Retro equipment used well | No food – but you can BYO | Unique atmosphere. Scootercaffè (formerly Scooterworks) breaks with London conventions. Instead of Square Mile or Monmouth, the bean of choice is Londinium. A La Marzocco is shunned for a strikingly retro 1957 Faema espresso machine. Read full review…

Since this is one of the favourite haunts on Lower Marsh for most Livebookings people I am thrilled. Pay them a visit, if you are looking for a cosy place with great coffee they will not disappoint!

While they have a few shops around the UK where you can get a wide range of excellent pies with mash and gravy, there has never been one anywhere near my home or office. Until now.

Opened just a few week’s ago (January 2010) they now have a small shop in an almost hidden away corner in the cooky Gabriel’s Wharf down by the Thames. Although perhaps not really in Waterloo, it is a bit of a walk from the station, I feel the quality of their food makes this one worth noticing and rejoicing over.

Have a look, and certainly go try them out: pieminister information and location.

Pieminister are according to themselves and their “manifesto” firm believers in locally sourced natural ingredients. Making “great British food that tastes lovely” is what they are passionate about.

What started out in 2003 as a small two man band making pies for friends and festivals today delivers delicious pies to some of the best cafes, food halls and delis in the country. The shop in Gabriel’s Wharf sell the pies with a choice of vegetables, mash and gravy.

Read some of these pie names and tell me you don’t want to drop everything you are doing and go down to the Wharf straight away: minty lamb, chicken of arragon, thai chook, heidi pie, matador (chorizo and beef…), moo and blue (with stilton!)… Lovely.

In the summer Gabriel’s Wharf is a lovely place to go to have a browse through the designer shops, buy a treat and sit down among the outside tables and enjoy the sun and atmosphere. Great way to spend a relaxing lunch.

Don’t let that deter you though, when it comes to acquiring your lunch this place is a real gem.

Not sure what the other half of the name alludes to, it being very German I can only assume that the origins of this place is firmly based in leberkäse, sauerkraut and wienerschnizel, but I think those days are gone. Zeitgeist has evolved, they no longer have a German slant on their food anyway (neither is this place mentioned on the Zeitgeist web site). Shame, I love sauerkraut.

What you will find though is two to three hot dishes (menu changes daily), a salad counter, pickled gherkins, nice bread and usually some sort of pudding (like a cake or similar treat). The warm dishes seem to usually be some sort of curry or stew with rice, roast potatoes and sausages… …and the piece de resistance, always on offer: a big slab of slow roast pork with amazing crackling!

Get the pork with potatoes, or if you like me follow a food philosophy low in carbs, with the tomato salad and a gherkin. Lots of food for a mere fiver, and it will keep you full well into the after work drinks session.

While the front looks very narrow, once inside you will find it is surprisingly roomy. Downstairs the bar and a few tables, upstairs a number of really plush and comfy leather sofas. For you book lovers out there, the comfortable seating arrangements upstairs go really well with the fact that this is an official Bookcrossing,com Crossing Zone. Seriously, there are worse places to sit and chill with a good book you just found lying around.

There is also a nice outdoor area for those sunny summer days.

Food is served all day, of the good variety too. Typical pub grub, but well done (although not the cheapest). There is always a nice homemade soup of the day, for those cold autumn evenings, but the best thing on the menu has to be their Mexican burger: beef burger covered in chilli concarne and cheddar… Just as sloppy and depraved as it sounds, it fills you up and leaves a nice stinging heat in your mouth.

Beer selection is limited, a few good bitters and the normal set of cheap lagers. They do have Budvar on bottle though, for those who are a bit more picky. Fully licensed, of course, and the drinks are not bad.

Being so conveniently located, and of such a high standard, this is a very popular place in the evenings for those after work drinks. If you come here for lunch though, you can usually get a seat quite easily.

Anyone looking for that type of stuff is better off going to their workshop, still known as Scooterworks, located on Enid Street in Bermondsey.

We have also updated their listing with a load of recent information, do check it out.

Personally I think Scootercaffe is the perfect embodiment of why Lower Marsh is such a fantastic and constantly surprising street. Pay them a visit for your caffeine fix, you will not regret it.

Bringing knitting and graffiti together is bound to lend an entirely unique look and feel to the dear tunnel. This is an event not to be missed, so bring out your best hardcore ninja knitting needles and join in the fun!

Read more on the I Knit London web site.

Lots of construction workers, speaker stacks, funky lights, what looks like new flooring to cover the platforms and old railway tracks… Difficult to spy efficiently from our officewindows though.

Eurostar terminal in Waterloo with mysterious screens

What are they preparing?

Funky club venue with unrivalled  location for convenient public transport?

Eurostar revival, allowing us yet again to have the lovely feeling of knowing we work less than three hours away from Paris?

Opening of a new railway line to ease morning train congestion?

No… Probably not. That would be too good. Today a wall of flat screens lit up on the far wall, and we can hear soundchecking. Our best collaborative effort guess is a product launch for an Italian car (check the screens, a car whizzing past on flat panels of green / white / red…) that will be coming over from mainland Europe to the UK.

Careening up the tracks.

Arrived.

Each day, a voucher will be available on www.KrispyKreme.co.uk  from 11.30 AM, which can be downloaded and redeemed at any participating Krispy Kreme store for something awesome. Now exactly what “awesome” means Tom from their PR company would not tell me, but he assures me the deal will get sweeter for every day of the week. Pun probably intended.

Krispy Kreme doughnuts may not be the healthy option for your lunch, but come on, live a little. It is the end of the week, get out from your gloomy office, enjoy the sun and get a bit of sugar rush.

Your closest Krispy Kreme sugar rush dealer is located at Waterloo station. Use their store locator to nail him down.

Actually succeeded in getting a coffee at the lovely Konditor & Cook today after our lunch, over which we discussed the need of an anti social networking site to balance out all this tweeting, fickle relationship building and friends scoring that has been going on for the past few years and doesn’t seem to abate.

Our dear colleague Kristofer, visiting us this week from the Livebookings office in Stockholm and helping us keep proper lunch traditions alive, was duly impressed with the thai served at The Kings Arms as well as the opportunity to get away from the stressed out environment around Waterloo station just by crossing the road.

Relaxing moment in the park after lunch, with visitor from a far.

Coffe was as usual excellent, wish I got some of their Ninja Slice to go with it.

Ninja Slice, a mind blowing experience.