Sunday 30 December 2012

That's all he wrote

I set myself a mission around this time last year. I wanted to try all the coffee shops in Balham.

The reason was my wife and I enjoy going out for coffee and cake and we were spoilt for choice in Balham. I have a bad memory so have taken to blogging so I don't forget stuff, this blog was going to give me a record of cafe experiences which would last longer than my memory.

At the beginning of the year I made a list of all the places I was going to try. I added a couple along the way too. There ended up being 25 on my list.

Fact is I failed in my mission to try all these coffee shops. This wasn't helped by the fact that we moved out of Balham mid year but it's no excuse. I will review the three I didn't get to (Puccino's, New George, Cafe Parisien) as soon as I can.

In writing this blog, and updating an associated twitter account I've had a great opportunity to interact with a number of people. I've been able to give a few recommendations and have received some great
recommendations for places to try.

So I'll do a brief 'year in review' type of post.

Contrary to some people's view on my mission, I was not out to find the best coffee in Balham. Although having tried many coffees in Balham I do have a few opinions. No where was perfect in my view, but then people don't make coffee shops just to serve my preferences so that's no surprise.

Here's my list of the coffees that I enjoyed the most. If you're after a really good quality coffee, you should be pretty safe heading to one of the following (in alphabetical order):
Camden Coffee House
Dee Light
Lavish Habit
Milk

Other options where which we really enjoyed, and would recommend include:
Des Lys
The Fat Delicatessen
The Nightingale
Trinity Stores

That's all for now. I will do some more lists at another time, given I did most of the reviews with a baby accompanying me I'll put some thought into a list of places that I rate for going to with a little one.

As for the future of the blog, I'm not sure. I'm thinking about extending the reach of the reviews to include Tooting and Streatham, which is a bit more local to me and also there are some great new places popping up in these areas.

Another thought I had was to do all the pubs in the area but I doubt I'd get through that many pubs. While Baby Spiller does love a good pub I'm not sure I'd get very far.

That's all, for now.

Sunday 2 December 2012

McDonald's - I wish I didn't have to

Yesterday Greggs, today McDonald's, I've hit rock bottom.

McDonald's is another one that I probably didn't need to put on my list to try and wish I hadn't.

Mrs Spiller was out with a friend last night and I knew after a few glasses of wine, a luxury she doesn't get to enjoy much these days, she would appreciate a McDonald's breakfast. So after a bit of a lie-in, we wrapped baby Spiller up and headed to McDonald's.

We got there just before the breakfast menu finished. Our order, 3 x hash browns, 1 cappuccino, 1 hot chocolate, 1 OJ, 1 bacan and egg bagel and 1 sausage and egg bagel.

The food was suitably greasy, and tasted as you'd expect. Baby Spiller enjoyed his first McDonald's experience, and probably his last for a number of years.

Service was very efficient, there was a very long line but they got through it quickly.

The coffee, like Greggs came from a push button machine, the result was a very milky, weak coffee, more akin to a white americano than a cappuccino. There was nothing offensive about the coffee it was just not very good.

It's interesting who you see at McDonald's on a Sunday morning for breakfast. A few hungover people, a few people on their way home after a late night, tradesmen on their way to work and young families giving the kids a treat to keep them quiet!

An unfortunate incident unfolded next to our table shortly after we arrived. One of the tradesmen was bringing two breakfasts back to his mate, one of the breakfasts fell off the tray, eggs were strewn across the floor. I felt bad for him for a little while but then another lad, on his own, slipped on the eggs while carrying his breakfast and felt down awkwardly. It was quite a bad fall although he managed to not drop anything apart from his coffee. I now didn't feel sorry for the tradesman. The McDonald's manager was very good, he came over to check if the guy was ok and replaced his coffee. The tradesmen didn't seem to care.

Anyway, that's that.

Scores:

Coffee
Hot: 8/13
Aroma: 4/13
Flavour: 4/13
Texture: 6/13
Presentation: 5/13

General
Service: 10/13
Food: na/13
Atmosphere: 3/13


Overall 6/13


A special video to finish this one with, not sure whether this is a piss take or not...

Saturday 1 December 2012

Greggs - let's get this over with

It was a mistake to put Greggs on my list of places to try a coffee from. It's not a coffee shop or anything similar, I thought they did proper espresso coffee, turns out they've got a push button machine.

Anyway, I went today. I paid my money for my cappuccino, they pushed the button. I did wonder if maybe I might be surprised, my expectations were low and turns out my low expectations were, met, not exceeded.

It was pretty warm, didn't smell like much, the froth was fine. It tasted like bad coffee, but at least it tasted like coffee, even if it was bad.  At £1.65 you couldn't expect too much.

I've hadn't been to a Greggs before today and don't imagine I'll be going again. Nothing at the 'home of fresh baking' looked particularly appetising.

One thing that did impress me was the service, the lads behind the counter were efficient and friendly.

Anyway, I've done my duty.

Scores:

Coffee
Hot: 7/13
Aroma: 4/13
Flavour: 5/13
Texture: 7/13
Presentation: 5/13

General
Service: 9/13
Food: na/13
Atmosphere: 3/13


Overall 6/13