Restaurants

Leffe Best New Restaurant | Best Gastropub | Best British Restaurant | Best Family Restaurant | Best Local Restaurant | Best Cheap Eats | Best Bar | Best Design | Best Traiteur | Best Coffee Bar

Best Coffee Bar

Fernandez & Wells

WINNER
Fernandez & Wells
Fernandez & Wells runs an interesting pair of operations round the corner from one another: a takeaway/ delicatessen in Lexington Street, specialising in highest-quality Spanish products and cooked dishes, and this café, offering a smaller, slightly different range. Here the emphasis is on sandwiches (made at the other store) and wonderful baked goods that are mostly bought in from first-class suppliers such as Melrose and Morgan and Flour Station. Grab some Valrhona chocolate mousse tart with raspberries if you can. There’s no slouching on the coffee either, made using the espresso blend from the Monmouth Coffee Company, and with textbook crema (foam) on top. Feature continues

The light, bright, simply-decorated room has ample seating at tables and benches, and service is smiling and attentive; everyone working here seems to genuinely enjoy what they do. And they bring you, unasked, a glass of water to go with your espresso – always a sign of extra care. A delightful establishment in every respect.
Fernandez & Wells, 73 Beak St,W1F 9SR (020 7734 1546/www.fernandezandwells.com) Piccadilly Circus tube.

RUNNERS-UP
Bullet
To reach Bullet, you have to climb three flights of stairs in a most unexpected location: the Covent Garden branch of Snow + Rock. It’s worth the trek, even if you don’t have rock shoes or belays, as this little jewel of a café serves coffee and food of exemplary quality. The espresso is expertly made by Kiwi baristas using own-roasted Fairtrade organic beans (also available for sale). The usual milky variants include flat whites (see review below). Snacks are a cut above, too: wonderfully crisp pissaladière (thin onion tart on flaky pastry) and dreamily dense chocolate brownies. More substantial dishes, such as savoury pies, are all made in the small kitchen at the back.
Bullet, Third Floor, Snow & Rock, 4 Mercer St, WC2H 9QA (020 7836 4922) Covent Garden tube.

Flat White
Down Under, ‘flat white’ means coffee made with a large shot of espresso and a hefty dose of milk that’s frothed a bit less than in a cappuccino. The drink has also given its name to one of the buzziest coffee shops in London, the creation of an Antipodean partnership (one Aussie, one Kiwi). This tiny dark spot seems to be constantly crowded, with customers spilling out onto the pavement even when the weather’s less than Sydney-sunny. Most people order milky drinks, and they’re probably better off with that than with an espresso. Though expertly made using beans from Monmouth, it was just too intense for palates accustomed to Italian-style espresso.
Flat White, 17 Berwick St, W1F 0PT (020 7734 4384/www.flat-white.co.uk) Piccadilly Circus tube.

Nordic Bakery
This large, high-ceilinged, exceptionally lovely room is decorated with impeccable and very contemporary Scandinavian good taste. You’ll find a small food offering (mostly baked goods and Scandi-style sandwiches) and good coffee. Order from the counter and you’ll be brought a tray at the table by notably charming staff. The espresso is good if not perfect, but perhaps it’s made in a style that Finns – the world’s largest consumers of coffee per capita – especially like. A perfect spot for leisurely perusal of the papers, a book, or even your laptop, if you must, Nordic Bakery is a quiet and contemplative experience, something that’s all too rare in bustling Soho.
Nordic Bakery, 14 Golden Square, W1F 9JF (020 3230 1077/www.nordicbakery.com) Piccadilly Circus tube.

Sacred Café
Keeping the espresso machine on a nineteenth-century Welsh wooden pulpit is just one of the religious motifs in this friendly haven. Sacred is set on two levels: a small, light and airy ground-floor room and a dark, attractive basement with plenty of seating and artworks for sale. The coffee beans are Fairtrade, and our espresso was perfect: lovely crema, beautifully balanced; it needed no sugar. The food was good, if not exceptional. A smoked salmon sandwich with mascarpone was excellent, but tasty lemon tart and cheesecake were let down by their soggy bases. Generous salads and some hot dishes are also available to satisfy the Carnaby Street shopping and office punters who should mark this spot down as a favourite.
Sacred Café, 13 Ganton St, W1F 9BL (020 7734 1415/www.sacredcafe.co.uk) Oxford Circus tube.

Leffe Best New Restaurant | Best Gastropub | Best British Restaurant | Best Family Restaurant | Best Local Restaurant | Best Cheap Eats | Best Bar | Best Design | Best Traiteur | Best Coffee Bar

Special thanks to Leffe, sponsors of the Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008, as well as the Time Out Eating & Drinking Awards, and for supplying tasty speciality beer on the night. Also thanks to Xellent Swiss Vodka, Penfolds Wines, Perrier and Vittel for providing us with refreshing drinks for the awards, and the Wellcome Collection for lending us their impressive Medicine Now gallery.

To discover over 1,500 London's best restaurants, bars, food shops and cafés, check out the new Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide, now in its 25th edition. Buy it now and save £3.50 off the shop price.