March 2014 – From Coffee With Love

March 30, 2014

A Flat White, An Espresso and An Espresso Macchiato in London

As some of you know, my real job, working for one of the United Nations (UN) Agencies, gives me the opportunity to visit different parts of the World a few times a year, and usually I’m lucky enough to connect through London, which means a day visiting cafes and shopping. So, just last week (21 April 2014), I was in London again and decided to try a couple of different cafes that I had never been before, so here goes a summary of my experience.

A Flat White

Nominated for the 2013 European Coffee Shop of the year, I had to visit New Row Coffee, located on 24 New Row, London, WC2N 4LA, in the Covent Garden neighbourhood. It was a bit of a trek from nearby Leicester Square underground station, as I was dragging my hand luggage, but it was worth the wait. I was early enough to avoid any queues, gape at the array of delicious cakes on show, but sadly I had just stuffed myself with food at the BA arrival lounge and can’t wait to visit again to taste some of these treats.

Anyway, back to the coffee. Their espresso blend hails from Union Roasted and unlike most of the reputable coffee shops in London, have a darker roast. I ordered a flat white as I hadn’t had an espresso milk based drink for a week.

It had hints of caramel, which turned out to be more pronounced for at least 30 minutes after I left the shop, developing into dark cocoa and toffee syrup, YUM! especially on a brisk Friday morning manouevring through the theatre land of London. So, if you visit London and happen to be in the theatre district and need a great coffee fix before your show and prior to eating out, where most probably they won’t serve great coffee, then check our New Row Coffee.

An Espresso

When you’ve only got a few hours in London to drink coffee and shop (my new past time, but one of my previous career dream was to be a fashion designer for men’s clothes), then you know that you may be pushed for time to sit down and divulge your taste buds in London’s exciting and very diverse culinary delights. So, when I entered Foxcroft and Ginger at 3 Berwick Street, Soho, London W1F 0DR, off Oxford Street in the West End, I initially wanted to have a quick lunch, but looking at my time, just after 2pm, knowing I had to be at Heathrow Airport at 5pm, I decided a delectable lemon syrup cake and of course a double espresso.

It took longer than I expected, almost 10 minutes before my cake and coffee, so I didn’t waste time “being Italian” gulping my cake down (sugar rush to help speed around the shops) and an espresso (because I like coffee). Now back to that “Italian” thing. An espresso – this was probably the best “Italian” style espresso I’ve had, like how they should make espresso in Italian restaurants and why do I say this ? Because, it looked like a typical Italian espresso, using darkly roasted beans but on this occasion, the espresso had the right consistency of crema and had a sumptuous nutty syrup taste, which lasted long after I had left the shop – not bitter at all and a right digestive and pick me up for the afternoon, well done Foxcroft and Ginger. On the location, don’t get intimidated as the shop is located on a busy vegetable and fruit market part of Berwick Street, not far from a few famous restaurants like Polpette (an up and coming Italian restaurant) and famous restauranteur, Alan Yau’s Yauatcha. The good thing is that they are opened until 10pm every night, except Sunday and Monday, so again if you have a great meal in the area and want to finish with a great espresso, visit Foxcroft and Ginger.

An Espresso Macchiato

I was rushing to the airport and thought, I’ve got to make a stop at my favourite coffee shop in West End London, Workshop Coffee, located at 75 Wigmore Street, around the corner from the World famous Selfridges Department Store. I thought, would I prefer to get to the airport 2 hours before departure, as opposed to visiting Workshop, drinking coffee and buying a bag of expertly roasted coffee too – hmm ! well, you guessed – of course coffee won. I was truly rewarded with probably the best espresso macchiato I’ve ever had, wow.

a little heart that packs a punch – silky, syrupy, buttery sweet caramel, toffee macchiato – the milk was just little enough to lift the other elements front he espresso. An of course I got a bag of coffee too.

That was me done for the day. Three great coffees at 3 must-visit coffee shops in London.

