BY POLLY MORGAN
In Greenwich, you’d be hard pressed to take a short stroll without coming across a café or two, such is their popularity in this busy, World Heritage, tourist-loved destination. But I have taken the arduous (!) task of researching my best cafés in the local area, some well-known, some more off-the-beaten track to give you the inside scoop on why they are so successful and well-worth a visit.
River Gardens Café
Havva Sofi and her husband Hasan Mustafa own and run River Gardens Café, which I feel is currently the best café in Greenwich with stunning views across the River Thames. Havva was involved with her uncle’s restaurants growing up, which sparked a love of food and more recently she owns and runs a local hairdressing salon which helped inform her business acumen, and she’s always had a passion for hospitality.
“I had a dream to open a café on the River Gardens site,” she says. “I talked my husband Has into it.”
Looking for premises, they saw this spot while walking their dog by the river and knew the area well having lived in Blackheath and Greenwich over the years. Havva recalled she had a instant vision when she saw the potential for a café on the site but had to push hard to make her vision a reality.
Havva and Hasan are a hard-working family with two children, and this is a husband-and-wife family-run business. You can tell from the moment you step into the café that there is pure love and heart and soul poured into every cup of coffee and every bite of delicious, homely food. They have a strong focus on locals and community which shines through in their excellent customer service and attention to regulars and locals particularly.
They opened River Gardens Café in August 2019 which went well, but then lockdown came. They decided if they were to stay afloat, they would need to open for takeaways only during the first lockdown. They were one of the only cafés doing that in London and even made the newspaper which brought more locals to the venue to support them. The team even provided bread and milk to residents during the lockdowns to help. Havva looks positively at the time and says the lockdowns helped create a bond and respect between them and the local community, which now supports their café regularly.
The trick to their successful business model now, which is flourishing particularly at weekends with the busy London brunch crowd, is to constantly ‘evolve’. They have developed their initial café into more of a restaurant model, also offering cocktails, ice cream, and even doggie ice cream. They are evolving into entertainment too. For example, one Mother’s Day they had a pianist on site increasing the ambience, and they would love to put on more musical entertainment going forward. They are hosting quiz nights too, to raise money for their chosen charities.
The key is also the staff: their head chef is very passionate about food, according to Havva, and she says she hires staff on the ‘person they are’ not on the ‘position to fill’.
Their food is delicious, well-made, home-made, with good portion sizes. Locals often say that their fluffy moist carrot cake could be the best in London.
To experience the delicious home-made food and drink at River Gardens Café is well worth a trip down the beautiful river path from central Greenwich to their site on the river in East Greenwich. There is a stunning view of Canary Wharf, with outside dining – there’s no excuse not to treat yourself to this delight of a café.
River Gardens Cafe, Unit 2, 20 River Gardens Walk, Greenwich Peninsula, SE10 0FZ; rivergardenscafe.co.uk
Fingal’s Bakery
East Greenwich where Fingal’s café and bakery is situated, has developed into a real foodie hub in recent years. Their business model started in Borough Market and they have had a presence at a number of local markets, such as Telegraph Hill, Alexandra Hill and Herne Hill.
You can certainly tell their roots in quality markets – as they still choose top quality toppings and ingredients, and use organic produce. They are well-known amongst the local community for their famous sourdough loaves produced and gone within a couple of hours during weekend morning trade. Sourdough bakery is their speciality, but they also offer sourdough to rye, French dark rye, wholemeal and new soda bread, also sun-dried tomato loaves, garlic and rosemary. Also on offer are delicious scones, brownies and pastries.
I tried their delicious vegan sandwich with pesto, vegan cheese, rocket, sun-dried tomato and olive oil, with a great strong latte at a reasonable price. The bakery has won awards for their baking, proudly displayed on the walls of the café.
They also help feed the homeless with any left-over bread being distributed through food waste company, Too Good to Go.
Fingal’s Bakery, 110 Trafalgar Road, Greenwich, SE10 9UW; fingalsbakery.com
Peyton and Byrne
Well worth a visit to try their delicious pastries and healthy, sumptuous lunches on offer. An institution in West Greenwich, Peyton and Byrne has been there for over 10 years now. With one other branch in Great Portland Street, the manager says they get their very fresh produce from the Great Portland Street branch fresh every morning and ‘once it’s gone it’s gone!’ We had a delicious quiche and salad on our visit, but the pastries are to-die-for also. It often gets very busy, especially on weekends, so grab a seat while you can!
Peyton and Byrne, 20-22. Greenwich Church Street, Greenwich, SE10 9BJ; peytonandbyrnebakeries.com
Gail’s
With West Greenwich established as a foodie haven, it’s no surprise that when Gail’s bakery opened its Greenwich branch of its popular café it was an instant hit with locals. On any weekday lunchtime you’d be hard pressed to make it through the long queues outside this café to get your hands on one of their delectable pastries, or my favourite, a warm, crumbly, spinach roll. As they state on their website: “We take the time to make our bread, pastries, cakes, breakfasts and lunches as we always have – with care, by hand and according to the season.”
There is a nice café area which is always busy and outside dining as well as the chance to see some of the bakers in action working in the kitchen. The vast array of sumptuously prepared pastries and loaves is what locals really rave about – come see for yourself but be prepared to queue!
Gail’s, 24-25 Nelson Road, Greenwich, London, SE10 9JB; gails.com
Green Café
Tracy Mcclean has run the Green Cafe on Greenwich High Road for nearly 20 years now. It is a standalone cafe and not part of a chain but has a core local and visitors clientele and is very busy at lunchtimes during the week and on weekends. Its niche is free range and organic delicious food and drink. We had a creamy jacket potato with tuna mayo, fresh salad and gorgeous freshly squeezed orange juice on our visit which was filling and delectable. I have been frequenting the Green Café for many years with my family and they were always very hospitable, quick with service, and served up delicious organic food for me and my family.
Green Cafe, 285 Greenwich High Road, Greenwich, SE10 8NB
Royal Teas
This long-established, quirky, homely café has been open since the 1990s and indeed I remember frequenting it as a child growing up in West Greenwich. They started as a tea expert and to this day have a wide range of delicious teas on offer from Assam to ginger, to chai spice, which I tried on my visit, which was warming and delicious. We also tried their warm English scone with cream and jam – rare to get a warm, moist scone these days for £3.25.
Their hits are their brunches of Eggs Royale and veggie breakfasts. They mainly serve vegetarian food here, only branching out to smoked salmon for the Eggs Royale. Their smoothies are delicious too.
They are frequented in their homely establishment by regular locals, tourists and according to a café worker ‘they are big in Japan’ thanks to their presence on Instagram!
As a review listed by London’s Good Coffee Shops Hotspot Publication states on their website: “This popular café is a find of such individual charm and character that it more than merits the stroll up Royal Hill.”
Royal Teas, 76 Royal Hill, Greenwich, London SE10 8RT; royalteascafe.co.uk
