coffee and they'd be on a winner.

dorothy

I'd always go somewhere you could get a drink for that sort of thing Miss Annie, either before, during or after. What about Banners, I don't think there's cake, maybe pancakes or some kind of deep fried thing. I'd sit by the 'Bob Dylan sat here' plaque for added interest.

Arkady

The what plaque? How exciting, I didn't know. I see a pilgrammage on the horizon.

miss annie

I can't believe the Bob Dylan, Crouch End/Banners connection has slipped under your radar! He's in the mural on their outside wall too.

Arkady

The Crouch End/Dave Stewart connection hadn't, the Banners connecton had.

miss annie

@Dorothy The chap is recently returned to these shores from Hollywood and is keen for coffee and cake. However, I agree that drink is usually a good idea so if the nappy valley crew are out in force we will head for the pub instead.

miss annie

Arky I can't post pictures but this marvellous blog has one... <http://carnivalsaloon.blogspot.com/2010/06/around-north-london-with-bob-dylan.html>;

andy


gardener-joe

Good for Food, Blackstock Road - great cake

wisteria53

The Haberdashery on Middle Lane looks like it is in the same location as the old __Wisteria Tea Rooms__, my natural home around 1989 for a couple of years (accompanied by a sensible umbrella-fold McLaren pushchair if with babies). Will have to check it out with Mr Wisteria for old times sake.

Siolae

There is an absolutely amazing place on archway Road on the left just before you get to Jackson's LAne. The cakes are absolutely incredible and the decor kind of kitsch Victoriana. Can't remember what it is called but would definitely recommend