Secret London Cafes - d'Orange Cafe, Westbourne Grove

I'm searching for cozy cafes in London

It’s hard to find independent cafes in Central London where every street corner has a coffee franchise. I’m making it a goal to discover great London cafes with atmosphere, affordable and quality food and drink with a bit of an edge.

D’Orange café in Westbourne Grove is a charming café with mismatched tables and chairs with a few leather couches and coffee tables for good measure. This unassuming café serves up no fuss fare. It attracts a mixed clientele of tourists, locals on work breaks and the odd model-actress type looking to avoid the paparazzi.

The blackboard menu changes with daily soups, muffins and sandwiches. We went directly for the best value meal which was the English breakfast which also comes with a selection of cereals and toast.

The breakfast covers a full plate with sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, mushroom and onions, baked beans and potatoes. You can help yourself to toast from the “buffet”. For £5.95 it was good value although any tea or coffee was an additional charge. I had a latte for £2.45 which was quite frothy.

The service is prompt and the waitress was very helpful and accommodating, as when my friend asked to swap her sausages and bacon for porridge she was only charged an extra pound.

On weekends a full brunch buffet is offered, which I have yet to try out. In this frosty London weather, a café with good breakfast and free wifi makes venturing outdoors worthwhile.  

80 Westbourne Grove, Bayswater

W25RT

Cheap Thrills in London - Ice-Skating in Queensway

It may not be as glamourous as ice-skating at Somerset House, at the Natural History Museum or in Hyde Park, but Queens Ice-skating & Bowling is the cheapest place to hit the rink in Central London.

On Monday nights it’s only £6.50 to ice-skate from 8 - 11 pm.  The disco lights and pop music gets you warmed up and doing figure eights in no time.

For beginners, an ice-skating rink can be a daunting place. The urban myth of getting your fingers chopped off if you fall and someone skates over them is highly perpetuated. If you do fall, this is pretty unlikely, mostly you’ll just end up with an icy bottom!

The only thing to be careful of is avoiding the wannabe pro’s that speed skate around the rink like they’re extras from the Mighty Ducks movies. 

For the price alone, it’s lots of good natured fun on a usually quiet Monday evening, without the crowds at the outdoor rinks. 

QUEENS Iceskating & Bowling, 17 Queensway, London W2