a good place for a cup of tea and a think

Star Express, 71 Chapel Market, London, N1 9ER

russell davies — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:23:51 +0100

This is a good place. Nothing fancy. No historically significant design. Just a good cafe, a good business, good people. Refreshing to find somewhere like this so close to lower Upper Street.

A very decent cup of tea. Bag left in so you can self-medicate. I've chosen to hide the bag from you in this picture. I'm very thoughtful like that.

All the traditional condiments in good order.

A little touch I've never seen anywhere else. The table numbers marked in Tippex. I like that.

Nice stuff on the walls too. Makes it feel a little personal, lets you know where you are.

And I'm really getting to like these posters of food that cafes can get now. It won't be long before I'm trawlering ebay, trying to find one for home.

Macari's Icecream Parlour, 246 Terminus Road, Eastbourne

russell davies — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:23:05 +0100

I have a very good and old friend who lives in Eastbourne. Every time we've visited I've asked if there are any interesting cafes in town and he's always said 'no'. And then, on the last visit I stumbled past this place, and a couple more. And he said he'd just forgotten about them. And that, to some extent is the genius and the curse of a great old cafe. They're part of the civic furniture and they're easy to forget until they're gone.

Now, obviously that's a high quality cup of tea. Murky and lovely. You might say murkly. But look next to it - lemon meringue pie. OMG. You can't beat that can you. Oh no.

And you might even be tempted by a coffee, because you get it in one of these lovely cups with the glass and the metal and the handle. I love these things.

That sugar bowl's somehow like a flower arrangment isn't it?

But the killer thing about this place is how fantastic it looks. The splendidly cluttered and full cafe aesthetics. You could sit here for hours and always have something new and interesting to look at.

The booths are especially gorgeous, look at those colours, that upholstery. I can imagine posh designers trying for years to try and get that combination of colours right.

Cakes in a case. You cannot beat cakes in a case.

A splendid place. People Of Eastbourne - remember Macari's. It's right there. Frequent it frequently.

guardian breakfasts

russell davies — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:26:24 +0100

Very excited to have done some stuff for The Guardian today. There might still be time to get one at the newsagents if you're out and about. There's lots of eggbaconchipsandbeans stuff and some excellent words from Malcolm at the LRB. 30 years of reading it and finally I've done a bit of writing.

The Islander, 5 The Maltings, Uttoxeter

russell davies — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 21:44:27 +0000

Finding The Islander was like coming home. This is what I remember the East Midlands being like. This is the sort of place Shane Meadows would use as a setting and tug at your heart strings and make you laugh. Fantastic place.

A strong, stirring, no-nonsense cup of tea. If this doesn't cheer you up you're Morrissey.

What a brilliant sign. What else do you need to know?

I took these pictures ages ago, May 2007, pre-smoking ban. I wonder how they're coping now? The Islander was a place that didn't mind a proper smoker. It was part of the atmosphere.

You can probably see the enormous ashtrays on the tables, smoking wasn't just part of the atmos, it was part of the furniture.

Fantastic utilitarian furniture. This isn't about nostalgic design, this is a working cafe. It's about decent grub, reasonable prices and being able to take your time over a cuppa. Brilliant.

Zippy, 42 Goldhawk Road, W12

russell davies — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:57:40 +0100

I've been to Zippy's a few times, taken pictures a few times, but never gotten round to writing it up. Not sure why not, because it's a splendid place. A vibe of 70s burger bar overlaid with traditional cafe and community centre. Lots of regulars. Good atmosphere.

Good, thick, meaty tea. Tea you could build an economy on.

Unusually for me these pictures are from a couple of different perspectives, because they're from a couple of different visits. Normally I just shoot whatever I can from wherever I'm sitting, but this time you get more of a look round. Lucky you. This is perspective A.

This is still me in Perspective A, but shifting a bit round in my seat. You can see all the lovely worn, red, leatherish seating. With those deep curves and depressions from decades of bottom shuffling.

And now, from perspective B, we see the full range of mouth-watering promotional posters from the good people at Star Burger.

Tea pots lined up like a panzer division cresting the horizon.

This seems to capture the mood of the place somehow. Reflective. Calm. Good.