Farm Girl Café

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Brian Williams

Down an interesting passageway, just off London’s Portobello Road, you’ll find a small, high-walled courtyard and, tucked away on the left-hand side, the wonderful Farm Girl Café. Occupying an amazing space, Farm Girl Café is a real delight. You can sit outside in the courtyard, where the only downside is that, due to the high walls, it doesn’t get the sun. While this means it can be wonderfully cool and shady on the occasional day that the summer decides to turn up, it can also be decidedly chilly. That said, I sat outside on my second visit in November and was fine.

Alternatively, sit inside, either in the main body of the café, or, if there’s a crowd of you, upstairs on the delightful mezzanine above the kitchen at the long communal table. The only downside of the interior is that it can get a bit loud, the beautifully-tiled walls acting as something of an echo chamber.

Farm Girl serves a substantial all-day breakfast menu, joined by a lunch menu from 11 o’clock. The coffee’s from old friends, The Roasting Party, using the standard Party Blend, decaf on the second grinder. Best of all, Farm Girl offers full table service.

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Beany Green, Regent’s Place

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Brian Williams

I began naming the various Beany Greens by using the train station that they are closest to. So this, the fourth of the Beany Greens (if you count Daisy Green as the first) in the Regent’s Place development, started life on the Coffee Spot as the Euston Beany Green to go with Paddington (Sheldon Square/Little Venice), Liverpool Street (Broadgate Circle) and South Bank/Festival Hall (midway between Waterloo and Charing Cross).

However, in order to avoid confusion with the kiosk at Euston Station, I’ve decided to call it the Regent’s Place Beany Green. Regent’s Place itself is a couple of streets west of Euston. Set back a little from the busy Euston Road, Beany Green is on the pedestrianised Brock Street, connecting Regent’s Square to Hampstead Road to the east. It’s also right on top of Warren Street tube station and around the corner from Euston Square (which is between it and Euston Station).

The smallest of the permanent Beanies, its trade (based on my visits) is predominantly takeaway. In case you want to stay, it has a neat window bar, a few tables and a nice, sheltered, shady outdoor seating area on the pedestrianised street-front. There’s the same Beany Green goodness, with innovative, healthy food offerings and excellent coffee from The Roasting Party, although space limitations mean it’s espresso-based only.

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Beany Green, Liverpool Street

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Brian Williams

The latest Beany Green, the fifth to date, is in the newly-refurbished Broadgate Circle, just northwest of Liverpool Street Station. It’s a lovely setting, perhaps Beany’s most ambitious yet, but goes back to Beany’s roots, replacing a hole-in-the-wall takeout operation that, for the last couple of years, had served coffee to Liverpool Street from just across the way from the new location.

At first sight, the new Beany’s quite small, just large enough for four tables and a couple of window bars. However, just like the original Daisy Green, there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye. For starters, if you skip the front door and go around to the right, you’ll find two dedicated takeaway windows which are an excellent idea. Even better, if you keep on going, you’ll come out on the Beany Balcony, overlooking the interior of Broadgate Circle. On a sunny day, there’s no better spot!

All the usual Beany features are here: super-friendly staff, excellent espresso-based coffee from The Roasting Party, fresh flowers on the tables, an obsession with bananas and deckchairs, quirky artwork from Shuby and innovative food. Add to that beer, wine and cocktails and you’re on to a real winner!

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Daisy Green

Posted on February 26, 2015 by Brian Williams

At last! Normal service has been resumed. After three straight Coffee Spots visiting places in the correct order, the Coffee Spot returns to form…

Regular readers will know that ever since it opened, Beany Green in Paddington has been my local, since it’s on the other side of the square from my office. I’ve also visited the South Bank branch, a quirky little container at the south end of Hungerford Bridge.

However, until last week, I’d never been to where it all began, the wonderful Daisy Green, parent of all the little Beanies spreading around London. So, on Friday, I took the plunge, forsaking lunch at Beany Green, and made the relatively short walk to Seymour Street, where, just a stone’s throw from Marble Arch and two blocks down from The Borough Barista, I visited Daisy Green.

If you’ve never been, you’re missing out. There’s the same Beany Green goodness that I’m used to: coffee from The Roasting Party, a wide range of innovative food and a selection of Aussie-inspired cakes, all in the same quirky surroundings that make the Paddington branch so wonderful. At the same time, Daisy Green is very much its own place, as you will discover…

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Foxcroft & Ginger Update

Posted on January 24, 2015 by Brian Williams

It’s been almost two years since I first visited Foxcroft & Ginger on Soho’s Berwick Street, drawn by the recommendations of my friend Hayley and the descriptions of the legendary muffins. Since then I’ve been an irregular visitor, drawn back by the mis-matched crockery (which, although depleted in number, is still there) and, more importantly, the gorgeous basement, still a benchmark for Coffee Spot basements everywhere.

