Restaurants

  • J&A Café

     
  • Excellent produce, home-style dishes

  • Tricia de Courcy Ling

  • By Guy Dimond

  • This Clerkenwell café, opened in autumn 2008, is housed in a former Victorian workshop used for cutting diamonds. As you’d expect it has lots of natural lighting, and the high ceilings, bare brick walls and large windows give it a surprisingly cosy feel, once fresh flowers and big bowls of fruit are used to decorate the bare wooden tables. The two young sisters who run this café, Johanna and Aoife Ledwidge, use good produce – organic meats, proper breads – to great effect in simple, home-style dishes. A chicken and vegetable soup is their grandmother’s recipe, and it’s rich and full-flavoured; a steak sandwich, the meat cooked rare, had all the right details with it, from a mustard and mayo dressing to ripe cherry tomatoes. The retro cakes are a hit too: Victoria sponge, coffee cake, carrot cake. J&A is now licensed (serving Languedoc wines), and is now open in the evenings Wed-Fri.

  • Time Out London May 2009

Time Out reviews restaurants anonymously and pays for meals. Of course, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or independence of user reviews.
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  1. Posted by bov on 13 Oct 2009 17:22

    over priced but quite nice food.
    lacking atmoshphere and the staff seem to be over worked and rushed.

  2. Posted by Tania on 17 Sep 2009 10:18

    I love this place sooo much... food, coffee, atmosphere, staff... and most especially the victoria sponge!

  3. Posted by yassa on 16 Sep 2009 15:57

    J&A is amazing.

  4. Posted by Mary Hennessy on 15 Sep 2009 06:12

    LOVE THIS PLACE & THE STAFF

  5. Posted by vicki murdoch on 25 Aug 2009 13:39

    This cafe is a real find, hidden off the busy road of Clerkenwell, The atmosphere is lovely and so are the staff. food is proper home cooking and real yummy cakes, upstairs they often offer some art to go browse around after lunch. 5 stars from me

  6. Posted by RCantwell on 15 May 2009 09:47

    I can only concur with this reviewer - excellent produce, outstanding baking, and good well presented flavours. Wine was excellent, and well priced. A friendly atmosphere and a great find.

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  • Details

  • 4 Sutton Lane, Clerkenwell, EC1M 5PU
  • Area: Clerkenwell
  • Tel: 020 7490 2992
  • Category: Cafes
  • Travel: Barbican tube/bus 55
  • Times: 8am-6pm Mon-Fri; 10am-4pm Sat
  • Price: Meal for two with wine and service: around £40
  • Services:
    • Available for hire: For hire in the evenings by arrangement
    • Outdoor tables: Four small tables outdoors in alley
  • Map

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Miss_Write

who expects to be wined and dined relentlessly, young-hearted, good sense of humour, down to Earth, stupidly loyal, honest (although I did...