Towpath Café

You can guarantee that everything on the menu is going to be amazing. Simple ingredients transformed into show stoppers served with a canal side view. But don't get distracted by the ducklings as there's a risk your table mate will have polished off what was on your plate.

A tiny canal side location that turns out an extraordinary menu made from beautifully sourced ingredients. Run by the nicest woman on the London food scene.

I went here once for breakfast about 6 months ago, asked for a Cappuccino made with soya milk. Grumpy waitress said, 'We don't do soya milk'. I asked, ‘Why?’ She said…'Because we don't'. I again asked ‘Why’. She replied, 'We can't stock every little faddy thing that everyone wants' in a very rude tone of voice. I replied that soya milk was pretty much bog standard in all cafes now. She then shrugged her best silent ‘So?’. I said…'OK, i'll go somewhere that does stock it'. As I walked away I looked back and she was laughing at me with the next customer and making faces. Thoroughly unpleasant, rude and uncalled for. Before I had to give up dairy for ‘heart reasons’ I used to go there often as it is lovely to sit by the canal. Having said that, the coffee, although tasty, is in a tiny cup and often lukewarm. There are too many good coffee shops around to treat loyal customers with such utter contempt. Shan't ever return. I'll go to one of the other 300 coffee shops in the area who stock ‘Faddy Soya Milk’.

Its hard to be anything like balanced and objective when you've just had your best meal of the year, it was for lunch, and you'd have gladly paid twice what you did and you would still be over the moon. Well I did just have probably my meal of the year, a genuinely stunning combination of the juiciest cumin lamb, frankly amazing spiced cauliflower and delicious crispy chickpeas. It was, honestly, sensational. The combination of the flavoured, pitch perfectly cooked lamb and two spiced vegetables was incredible. How do I know it wasn't just me? Well, my enthuisastic expletives aroused the curiousity of my mate to the point where he had to try some and it was quickly a case of two diners effusively swearing for all they were worth. How does it compare? The only meal that comes close this year was at Bistro Bruno Loubet. Both my mate and I agreed we'd have gladly paid twice what we did at the Towpath and still feel like were getting a spectacular meal. The chef is to be congratulated. I can't think of a better lunch I've had.

Pretentious food, outdated ‘hippy’ atmosphere, bad contentious service! View? Algae + debris!