Although the number of Coffee Spots staying open into the evening has been steadily expanding, with the likes of Villiers joining the more-established Notes and Fernandez & Wells, Foxcroft & Ginger offers another alternative for those looking for good coffee in the evenings. It helps that between them they offer a wide variety of excellent food (and wine) to go with their outstanding coffee.

So, what has changed in the two years since I first went to Foxcroft & Ginger? Well, on the one hand, not a great deal, but on the other hand, quite a bit. Sometimes Coffee Spots re-invent themselves, but, in the case of Foxcroft & Ginger, it’s been a steady evolution, rather than revolution, which has driven change.

September 2016: I’ve heard on the grapevine that Foxcroft & Ginger’s Soho branch has closed, although there’s no official word as to why… Very sad news.

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Beany Green, Paddington, Update

Posted on August 9, 2014 by Brian Williams

This is another Saturday Update where the answer to the question “what’s changed?” is “not a lot”. Regular readers will know that Beany Green’s Paddington branch became my local while I was working in Sheldon Square. However, at the start of June, my contract expired and so my weekly visits abruptly ceased.

After an all-to-brief hiatus, I was offered another contract mid-way through July and so found myself back at Sheldon Square, this time for two or three days a week (which is a shock to the system, I can tell you!). The upside of this (other than getting paid, so I can continue to finance the Coffee Spot) is that I was able to renew my acquaintance with the lovely Beany Green.

During my six weeks absence, not a lot had changed at Beany Green. However, now that I’m back two or three days a week, I have the opportunity to sample more of the range of coffee on offer. Previously, I’d largely confined myself to a flat white to take back to the office, but since my return, I’ve made a concerted effort to get through more of the coffee menu. I’ve also started working through the cakes…

July 2016: my contract finally came to an end at the end of 2015. Since I left, the Paddington branch has undergone a major refurbishment and so I popped back in to see what had changed.

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Beany Green, South Bank

Posted on July 10, 2014 by Brian Williams

As regular readers may have worked out, my contract didn’t get extended at the start of June, so consequently I haven’t been heading up to Paddington every Wednesday. This in turn means that I’ve been missing my weekly trips to Beany Green. I’m therefore very grateful to the good folks at Beany Green HQ (aka Daisy Green) who have opened a new branch on the South Bank just for me! Since it’s just a few minutes’ walk from Waterloo, I can now get my Beany Green/The Roasting Party fix whenever I come into London. How cool is that?

Tucked in beside the east stairway of the Hungerford Bridge and almost on top of the Look Mum No Hands Pop-up, Bean Green’s container looks like another pop-up operation, but don’t be fooled. I’ve been told that the new branch has a multi-year lease and will be here come rain or shine, fair weather or foul (ie a typical week of a British summer!).

If you’re familiar with Beany Green in Paddington, then this is like a miniature version, with all the same elements that make my ex-regular haunt such a wonderful place, including the mad (in a good way) staff.

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Beany Green, Paddington

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Brian Williams

If you’ve talked to me at any length about being the writer of the Coffee Spot, you’ll know that the only downside is that I don’t really have a regular coffee shop I can call my own. The problem is, while I’m out and about, the desire to visit new places for the Coffee Spot trumps visiting old favourites. The closest I had to a regular was Bar des Arts in my home town of Guildford, until, that is, Beany Green turned up in Paddington.

Those who follow me on social media will probably be aware that I spend one day a week in Paddington doing my “proper” job. For a long time, this was a desert when it came to decent coffee. Then, in quick succession, Burito 8 started serving Climpson and Sons, the Can Do Coffee barge turned up and Beany Green opened.

Now, on my weekly visit to the office, I take KeepCup or JOCO Cup to visit Beany Green at least once a day (and usually two or three times). You would think, given the frequency of my visits, that I’d have sampled the entire coffee menu by now, but I usually have a flat white…

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Tag Archives: Roasting Party

Farm Girl Café

Beany Green, Regent’s Place

Beany Green, Liverpool Street

Daisy Green

Foxcroft & Ginger Update

Beany Green, Paddington, Update

Beany Green, South Bank

Beany Green, Paddington