Review: The Table Cafe (Southwark)

As with The Breakfast Club just a few streets down, The Table Cafe boasts a no-reservation policy and as such, has a queue of people waiting outside in the freezing cold. That, already, puts it in a realm with 10 Greek Street, which irritates me because it automatically signals that the restaurant cares more about their overall revenue than they do about the dining experience of the punters.

The food itself was OK, but nothing special. I had a coke float which was very sloppy indeed - by the time the waitress set it down on my table, half of it had spiked onto the table. Classy. To eat, I had the Borough Full English breakfast, which, whilst tasty, at £12.50, was just an overpriced, over-decorated version of English breakfasts I can get on my high street for £5.99. The menu boasts: 'two fried eggs, bacon, pork and leek sausages, slow-cooked Borough baked beans, grilled tomato, herb mushrooms and toast'. Well, firstly, I couldn't taste any 'leek' in the sausages (which were horrendously burnt), secondly, no-one's fooled by that lazy smearing of pesto over the tomatoes in an attempt to look fancy and the 'herb mushrooms'? Have a look at the picture, judge for yourself:

Furthermore, for twice the price I'm used to paying for my English breakfasts, this is roughly half the quantity! (super examples: un et deux et trois. All so much better).

Overall, The Table Cafe is definitely a case of style over substance. It’s very easy to buy into the hype of a place if there are people standing outside, but I’m disappointed to report that that was a misleading signal. We queued for 45 minutes. For that time and money, I could have had three times the time in most London cafes. When you're sat in a poncy restaurant and you're wishing you went to McDonald's, I have to tell you, it ain't great.

Grade: D