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Best Coffee in Stroud Green?

Kate JonesKate Jones
edited August 2009 in Local discussion
I'm so disappointed that the lovely Helena is never at Good for Food anymore... never get a smile from the rather miserable girls who seem to be running it at the moment. Is it too much to expect a hello considering i go in there everyday....

So where to go now for a decent coffee and a friendly face...? Any suggestions appreciated
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  • rainbow_carnagerainbow_carnage
    edited 10:59AM
    The girls are always lovely to me. I'm there quite a lot, too. They know what I like, so I don't even have say the order. The food always comes quickly. No complaints about the staff.

    Customers are another matter.

    I don't know any other place that serves decent coffee in the area. I've been going to the Front Room for their free wi-fi. The coffee is very weak, but at least there are no screaming babies.

    Arianna's coffee is drinkable, but not great. The last time I went there, the wi-fi was down.

    Dream River has terrible coffee. Not quite as bad as at a greasy spoon, but they clearly don't know how to use (or clean) their coffee machine.
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  • graemegraeme
    edited 10:59AM
    I don't know the name of it, but the place next door to D@v13s & Dav13es on Tollington Park had decent coffee. Not much of an afficienado but it was very enjoyable. The atmosphere is a bit wan, but there's a bit out the back too. And fewer screaming weans than Front Room.
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  • drumbegdrumbeg
    edited August 2009
    I have found the coffee at Ariana's to be excellent. I was in there last weekend though and they appear to have replaced most of the staff. The service was akin to what you would expect from the Chuckle Brothers. Hopefully the newbies will learn the ropes soon.
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  • Philistine'sMonsterPhilistine'sMonster
    edited 10:59AM
    HAHAHA! "To me.. To you..."

    AAAAGH!

    I need some help here.

    What is “decent” coffee? Honestly. I have no f*cking idea.

    Have I ever tried it?

    What type of coffee bean does it come from?

    And from which part of the world?

    And what kind of roast is it?

    Is it percolated or espresso-ed?

    I like it black? Is that wrong? Is decent coffee black? What does it taste like? Does it have sugar in it? Is that right? Is sugar OK?

    I hate sugar.

    Do you drink it from a china mug or a disposable thing with the lid on. That must affect the flavour.

    What’s the correct temperature?

    Is it like buying wine? If I get wine, just get the stuff that's a tenner. If it's expensive it must be good, right? Yes?

    But then there’s that coffee that comes out of a weasel’s bottom… Is that decent. It sounds positively <b> indecent. </b>

    I’m scared now. Will someone come with me when I next buy some?

    Oh dear. I just want a cup of coffee and now I don’t know what it is.
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  • andyandy
    edited 10:59AM
    For me, I have no way of discerning the quality of coffee. It's all about the caffeine load. Which is why I have mainly moved on to sugar free red bull.
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  • bennyfromtheblokbennyfromtheblok
    edited 10:59AM
    Phil, you think this is scary - you should try going to the States. Skinnymochalattefrappuchino comin' right up!
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  • Philistine'sMonsterPhilistine'sMonster
    edited 10:59AM
    Yeah. I used to live in Seattle. Everyone was wired on the stuff.

    I stuck to Ephedrine instead.
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  • bennyfromtheblokbennyfromtheblok
    edited 10:59AM
    Did the appetite suppresing bit not get in the way of working on your rotund physique?

    Whilst in NY recently meeting my new boss, he casually poured 5 expresso shots into a glass full of ice and practically downed it. I told everyone this later and turns out I was the only one who thought it was weird.
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  • Philistine'sMonsterPhilistine'sMonster
    edited 10:59AM
    Strangely, Bez, no.

    They were very BIG pills, though.
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  • rainbow_carnagerainbow_carnage
    edited 10:59AM
    It's a sin to drink good coffee with milk and sugar.

    Cheap coffee must be drunk with milk to mask the taste (or lack thereof).

    I really like the filter coffee at Nordic in Golden Square. Yesterday I had a couple cups at the Scandinavian Kitchen. They use Monmouth coffee for espressos and some other equally good brand for filter.

    But it's not just about the beans. You have to know how to use the machine. Coffee should never taste burnt (like it does at Dream River) or watery (like at the Front Room).
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  • Philistine'sMonsterPhilistine'sMonster
    edited 10:59AM
    Machines? They look terribly complicated.

