If you’ve been following my Instagram or Facebook page, you might’ve realised I’ve been out of Hong Kong travelling around UK for the past 10 days! No doubt I would’ve been stuffing myself with Burgers & Lobsters, scones, cupcakes and really any kind of food, but coffee shop breaks were also called for everyday of our busy trip, from London, Nottingham to Edinburgh.
Follow my caffeine journey below!
Soho Grind (London)
Touched down in London at 6am. We checked in at The Nadler Soho (highly recommended hotel) and walked to Soho Grind just in time for its opening at 8am. The coffee was great and latte was my favourite. But the piccolo was a disappointment, bearing a sour taste. I also tried their lemon drizzle which was pleasantly sweet and moist (also recommended).
Workshop Coffee (London)
I had just had brunch at The Modern Pantry (recommended), where I didn’t order coffee, saving my quota for the hipster looking Workshop Coffee across the road. To my disappointment, they were full and I could not have made six people wait for the quoted 25 mins just to drink a cup of coffee. So I ordered takeout but the cup of cappuccino was minuscule for the price I paid. It tasted good but borderline alright.
Monmouth Coffee (London)
I had wanted to stop by their Covent Garden shop the third morning of my time in London but it was just not convenient enough from my hotel. But it was a huge coincidence that I found they had another shop in Borough Market (where we planned to go). It was the perfect end to our seafood bites at Borough Market to have what we unanimously agreed was the best coffee we had in UK. It was so good that we bought and lugged 1kg of beans from Monmouth Coffee with us for the rest of our journey around the country.
The Pudding Pantry (Nottingham)
As we travelled out of London, we expected food choices to be much less epic. But with the knowledgable help of my graduating sister, food in Nottingham turned out to be equally impressive. Not only does The Pudding Pantry serve delicious breakfast (including excellent homemade beans), their coffee was surprisingly near perfect too!
Wired Cafe (Nottingham)
Our ride to Edinburgh was unexpectedly delayed for an hour and we popped into this cafe near our hotel (Mecure – but not recommended) and was also surprised at how good the coffee was. The lavender latte pictured above was a little too sweet for me, but their flat white was great! I visited Nottingham several years ago and these cafes are definitely a relatively new addition to the town.
Urban Angel (Edinburgh)
Sadly I cannot say that the best was last on our trip. Urban Angel looks delicious and coffee-shoppy from Instagram, while also being recommended on Lonely Planet. They boast about their food being gluten-free and it did taste good (though none of us cared about the gluten-free-ness). But the coffee was much more terrible than it looked. It was not creamy and bore a strong taste of bitter sourness.
Coffee shops in Hong Kong
I miss being away from work but I’m not overly nostalgic about the coffee in UK because if you know the right places, there’s an abundant number of excellent coffee shops in Hong Kong too. The best pre-work coffee has to be from Brew or Drip, while Bakery Cafe and Espresso Alchemy are my other two favourites for a casual one. You may also want to check out 4 Best Cappuccinos in Hong Kong – although to be honest I’m starting to like Fuel less now; I prefer my coffee to be creamier and less dark roast!
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