New cafe

gardener-joe · January 2012

Currently rewarding myself for not going to work with a toastie and a latte ... this place is such a great addition to the neighbourhood.

SimonB · January 2012

Vagabond is the excuse I've needed to avoid the bus and walk to the station in the mornings

barnesbq · January 2012

Best god damn flat white this side of Australia. Yesterday I had to wait whilst the first one made for me was ditched due to the barrista not liking the texture of the milk as it frothed, so a fresh one was prepared. Now that's a guy who cares about making great coffee. My new fave coffee shop. And I liked the banana loaf a lot, too.

therattle · January 2012

It's fantastic. Went with my wife a while ago, and had amazing hot chocolate. Not powdered crap, but the chocolate of your choice (of two - now three?) melted with milk. So delicious. Tried her coffee too - excellent. I love the decor, and the chaps are very friendly. I mentioned this to them (and how well Season use this forum, as an example - apparently Neil is a vagabonder too), but they said they were too busy - evidently they've made a bit of time, which is good. i am very pleased to see the unformly positiove response, and hope that it flourishes.

Jenny · January 2012

The coffee is definitely the best in the area. I generally can't start the day withour a coffee and have been here quite a few times as I really rate the quality and the service. My only suggestion would be a better choice of soft drinks for the youngsters. Maybe some organic apple juice or smoothies? Keep up the good work gents.

meltwaterfalls · January 2012

I wrote my first review after 2 visits, and since then I have been back innumerable times. I'm glad to see everyone else likes this place as much as me.<div>Service is first rate, they recognise me and start to prepare my drinks before I even get to the counter. I have tried a big selection of their cakes and am yet to be disappointed by one. </div><div> </div><div>The Egg and Bacon sandwiches are delicious to. Really happy to see it doing well as it is a great addition to the neighbourhood.</div>

Ian · January 2012

I had some of the banana bread yesterday. Really nice, and I have a general view that putting vegetables or fruit in cake products is cheating. Echo the lovely people, great coffee (as I've said before). I also bought some coffee beans off them to try them out at home. The visit always reminds me that they should get rid of that parking outside and make it into table space. It is only the cab firm that seem to dominate the spaces, and it would be fantastic civic space for that row to become cafés with outside tables.

Ali · January 2012

What about the people who live above it ?

graeme · January 2012

They could use the tables too, I'm sure no one would mind.

norton · January 2012

Ian, There were plans to pave over the whole area,and provide fixed seating and lighting, but some of the local residence were not to happy about that as it would attract local beggers and drunks, like the ones outside Tesco. That's why the bench was removed from outside Tesco.

yagamuffin · January 2012

They should level and pave the whole area. Replace the raised beds with a row of trees with smaller, low level flower beds around the base of each and put a couple of restricted parking bays at each end (Osborne Road/Upper Tollington Park. Then allow the comercial premises to have outside seating.<div>The 'undesireables' can be managed with an improved Police/uniformed civilian (community officers or specials or whatever they're called these days) presence.</div>

Fin · January 2012

Huge fan of Vagabonds, great coffee, even better hot chocolate, nice atmosphere and friendly people. My only gripe is that it's a bit too small, not much they can do about that to be fair although tables outside will help.

Arkady · January 2012

I suspect that the beggars would stick to the Islington side, as that's where the traffic is. If we start saying that we are not going to improve public space in case it attracts beggars then something has gone horribly wrong.

Fin · January 2012

And too late anyway if they were worried it might attract vagabonds.

krappyrubsnif · January 2012

Lookee here: <A href="http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/durham/piazza.htm">http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/durham/piazza.htm</A>; This was as far as 'Stroud Green Piazza' project got in 2001. This is what I think is called a ghost website because nobody has looked at it for ten years. Nothing actually ever happened after April 2001 except a large tent with an exhibition one Saturday afternoon. All the energy went into getting a pedestrian phase on the traffic lights, which had previously been incredibly dangerous......... I think the idea was then renamed 'Stroud Green Square' but collapsed under the weight of its own inertia and everyone lost interest. That website is now going to stay there for ever and ever and ever because nobody knows the password for deleting it..... Something for you to breathe some life into, Arkady?