    Is making good coffee like flying a jet?
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  • Kate JonesKate Jones
    edited 10:59AM
    oh blimey, i think i'll stick to tea...
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  • MarquisMarquis
    edited 10:59AM
    Coffee is decent as long as it doesn't come with froth.
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  • markpackmarkpack
    edited 10:59AM
    Hamlet Cafe, Hornsey Road. Lovely staff, lovely coffee. If you've got the same taste in coffee as me that is. Which you might well. Or might not. If you don't, it's your fault. Not mine.
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  • katiejanekatiejane
    edited 10:59AM
    think i've said it before, but the lady in the bakery outlet really does make a rather fine coffee.
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  • puzzlebobblepuzzlebobble
    edited 10:59AM
    I rate the moroccan place on a corner about 500 west on seven sisters road that I can't remember the name of. Helpful I know.
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  • sg_mikesg_mike
    edited 10:59AM
    I'm a fan of Dream River's coffee, it's a lot like the coffee at Tinderbox in Islington.

    But there again, I also microwave halloumi cheese, so I accept my standards could be questioned.
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  • xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    edited 10:59AM
    Good for Food is the only place for good coffee around here. The girls are fine and always pleasant to me!
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  • rainbow_carnagerainbow_carnage
    edited 10:59AM
    Went to GFF for brunch today with a couple of friends from the other side of the pond. The food was tasty. The coffee was hot. The pasteis de nata were to die for. The girls were very pleasant. I don't know what people keep complaining about.
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  • hsbhsb
    edited 10:59AM
    If the coffee was too hot to drink immediately then it is not good coffee...
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  • poxypoxy
    edited September 2009
    I tried Good For Food for a coffee this morning. Nothing special. Not strong enough and a tiny cup for the price at £1.70. And £2.70 for a tart for which I expected to pay about half that price. £2 bastard 70!

    £4.40 for a mediocre coffee and a tiny tart is, quite frankly, taking the piss.

    I now walk the whole length of SGR and a large part of Blackstock Rd on my walk to the office. I'm going to try every coffee option en route and I shall report my findings here. Any suggestions as to where I should try next?

    Front Room doesn't get a look-in as it's too far from SGR.
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  • Agaton SaxAgaton Sax
    edited 10:59AM
    Isn't Blackstock Road too far then?
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  • poxypoxy
    edited 10:59AM
    Mediterranean Cafe on Blackstock Road this morning. Coffee only. Better, and considerably cheaper at £1.00, than yesterday's.
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  • lizbetlizbet
    edited 10:59AM
    Front Room is about 2 minutes from SGR....the coffee is awful though. But I can almost overlook as the food is so good.
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  • tosscattosscat
    edited 10:59AM
    And the tables so sticky.
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  • BridgetBridget
    edited 10:59AM
    I love to coffee at GFF. Nothing comes closer in Crouch End or Stroud Green. Have just had a lovely one from Ginger and White in Hampstead but I still love GFF coffee.
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  • commissar17commissar17
    edited 10:59AM
    I reckon coffee is just coffee, as long as it doesn't: (a) come out of a jar or (b) mask the taste of the reasonably decent cognac I pour into it as part of my morning health and exercise routine.
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  • tomptomp
    edited 10:59AM
    @poxy
    >>Any suggestions as to where I should try next?

    Try Duomo on Fonthill road, great coffee. Takeaway only though
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  • poxypoxy
    edited 10:59AM
    Takeaway is good. However, in the time it would take to detour via Fonthill Road I could make coffee at home which will surpass any available on my SGR & Blackstock Road walk to the office.
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  • checkskicheckski
    edited 10:59AM
    Thought I'd add my 2 penn'orth. I like all the cafes round here, for different reasons, but for coffee quality I would pick out three.

    Dream River Cafe. The only place in the area to blend coffee/milk/froth in the way I like best. Too many places give you a bucketful of scalding slosh ( and an earlier poster is right: coffee, unlike tea, should be hot, not boiling), with artificial shavingcreamy froth, and no coffee flavour whatsoever.

    The Front Room. I don't go there often, because there are no armchairs, but the staff are lovely, and recently my macchiato has been surprisingly good. It was unexceptional about a year ago.

    Brioche d'Or. I think that's right. Set back, in rather a nicely composed, tiled verandah, just off SGR, round the corner from the bridges, on the edge of the (northern) bus station. A new discovery. They get their coffee from Costa, and the cappuccino tastes good, although not made in the blended, Costa-style way I prefer. Incredibly cheap, too: coffee and cake, for £2!
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