Bertie and Boo - a Balham Institution

This place is a Balham institution and I can kind of understand why, that said I can't see it ever being my favourite coffee shop in Balham...

Sunday kind of slipped away, an unscheduled afternoon snooze meant we didn't get out for coffee until it was starting to get dark. Fortunately Bertie and Boo was still buzzing. It is very alluring in the fading light with a warm glow coming from inside.

I used to spend more time at Bertie and Boo but a few things got to me and I found other places that served my needs better. My gripes from the old days were: too crowded, the service area is in an annoyingly inconvenient spot, the cakes never seemed to be made with much heart and the coffee was ok at best. The best thing about this place for me is the location - prime people watching territory.

But this year my mission is to try out coffee shops without my prejudices of the past, and I'm pleased I did.

The order was single shot espresso, flat white, chai latte and piece of carrot cake.

Espresso was hot and tasted good but wasn't kick ass.

The flat white - Bertie and Boo was possibly the first cafe in Balham to do a flat white so kudos to them, but they're not the best. TOO BIG. A good flat white will not come in a large cup, it will have an intense flavour but in a big cup with loads of milk the strong flavour doesn't come through. The milk was nice and creamy though which was a plus.

Another plus is a chai latte - cafes of Balham take note - not enough places do chai. Lots of mums and pregnant ladies around looking for a no or low caffiene alternative, decaf coffee is generally poor (although at least one place in Balham has good decaf). The answer is chai. Mrs Spiller enjoyed her chai latte, thank you.

The cake, the biggest surprise for me. I'm probably more particular about my cakes than my coffees and the standard of cake at Bertie and Boo was one of my reasons for not making it a regualr of mine. However I'm pleased I gave the cake another go, my carrot cake, despite being one of the last pieces was fresh and very tasty. I guess my problem in the past is that the cakes look a bit factory made, but putting looks aside (and it may just be a meticulous baker), it tasted delicious. So I've changed my tune on Bertie and Boo cakes.

My biggest issue with Bertie and Boo remains the layout of the cafe, you are hearded into a corner to order and collect, it's just really poor use of space and can be a bad start to your experience. I think a refit might be in order based around a customer journey (i.e. pick up cake -> order coffee/food -> pay ->collect -> sit). This might help speed up the service too - although it wasn't bad when we were there.

So a few things to work on but Bertie and Boo will always be busy no matter what, great location, nice atmosphere and good menu. They'll do fine without my advice thank you very much.

So the scores:

Coffee
Hot: 7/13
Aroma: 6/13
Flavour: 6/13
Texture: 10/13
Presentation: 7/13

General
Service: 8/13
Food: 9/13
Atmosphere: 9/13

Overall 7/13.

The Nightingale Cafe - it's heaving!

Let's be clear, this visit was to the Nightingale Cafe on Balham High Road. Not the Nightingale Pub on Nighingale Lane.

I used to go to this cafe quite a bit a few years ago as it always had good service and was usually pretty quiet so I could be sure of a seat and plenty of time to read the paper.

Some things have changed though, well one thing in particular, it was massively busy. We managed to get a seat on the couch at the front straight away but most of the time there was a queue of people waiting. It was Saturday lunch time though so that's probably to be expected. The queue was reasonably well managed, although you get the impression they're not so used to having a big queue.

So the order:
1 single espresso
1 small capuccino
1 small mocha
1 eggs royale
1 falafel wrap

Followed by a pastice de nada and a piece of passion cake.

The espresso smelt a bit dirty, not sure what the technical term is for that but it was not quite right, but not offensive. It was tasty though, a relatively easy drinking espresso, not too challenging on the palate (boy do I sound like a coffee snob now!).

I waited till after I'd eaten to have my cappuccino, it was still hot so that was good. The coffee was fine, again not going to get any coffee connoisseur raving but it was nice, easy drinking. The cap was decent, quite strong, loads of choc on top. I was happy.

By all accounts the mocha was good too as the coffee flavour wasn't dominated by chocolate.

Food was good, it's very reasonably priced. The eggs royale is good for £6.50 or whatever it was, it's not going to be the best you've ever had but at that price you shouldn't expect it to be. The sweets were fine as well, nothing to write home about but good enough.

I think what really makes this place, and why it was so busy is the atmosphere, it's had a great fit out, open kitchen, service is super quick, it's very reasonably priced. So lots going for it, and so long as you're not snooty about your coffee or food it's a really great place to go for a coffee or meal.

Scores on the doors...

Coffee
Hot: 8/13
Aroma: 5/13
Flavour: 6/13
Texture: 7/13
Presentation: 7/13

General
Service: 10/13
Food: 8/13
Location/atmosphere: 11/13

Overall 8/13 (I hope this doesn't seem low to anyone, we had a great time and will def be back again soon)

Des Lys

Des Lys is a small patisserie which never seems too busy but it's really good so I'm not sure why it's not busier.

We were going to go to the Fat Delicatessen as our first review, we haven't been there together for a while, but that was full, so was Bertie and Boos and so was Tartine. We'd been to Des Lys recently and we were keen to try somewhere else but we knew we'd be able to get a table there so that was that.

So the verdict...?

