The sister restaurant of Urban Angel (on Forth Street) closed down earlier this summer, putting all the focus back on this original spot on Hanover Street, which turned ten this year. The room is a very zen subterranean haven of pale pine and flagstone floors where they’ve been serving up seasonal, organic and ethical produce long before it seemed to become almost a given for any (sniff) self-respecting city centre bistro.
Their espresso coffee is roasted by London’s Alchemy and loose leaf tea (choose from breakfast/ builder’s, decaf, as well as white peony, chai or peppermint amongst others) comes from Eteaket tea room, based on the nearby Frederick Street. If your yoga classes have been guilting you into a more balanced approach to eating, Urban Angel’s smoothies mix up mango and coconut water with nutrient-loaded things like spinach, spirulina and kale for just under a fiver (there’s a raw chocolate version too, made with almond milk, cacao, banana and vanilla).
Even the treats wear a halo (the clue was always there in the café’s name), with organic plum and frangipane tart, a gluten-free orange and almond cake or fairtrade dark chocolate and nut brownie. The good virtues continue in the superfood salads, organic lamb, pistachio and feta koftes and healthy fish dishes, but if any of this sounds like joyless, penitent eating, you’d be dead wrong - the flavours are straight from heaven.