March 15, 2014March 15, 2014

Essenti: A Marriage of Good Food and Coffee in Vienna

Essenti, located on one of the famous streets to eat in Vienna, is a London style designed coffee shop, reminiscence of Otto Lenghi with freshly made food served in huge platters and offering frozen yoghurt with fresh fruit toppings and of course coffee. It opened during the latter half of 2013 but already has a regular customer base. Whilst I’ll say they make a decent espresso, it’s probably the ideal place to get a good lunch to compliment an above average espresso. The owner, Marko, is very hospitable and warm and has a keen eye for detail. His shop is small, cosy but homely and welcoming with food prepared like home. There’s a lot of choice for a small place, with about 6 offerings of exotic salads, a daily quiche offering, two main dish specials and sometimes 3, small good-looking cakes and a huge array of nuts and condiments to top your frozen yoghurt, plus a whole list of drinks too.

It’s not often that I eat food that feels like you didn’t eat anything – confused ? Yes! you should be. What I mean is that so often you go out to eat and after you’ve eaten you feel full, a slight indigestion perhaps, bloated and worse, heavy. BUT, when was the last time you ate out and you actually felt nourished – like the food contribute to your well-being ? Think about it – for me, it was the last time I ate at Essenti and for me the first time I felt like that was at Zaika, located at the very prestigious London address of 1 Kensignton High Street, London SW1 – a Michelin Indian/European Fusion Restaurant. But, back to Essenti.

I was treated to a larger than life bowl of beetroot and mint soup, followed by a plate of joyful colours, see below:

All freshly prepared with carrots, rocket (rucola), roasted sweet potato (my favourite), bulgur, decorated with raspberries, pine nuts, pomegranates and more. I finished off with an espresso naturally.

But, if you don’t know me by now – followers of my baking blog www.atastyblog.wordpress.com do, I also love dessert. I didn’t have time for it, but I took it back to my office and shared a bit with my daughter who happened to be passing by – ricotta and quice pastry tart – yummy! with a berry coulis.

OK! now that I got you drooling. You’ve got to check Essenti out – the food is great and for my standards, that’s a lot as I don’t usually use that adjective, ask my colleagues or the wife. I can’t wait to check out the frozen yoghurt when it gets warmer.

Before I go, I’ve got to talk about the coffee. Using a La Marzocco 2 group Linea, with support from Mazzer grinders and coffee from probably the best coffee roaster in Austria, Vienna School of Coffee (I’ve written about them on my blog – plus see my last post) and trained by Jo (of the Vienna School of Coffee), the standard of the preparation is above what you get in Vienna. Marko has two blends – one for pure espresso and one for milk-based espresso drinks. Essenti is getting so popular that MArko now has to double his staff from 2 to 4 and I hope he keeps up the standard with the coffee too, so that it compliments the great food on offer.

Location: Servitengasse 5, 9^th district

Open Mondays to Fridays only – so extended lunch breaks are your best option.

Website: www.essenti.at

March 9, 2014

CNN and Vienna Coffee

OK! so you may already know that I was featured in a recent article on CNNs website about 8 of the World’s coffee great drinking cities see link here http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/04/travel/best-coffee-cities/

I’ve got to add that I’m grateful for the coverage to Sarah Reid, the author of the article. However, I wrote a lot more about drinking coffee in Vienna including recommending a few other places. I’m glad that Caffe Couture and Essenti were on the list, BUT the one major omission was the Vienna School of Coffee – a must for serious coffee snobs in Vienna. I wrote about it in December 2012 but although it’s only opened on Saturdays to the public, its still a must for anyone visiting Vienna or living in Vienna.

I promise a blog on Essenti very soon, as that’s the only place I haven’t blogged about yet.

March 3, 2014March 3, 2014

So, Do I still Love ?

Oh dear what a gap of 4 months. I’m sorry for taking so long to write about coffee and in all honesty, I don’t have an excuse. To come clean, It’s not like I’ve been working on some major project, or that I broke a leg or something similar, it’s just that I’ve been distracted somewhat. When I think about writing about a new experience or to sharing something on my blog, I get distracted with something else, so, it’s just been a lack of dedication.

But of course, that doesn’t mean that I’ve given up on you and coffee. I’ve been busy, as those who follow me on twitter and Instagram know, on the social media scene, which has changed quite a bit. But nevertheless I’ve missed writing on my blog. After all, it’s the easiest place to share what I’ve been drinking, or what I’ve discovered, etc. So I promise in 2014 (2 months have flown away already) to share more on my blog.

Wish me luck and see you very soon.

From Coffee With Love