Niven's

Time Out says

Thu Jul 1 2010

Beside the dreary King’s Cross one-way system, a tatty-looking bicycle is used to prop up the entrance sign to this tiny but airy deli.

Niven’s offers a standard café menu of light salads and plump biscuits, but surprises with a few tasty twists from around the world. The salt beef sandwiches seemed a winner among the brawny workers tucking in next to us. The beef was thickly hand-sliced and served with English mustard on white bread (real, non-plastic stuff).

The menu’s wide-ranging: chorizo and sweet pepper pie (packed with flavour); a delicate, all-butter quiche with mackerel and cherry tomatoes; and thick, dark Moroccan lamb stew.

The selection of soft drinks includes Simply Nectar lemon pressé (sweetened with grape juice) and organic Luscombe Sicilian Lemonade. A few well-chosen goodies can be taken away, such as Brindisa morcilla (Spanish blood sausage) and cooking chorizo, La Chinata hot smoky pepper and pastries from Flour Station.

With this in mind, Niven’s is a good place to stock up on treats, post-work, for a lazy dinner. The genuinely welcoming service and unhurried atmosphere also creates the conditions for a pleasant lunchtime hideaway for local office-workers and students.