I wouldn’t usually end up in such a place, as I prefer more indy, punk and dilapidated coffee joints.  Those are cheaper too, which I need as I am saving up for probably one of the most expensive things in life.

Putting monetary concerns to one side, in such types of coffee joints, things just seem to taste sweeter, perhaps due to increased excitement when having a drink in a place where it feels like something might fall on you.  I’m sure that’s actually not going to happen given the vicarious and occupier’s liability rules in the UK.  Sometimes it helps to know your legal rights.

However, such places make me feel young again.  So imagine my great disappointment when I was in the Paddington area but found out that my usual coffee place ticking all these boxes had simply disappeared.  Without a goodbye.  How rude.

So I was forced to accept the next best thing around the corner.

Coffee shop by day, bar by night.  I would like to effortlessly slide between different types of cool.  Unfortunately, those days (if there were any…) are far far behind me.

Drink

Latte.  I had a latte, which was rather ordinary.  Didn’t really have much of a taste of coffee, so it made me sad.

Cake

Kot tai lemington.  This better.  A towering cake dusted with brown sugar.  Moist and soft.  With cream inside and dried fruit on top.  Decent.

Lemon lemington.  This version instead was dusted with white sugar and had a slightly sour flavour, that is before even getting to the lemon on top.  It was ok if nothing to write home about.  The placing and atmosphere was clean and modern though.

I have my suspicions that the food could have been much better if they let a bit more character into the venue (and food).  Sometimes a little bit of dirt isn’t a bad thing.  Who knows, it might help you feel young again.  And that would be worth almost anything worth paying for.

Score

A quiet eating 7/10.

A coffee and cake was GBP10 excluding service.

Beanie Green Paddington

Sheldon Square, Paddington
London W2 6EZ