I recently changed job and moved from North Fitrovia which, besides the chains on TCR, doesn’t have that much in the way of quality coffee establishments, save for Sardo’s recently opened café which serves up a good morning brew. These days I’m in Great Newport Street and I’m spoilt for choice. GNS It’s one of those streets that you’ll have walked down often but without the need to know its moniker, except if you work or live there, that is. The area has a feel of border country to it, being neither Covent Garden and with Charing Cross Road as the boundary line that cuts between the two. GNS is pretty nondescript, linking as it does Charing Cross Road with Long Acre and it's claim to fame is being home to the Arts Theatre and also the Photographer’s Gallery before it moved over towards Oxford Street.
Round the corner from my work, bookended on either side by the few bookshops that stalwartly remain on Charing Cross Road is a Caffé Vergnano 1882 (to give its full name), and with “Coffee Shop of the Year “ proudly proclaimed from the pavement board, it had to be checked out. On first impressions I wouldn’t give it top marks for atmosphere; it’s certainly not somewhere you’d feel like cosying up with a book and a coffee for a while, rather, it’s functional and more suited to a pit-stop.
Perhaps the most characterful feature, besides the owner’s Mum who works there, is the wonderfully ornate Elektra coffee machine which is freshly gleaming from having been back to Torino for an expensive service and which now sits brazenly on the counter as you walk in. I have to say, the machine looks impressive and it really does produce a great cup of coffee. My Americano was excellent, rich, dark, not over-diluted but still with some light froth (crema) remaining on top. I didn’t have any food but it all looked delish; toasted focaccia etc and the cream stuffed connoli definitely caught my eye. I managed to resist this time.
This part of Charing Cross Road is not the most attractive, particularly due to the early 80’s red brick block on it’s east side with a motley bunch of shops, bars and restaurants lining the ground floor arcade. Thankfully, on this side of the street a number of the bookshops for which the street is famous have survived, preserving some of the historical character. A recently restored Hippodrome has also helped to upgrade the area and the little Caffé Vergnano is also a welcome addition to this border country.
http://www.caffevergnano1882.co.uk/
Google Maps Link - Here
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