Starting with the coffee. I ordered a single espresso and a cappuccino. Mrs Spiller had a mocha. The coffee was good in the way that European coffees are good, strong if a little lacking in smoothness and lasting flavour. All the drinks were really hot which was a great start. The aroma of the coffee was good as was the flavour. The cap on the cappuccino was pretty strong with a good sprinkling of choc powder. So the coffee performed well if not exceptional

Des Lys's strong point though has to be their cakes, made on site, they are very special. We had a Genoise cake. Neither of us had tried this before so it was a bit of a risk but we were well rewarded. It was yum and one piece between two was probably just right. The cakes at Des Lys are clearly fresh, we saw them throw out a whole tart while we were there to make room for a new cake which had just been iced. The cakes here really are a special, fancy treat. Mrs Spiller described the cake as having "the perfect balance of creamy heaviness and the lightness of sponge."

Looks good to me, don't be put off by the colour of the cake, it is yum.

Another strength of Des Lys it the atmosphere. It's small, quiet, comfortable, relaxed and unusually for Balham it never seems busy or rushed. A real plus. The couple that run it are really sweet. They are not especially chatty but friendly and polite. Another thing I like about them is they move slowly but deliberately. They never seem in a rush but seem to be very efficient. There are never any messy or dirty tables. New customers are greeted warmly. I imagine it's not the place to go if you wanted a take away coffee in a hurry but that's not what they're going for so that's fine. In fact I think the single best thing about this place is that you don't feel rushed.

As well as the cakes, coffee and bread there is a small list of panini options and also a selection of bottled juices and fresh squeezed orange or lemon juice.

Another thing I like about Des Lys is they have a good selection of The Economist, and given you don't feel rushed you really can get through a couple of articles while you're there.

The biggest negative we could find was two displays of chuppa chups, not quite sure why they'd have that trash in their store but there you go. While it wasn't a problem for us and never has been, I expect it would get quite cramped if it was busy. As it was we could wedge our pram in no probs and so could another mum. 

I hope he went in and bought something, this is a local business worth supporting

The more I think about it and write about it the more I like Des Lys, the coffee isn't going to make me rush back but pretty much everything else would.

Better put some scores down based on the criteria I mentioned on my previous blog, all scores will be out of 13.

Coffee
Hot: 12/13
Aroma: 6/13
Flavour: 7/13
Texture: 8/13
Presentation: 7/13

General
Service: 10/13
Food: 11/13
Location/atmosphere: 10/13

Overall
9/13

Click the link below to see what others thought about Des Lys on Urban Spoon.

The Rules of the Game

Not that this is a competition or anything particularly serious but before I do my first review of a Balham coffee it's probably only right that I set out the parameters on which I'm going to be doing my evaluations. So here's a bit of a framework I'll try and stick to:

First of all where possible I will try an espresso and a flat white, when flat white is not available I will go for a cappuccino. Cake or pastries will usually be part of the deal too.

Coffee: first and foremost this is what it's about. I'm not going to have any pretentious coffee evaluation categories. So here is what I'm going to look for in a good coffee:

• Hot - I want a hot coffee, not lukewarm. Coffee is something to be savoured not to gulp down, I want something which will still be warm when I'm finishing it.
• Aroma - Might sound a bit snobby, but I do want my coffee to hit me right from the first sniff.
• Flavour - I think real coffee connoisseurs have several ways of judging flavour, I will have one broad measure, it's got to taste good, to me good means a bit of sharpness, strong flavour but not burnt or too bitter. It's a fine balance, I can't describe the technical detail of it all but as a coffee drinker I know when I've got a good coffee
• Texture - again not sure this is a technical thing but I want my flat white to feel creamy as I drink it. A cappuccino needs to have a strong cap - don't put soap suds on top of my coffee.
• Presentation - I never want to see lipstick on my coffee cup, ever. Happens way too often. If you're doing a flat white, put one of those patterns on top if you want but you better be sure that the coffee taste good otherwise you just look stupid.

That's it on the coffee. There are a couple of other things too:

• Service - quick, friendly, switched on service. If it's not busy don't make me wait. There are lots of smart people out there that want a job, don't act like you'd rather be somewhere else, even if you do - it's not cool.
• Food - generally I'll be going in for a piece of cake or a pastry to accompany my coffee, if it's cake, homemade is best. If it is homemade I don't want it to taste or have the texture of a factory cake, I want imperfections so I know a person and not a machine has made the cake. Cakes should have strong flavour and be moist. Pastries should be a little crisp and light. Just be yummy.
• Location/atmosphere - I already know most of the coffee shops in Balham, some have atmosphere, others don't, to me it's important, if I'm sitting down for a coffee I want to be sitting somewhere that I'll feel good for time I'm there. Interesting, quirky, comfortable are all good.

That'll do, let's see how that serves me tomorrow and maybe we'll make some adjustments after that.

I think I will give an overall score and ratings for each of the categories above, just for fun. My reviews will be predominantly qualitative though.

What the...!?

Welcome, this blog will seek to document an adventure of discovery via coffee in one of my favourite London suburbs - Balham.

There will be some rules, although I'm not quite sure what they will be. In essence my ambition is to taste and critique at least one coffee from every establishment that serves coffee in Balham.

I will try and cover coffee shops first but will also include restaurants, pubs and bars.

I don't think I'll include outlets that only serve instant coffee (e.g. the kebab shop under the railway bridge).

That is not to say I'm a coffee snob, far from it. I do love an intense espresso but am perfectly happy to have an instant coffee. Don't let the fact that I'm doing a blog on coffee fool you in to thinking I'm pretentious about my coffee. I like going out for a coffee and cake but if the coffee is bad, I'll still drink it and be happy so long as the cake and service make up for the bad coffee. By the same token, a good coffee can make up for all manner of sins.

So hopefully the first review will be done this weekend, and then will try for weekly updates until I'm at the end of my odyssey.

I do hope you will join me for the journey and maybe contribute some reviews/thoughts of your own.

Bean Spiller.