Another one of favourite coffee shops in London has to be Fernandez & Wells, which actually has two shops in Soho – fast reclaiming back its status as the place to eat, drink and be seen in London. The first shop on 43 Lexington Street is described as a Food & Wine Bar “a European Market Stall in an English Setting”, where you can buy meat, cheese, sandwiches, etc. However just around the corner on 73 Beak Street is their Coffee Shop, where I’ve been before (see https://fromcoffeewithlove.com/pages/enjoy_culture-beanthere.html).
For a little background, their coffee is from the famous Monmouth Coffee Company and they now have a Synesso Cyncra Espresso Machine (they used to have a La Marzocco) – I’ve only seen 2 Synesso machines, one in Cape town and one now in London. For more info about this wonderful machine see www.synesso.com If my dream of having a coffee shop one day came true, then this machine is first on my list. Anyway back to the shop – they have a simple clean layout, where all the goodies are displayed
Now ! doesn’t that look inviting ? As I had just had breakfast, I could only stomach a Pasties de Nata a Portuguese custard tart, which I had only had previosuly at Origins Coffee Roasting in Cape Town – now that I am writing this, there seems to be come kind of connection, same custard tarts and same coffee machine, hmmmm ! They also have bread from the famous French bakery, Poilâne. I decided to try a Piccolo, which I had wanted to try on my return. A Piccolo is like a smallish latte, served in a double espresso cup and I found out that the barista and another shop assistant were previously from Monmouth Coffee Company – so they got the coffee and the staff from the pros – well done ! Anyway, as you can see below, my piccolo was served with latte art in this tiny cup – impressive as Im still struggling to do latte art in a big cup.
The coffee was nice and smooth and the staff were friendly and on my next visit, I pray that I’ll have the chance to pop in and have that Sicilian Lemon Cheesecake that I didn’t have space in my tummy for.
For more, visit http://www.fernandezandwells.com/beak.php
From Coffee With Love 