The Troubadour

Wow, what a disappointment. After all the good things I'd heard about this place too. I liked the setting and the decoration, but that was where it ended. We were there on a Tuesday night and it wasn't busy…however, this place seems to trade on its now dated reputation as the cool place to be seen, and it shows. Firstly, I couldn't seem to get a drink. I arrived and while waiting for friends, wanted to order a drink. I finally got a waiter to take my order, but it never showed up, and while waiting staff moved around looking busy and important, it was impossible to make eye contact with anyone to re-request my drink. In the end, I got my water bottle out of my bag and sat there drinking that. Eventually the bloke who took my original order came over to take it again “Because the barman had lost it”. No dear, you forgot it, but never mind. The, when my friends turned up, we ordered some more drinks from a waitress. Which also didn't turn up. So, we flagged down my original waiter again who said “Oh well I didn't take your drinks order”. No dear, we don't care who took it, we'd just like the drink we ordered. And then there was the food. We didn't order much… 2 x dip with crudites, 1 x dip with pita & 2 x sweet potato chips. Not too hard. The dips and crudites turned up. Nothing else did until we asked for it again…and reminded them what we actually ordered. Our waiter once again blamed someone else for this, and assured us he was sorting it. Of course it was someone else's fault dear, it's never yours is it? The only thing that saved this from being utterly hideous as a dining experience was the relatively decent wine and the free dessert. It was a Tuesday, and we had hats, so got free dessert…although it wasn't that good. Despite the promises of amazing home-made sorbet and ice-cream, both were quite average. Sorry, I won't be going back and I won't be recommending it to anyone either.

A great place! So laid back and friendly that one can forget all the stresses of the capital. The food is good and fresh, while it can get busy and slightly cramped at times. Yet the opening hours are as good as the variety of dishes on offer. The atmosphere is hard to be beaten and reminds me of the bohemian cafés of Paris and Vienna. A great place well worth a trip to this slightly less known part of Chelsea.

This bohemian coffe house serves some of the best breakfast in West London. It has a really homely atmosphere, with well-worn interiors full of weird and wonderful knickknacks – think tea pots, enamel signs and old musical instruments (hinting at the frequent live gigs held in the basement below). There's healthy stuff (porrige with banana / fresh fruit with Greek yoghurt) on the menu but the bacon butties and 'full house' are hard to resist. I also love how they put large pots of jam, marmalade and Marmite on the table, as if you were eating in your own kitchen. You can eat breakfast well into the afternoon at weekends but there's also a straightforward lunch/dinner menu offering omellettes, steak & chips – simple, filling stuff. Few people know about the tucked-away back garden, a great local secret in summer.