The Coffee Cup, Hampstead High Street, London, England, UK

 Walking uphill towards Hampstead station, from Patara restaurant, we stopped for coffee at The Coffee Cup. We sat outside, people watching. 

I ordered cappuccino which had deep white froth filling the top half of the large cup. Our family\s two year old had a baby chino which consists of milk with froth. No caffeine for children. But it looks the same, so tiny tots feel they are not missing out.

The table is supplied with packets of brown sugar.

We also ordered Tiramisu. Sponge cake and cream, this time with strawberries.

Tiramisu at The Coffee Cup.

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright

74 Hampstead High Street, London NW3 IQK

tel: 020 7435 7565.

Please share links to your favouite posts.

Seclusion, Cinnamon, Fruit flavour but little fruit in the McCafe

McDonalds in the USA and Singapore
I made a new friend and we both decided we wanted to have time to talk longer. My friend suggested 'McDonalds'. I used to be a devoted daily follower of McDonalds when we had a child under ten years old. One of the attractions was the free toy. This was more important to me than our son. I am a sucker for freebies. Afterwards my tastes progressed on to Burger King and when I first arrived in Singapore, after 6 months of trying to eat local I reverted to Burger King for hamburgers and Starbucks for coffee and water and found my mood much improved. (I might have had an allergy to MSG or have been suffering from dehydration, cured by going to American style outlets where it was OK to ask for or help yourself to water.)

Later, with family members recovering from cancer, in the UK and Singapore we were on a strict regime of lots of fruit and vegetables. We avoided processed foods. We had a preference for brown bread, seed bread, crackers, or, because I was on a calorie cutting diet, no bread.

However, when I'm eating with others I go with the flow. A little of what you fancy does you good, goes the old saying. For physical and mental health. So a little of people you fancy, friends, does you good.

Besides, McDonalds has inexpensive coffee, I thought.

McCafe
To my surprise my friend walked into the mall at Toa Payoh in Singapore, beside the MRT underground station, towards the McDonalds and then veered to a cafe on the right. It turned out to be the McCafe which I had heard about but not yet visited so I was keen to check out the prices and choices.

I'd been under the impression that it would be alongside the serving area of McDonalds, a different cashier, or on the opposite side of the room. I had not envisaged a separate unit with a cake display,like the established coffee chains such as Starbucks and Costa.

I looked at the prices. Oops. Not the cheap coffee I expected at McDonalds. The coffees all seemed more or less the same price. My friend chose a capuucino so I opted for the same. It was served in a large solid cup with a pattern in the froth on top. My fired asked for tap water so I did the same.

I looked at the cakes and saw what purported to be three or four vairites of cheesecake. