Cafe L. Rodi
A couple of weeks ago I visited L. Rodi (aka Cafe Rodi) in Blackhorse Lane, a place I'd wanted to visit for ages.
It's a great place, full of character, and full of characters. While we were queuing up the entire cafe was being regaled by a jolly woman about her very busy life, and the two women behind the counter had more than a few comments to share.
The best thing about the place, besides it apparently being a great place to people-watch, is the original vintage decor. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos in the front of the cafe because I didn't want to intrude on people having lunch, but there are two other rooms. One is a converted passageway, with beautiful green tiles and a red-and-black checkerboard floor.
The other is a slightly grander dining room, looking more like a traditional pie-and-mash shop (although I didn't notice pie-and-mash on the menu). There's also a little smoking area out the back, which I didn't explore.
As well as the beautiful green tiles, there are other great period details, like this old ad for Nosegay Tobacco (no snerking at the back!), which is found in the window of a phonebox. Yes, a phonebox. No phone that I noticed, though.
Then there is this beautiful illuminated advert for 7-up, which is impossible to resist. It's slightly different on both sides:
viewed from outside
viewed from inside
As for the food, my ham omelette was standard caff fare, although not unnecessarily greasy, and the chips were very good; crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. When I ordered my cappuccino (with slight dread as caffs often fail to provide good coffee), I was asked if I wanted a strong one, and it was perfect: it tasted almost like proper Italian cappuccino. And the staff were so friendly, I instantly felt at home. The only drawback is that it's only open on weekdays, so you can't go there for a weekend fry-up, but if you fancy bunking off during the week, it's well worth the journey to the end of the Victoria line.