Ali · January 2012

The whole area is owned by the council so I would guess that they are unlikely they have any funds to do much because of the cuts etc although if we end up in Tottenham .....<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

Arkady · January 2012

Thanks Krappy. Someone posted it on the 'beautification' thread a while back. Within the Neighbourhood Plan I think there ought to be several loci for redevelopment. Stroud Green Crossroads Plaza would be one, and the 'Old Station' junction at Ferme Park/Stapleton/Lancaster another. Fiveways too, if we wanted an Oxford-Circus style crossing (or a cheap version of the same with paint!). On the subject of Vagabond... can I get a decent breakfast there? Do they stretch to fry-ups?

sg_mike · January 2012

Very good coffee - they clearly make the stuff with care. Hopefully they can move to a bit of a bigger place soon, taking over the old bakery next to nandos would be ideal for them, they'd pick up custom very quickly. Especially if they open early for all the people walking down to the tube station in the morning.

Arkady · January 2012

Excellent coffee, excellent omlette, excellent staff. Attractive interior too. A plaza just there really would be nice.

gardener-joe · January 2012

could not get in today, every seat taken and quite a queue

kreuzkav · January 2012

And I was hoping it would be a quiet cafe where you could sit for a while, read, write and dream. It is very good, but let's not go on about how good it is. Otherwise we'll never get a seat again.

harpistic · January 2012

Sounds like they'll be needing larger premises soon! I haven't gone yet because I figure there'll be a queue for tables, judging by all the feedback so far!

checkski · January 2012

Well, I've never encountered a queue, at any time. I was there at 5 - 5.30 yesterday with 2 friends, and we just about fitted in. The older chap is an ex-ballet dancer. I used to play for ballet classes, but struggle to remember the steps. 'Let's have some pliés!' I mischievously cry, and he obliges with a ghost of the real thing. He offered a couple of jetés yesterday... it all come back to me, vaguely. The young woman is also Lithuanian, from Vilnius, I think she said. In Soviet times they had quite a large Russian community there, so if anyone wants to practise their Russian, as I sort of do, she's a fluent russophone.

norton · January 2012

A few tables outside will improve matters, bit too cold at the moment.

Japanres · January 2012

Vagabond is lovely and a great addition to the road. The coffee is seriously good and way better than anything you would buy in any of the chains.... It is on a par with the best coffee shops in London - Monmouth, Flat White etc.... The cakes are great as well - most (all?) of them are homemade and they are fairly priced. For such a small space the interior is very well designed - clever use of low level lighting and pale woods avoids the place feeling small or cramped. They always seem busy with sit down and take away business - fingers crossed it succeeds!

Japanres · January 2012

Vagabond is lovely and a great addition to the road. The coffee is seriously good and way better than anything you would buy in any of the chains.... It is on a par with the best coffee shops in London - Monmouth, Flat White etc.... The cakes are great as well - most (all?) of them are homemade and they are fairly priced. For such a small space the interior is very well designed - clever use of low level lighting and pale woods avoids the place feeling small or cramped. They always seem busy with sit down and take away business - fingers crossed it succeeds!

N2n4 · February 2012

<div> </div><div>Glad they are doing well, it's a lovely place and they are top guys! Was v busy when I came past the other morning. Must try the hot chocolate!</div><div> </div>

Ludotolive · February 2012

FYI They are waiting to hear from the council what area they will be allowed to have chairs on in the paved area. The beds are already pretty good these days but if we could green up the whole area that would be better.... The pavement is quite wide on both sides... Islington and Haringey.... I have noticed that the shops at the North End of Stroud Green Road are struggling and we need to start to bring more people to Stroud Green to do their shopping as opposed to Crouch End.... Empty shops are no good for anyone.Re the vagabonds, perhaps if they had jobs or support they wouldn't be vagabonds....

gardener-joe · February 2012

@Ludotolive wrote: "North End of Stroud Green Road" Forgive the nit-picker in me but ... there is mo North End to SGR. SGR runs roughly east to west as any one who walks to FP station early in the morning will know, i.e. towards the rising sun.

Arkady · February 2012

NW to SE, almost exactly.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Top Posters

New cafe

Comments