Love Walk Cafe

As people who know me will tell you, I’m a suspicious man.  This character trait suits my profession quite well but can be tiring for every day life.  This is especially the case regarding restaurant reviews.  Love Walk Cafe was noted to me third hand as being the bee’s knees.  Perhaps that is somewhat appropriate use of language as knees are involved in “walking”…  As this was how I arrived at Love Walk Cafe, I walked in.

On arrival, I could see that the name seemed appropriate as it was décor was distressed, laid back and homey (worn) furnishing.  In contrast, the menus were sharp and stiff.  Although this was probably because they were laminated.   Plastic makes things seem modern until you are a bit too overzealous.

Strangely, the staff were harried and rushed off their feet even if the place wasn’t that full.  The prices rather more than I would have expected but thankfully didn’t seem to include service charge which was a good thing as we had to go to the cashier to order our food and pay.

Sweetcorn fritters with smashed avocado, grilled halloumi, tomato chutney & line with free range dry cured bacon.  This was one of the more weird dishes I’ve eaten recently.  In that there were lots of colours and textures on the plate but the different foods stuffs that I had ordered but strangely they seemed to taste very similar. So much so that if I was wearing a blind fold I would be hard pressed to tell you if I was eating the fritters or the halloumi.

So this strange dish tasted like a generic fry up but this was probably because I couldn’t taste the secret ingredient, love.  It was the Love Walk Cafe after all but perhaps it doesn’t work on a bitter old man like me.

Slow roasted chicken, mayo, avocado, blushing tomatoes and rocket dressed with our homemade basil pesto. I apologize that one half is missing. My excuse was that I was so distraught with the fritters that I had to try something, anything, to appease my appetite at this stage. This was slightly better than the fritters but suffered from the same problem. Just not being very stand out.  The baguette was crunchy, the chicken soggy and bland, the avocado strangely tasteless and the salad rather sapid.  If anything, it was even worse than the fritters.

I think that I am probably being a bit too harsh here.  I’m the first to admit that my mood can affect the enjoyment.  I’ve not been having a good time recently as it is coming up to a year since I’ve had a restful sleep.  Yet, that is another story.  Perhaps I could do with a bit more love of walking, that might lead to something better if I pop into the right cafe.

A quiet eating 5/10.

Lunch (one course) will average you about GBP 13 excluding service and drinks.

Love Walk Cafe (no website)

81 Denmark Hill,
London SE5 8RS