As you may have discerned, I’ve gone through a break up. Breaking up is hard to do, especially when kids are involved, and I know that Eva is missing her regular cheesecake pots already. But let me be clear – it was Pret that changed. Not me. I didn’t do a thing wrong but somehow, this huge chain decided that the relationship where I consume more coffee than I pay for was not working for them. How outrageous.
Anyway, this left me with a twin dilemma….where to get my morning caffeine dose on the way to work and where I could sit if I’m ever early to pick Eva up from her Shakespeare class. So I’ve been doing some research and discovery.
We’ll start with coffee because nothing really starts without coffee. This is a classic “grass is greener” situation because when Pret and I were monogamous, I looked longingly at all the new hipster coffee shops popping up around Liverpool Street. But turns out, they’re not all I was dreaming of.
My first stop was Blank Street Coffee, on Old Broad Street. I’d heard good things about the coffee but hadn’t realised that the ordering experience would be tricky without the app. There’s nowhere to queue or wait inside so you queue on the street to order and then again to pick up, all the while getting gazumped by people who were doing app pick-ups. I might just be too old for this. It was fine on a sunny day but I think queuing in the City drizzle for a coffee might kill what’s left of my carefree spirit. The coffee itself was decent and the Cinnamon bun was substantial but I’m not sure I can reconcile myself to the process as a regular thing.
Similar thoughts were had on my first visit to Pickwick Coffee Company on the same street. There was no way to pay by card except via the tips pad so I had to tap my card seven times. I later realised this was part of a global outage so not Pickwick’s fault. I’ve since given them a few more tries and the coffee is good. You even get a cup which shows you the view you’re looking at while you walk through the City. The cinnamon roll was also good but both coffee and roll are quite hipster in taste (roll understated, coffee slightly sweet) so while they were fine, they weren’t my favourite. Also, they use the word “demure” in their advertising:
The other place I mean to try is Grind, at the Royal Exchange. A colleague recommended it and they have cute baby-pink cups but the only time I walk to work from Bank rather than Liverpool Street is when things go wrong. Like they did last week:
Does this muddy field look like it’s near the Royal Exchange?
That meant I was already lateish for work when I was passing Grind and it looked like more crowded, app-based chaos. So I’m ashamed to say that I went to Starbucks instead. No queue and three people serving. It wasn’t great coffee but at least I wasn’t still in that field.
More recently, I’ve been frequenting Coco di Mama. A pasta place might not be the obvious coffee choice but Italians take coffee as seriously as they take pasta, right? This is about the right kinda taste for me and they give you an adorable little hazelnut cream biscuit to go with it. My only complaint is the inconsistency with the pastries – the first time I was there, I ordered an almond croissant and realised once I got to the office that I had a plain one. The second time, I ordered at the kiosk and it said that all the pastries were sold out even though I could see them right there at the counter. The third time, I was having a dairy fast and the vegan option was sold out. So not fully successful trips thus far. I’ll keep you posted.
And that brings me smoothly on to my other project – exploring the options of Chicken Row, in Walthamstow. Eva and I christened this bit of Walthamstow High Street after we saw three signs in a row, promising Fried Chicken, Crispy Chicken and Chickenpox:
What else could you need? With both Nandos and Popeyes on the other side of the road, it truly is the chicken capital of E17. I often have a few minutes to kill before picking Eva up from drama so I have been slowly trying out the various options and, once more, I have results for you.
I think my first venture was to Raya Street Food, which promised the crispy chicken. This is a snack size, which is where this whole project originated. I really didn’t mean to be eating a full meal while walking around Walthamstow in the rain but there is also the option to sit in at Raya, which brings me back to the initial dilemma…somewhere to wait that isn’t Pret.
The crispy chicken is somewhere between meh and nice depending on which sauce you choose. The sweet and sour was a bit bland but the sweet and spicy is really good. Service is pretty quick and it’s very cheap (£5.95). I think I had the spring rolls once too and they were also good.
Next door is You Me Sushi, which offers Japanese Fried Chicken for a hefty £11.50. It does come with rice and there is a lunch deal including a drink for slightly cheaper. Both times I’ve tried it there has been a wait of around ten minutes but they’re probably quicker at peak times. I can’t believe it was still warm enough to eat outside in the evening when I took this picture:
And I still got free Pret coolers then. Sob, on both fronts. The chicken is tasty but not sure whether it’s over-a-tenner’s worth of tasty. It’s more expensive than Kome in South Woodford and Kome is probably better. Also, we get random gifts like lids and hair removal cream from Kome. The You Me Sushi chicken came with pickles but it was pickled ginger which is like biting into perfume. Sorry, that’s not for me.
Of course, we’ve tried Nandos a million times so it doesn’t really need to be included in this experiment but here’s a picture of our visit in August just for the sake of it:
You know the deal with Nandos – not as cheap as it used to be but still tasty, fresh, spicy chicken. I went to the one in Islington with Reuben today and it was as good as it ever was.
Don’t listen to the haters. Or Eva, who refuses to go there because of their aggressive promotion of chicken-eating…although she’s quite happy to go to Popeye’s with Bunny and that’s a chicken place too. Maybe that’s because she enjoys its resemblance to Perry the Platypus
Talking of Popeye’s, that has indeed featured in my chicken odyssey. I ordered some tenders with hot honey dip and I wasn’t expecting much but I was pleasantly surprised. The tenders were very fresh, very hot and the coating was super crispy. Much nicer than you’d get in McDonalds.
There are two further contenders that are near, but not on Chicken Row. One is Sushi Handroll on Hoe Street, which I decided to try when it was hammering it down and I couldn’t be bothered to wait for the lights to change so I headed down Hoe Street instead of across it. It also doesn’t do anything in the sweet and spicy chicken range, so not directly comparable. I got a chicken katsu curry and it was perfectly eatable – a bit like the Abokado version but with the chicken sliced nicely so that you can actually the strips with chopsticks. Plus they include pickles, which is always a bonus (unless it’s ginger, as previously discussed). The main thing I remember is that they were paying “Next Episode” while I was waiting and that confused my Pavlovian reaction because – thanks to the Snoop Dogg JustEat adverts – I crave takeaway every time I hear that song. But what to do when you already have takeaway on the way? Confusing.
The last one I’m going to mention is much further down the High Street – Chopstix just on the side of the Mall. I have eaten here before and it’s a very cheap option but not necessarily the most gourmet. It’s what you’d expect for a tenner for two different mains, rice, a drink and spring rolls. I went there last week when I needed to sit in somewhere and the food was again not too exciting. However, the service was super-friendly not just to me but also the teenage boys who came in after me. It felt like I was in no way being a problem sitting there at almost-closing time and that made the sweet and sour and Korean BBQ chicken taste a little less bland. It was also really hot, which was good as you imagine those kind of places serving food that’s a bit lukewarm. So a bargain price and a warm welcome in every way. A good place to finish up….I still haven’t found the ideal chickenery but the search continues….
