Sadly, the weekend hasn’t started early: it’s just a Saturday Supplement on a Wednesday… By way of explanation, I have such a backlog of Saturday Spots, plus a few updates (like this one) and my reports from the London Coffee Festival, that I’m running short of Saturdays! So, for the next few weeks, Wednesday is the new Saturday as I attempt to catch up…
Wild & Wood Coffee is one of the first places I covered for the Coffee Spot, a favourite haunt of mine from my pre-Coffee Spot days. Back then, as a regular visitor to the British Museum, I would often break my day with a trip to Wild & Wood for afternoon coffee and cake.
These days, when I head up to London, I’m usually on the prowl for new Coffee Spots and I don’t get much time to visit the British Museum. Indeed, I don’t get a lot of time to check out my favourite Coffee Spots, old or new. So, when I visited the British Museum with a friend a couple of weeks ago and she suggested that we went somewhere nearby for lunch, I jumped at the chance to re-visit Wild & Wood.
October 2015: Wild & Wood closed at the start of July this year as the whole block that Wild & Wood was in is being redeveloped. The good news is that it re-opened at the end of August in a new location on London Wall! See what I found when I went to visit.
You can see how much it has/hasn’t changed after the gallery.
The short answer to the question “what’s changed at Wild & Wood?” is “very little”. Certainly not much in the shop is different: the layout and décor are still the same (wood, wood and more wood), the coffee is still from London legends Monmouth and it’s still one of the cheapest cups of (good quality) coffee in London. In fact, I’ve changed more than Wild & Wood has, my coffee tastes evolving as I’m exposed to more good coffee. So, on that level, I was pleased to see that I still enjoyed Wild & Wood as much as I ever did.
So, what on earth am I going to write about? Well, as luck would have it, I was at Wild & Wood for lunch, the first time I’d been there for anything other than coffee and cake in the afternoon, so I thought I would share my experiences with you. I can also recommend Wild & Wood for lunch just as strongly as I recommend it for afternoon coffee. My only word of advice: don’t leave it too late. I get the impression that once the food’s gone at Wild & Wood, it’s gone for good.
I was feeling rather hungry that day, so had a slice of quiche and a tomato, lettuce and pesto roll. Wild & Wood has very little space, so cooking facilities are at a premium, effectively just a sandwich toaster. It was therefore no surprise when my roll turned up toasted. However, I was somewhat surprised, and rather disconcerted, when my quiche arrived having received the same treatment! Had you asked me beforehand, I’d have said under no circumstances toast my quiche, but I am relieved to report that my toasted quiche was excellent. Other than a somewhat flattened exterior appearance, it tasted just like warm quiche…
I paired this with a piccolo, which turned up in an espresso cup and was lovely. For dessert, my friend and I shared a slice of amaretto cheesecake. Thankfully this was not toasted! I paired this with a single espresso, another lovely cup of coffee. This one arrived with a mismatched and very colourful saucer, reminiscent of the mismatched crockery at Foxcroft & Ginger.
Indeed, when I last visited Foxcroft & Ginger, the crockery was all a very boring white, although I’ve since been assured that more mismatched crockery has been sourced. I think I will have to pay Foxcroft & Ginger another visit to assure myself that Wild & Wood hasn’t stolen its place as the mismatched crockery King of London!
Don’t forget the original Wild & Wood Coffee Spot, which includes the complete write-up and gallery, plus Wild & Wood’s new location on London Wall.
NEW OXFORD STREET 1 UNIT 19 • BLOOMSBURY • LONDON • WC1A 1BA | ||||
www.wildandwoodcoffee.co.uk | +44 (0) 7525155957 | |||
Monday | 07:30 – 17:45 | Roaster | Monmouth (espresso only) | |
Tuesday | 07:30 – 17:45 | Seating | Wooden benches (inside and out) | |
Wednesday | 07:30 – 17:45 | Food | Cakes, Lunch | |
Thursday | 07:30 – 17:45 | Service | Order at Counter | |
Friday | 07:30 – 17:45 | Cards | Cash only | |
Saturday | 10:00 – 17:30 | Wifi | Free | |
Sunday | 10:00 – 15:00 | Power | Limited (only in the Nook) | |
Chain | No | Visits | Original: 31st August 2012 | |
Update: 14th April 2014 | ||||
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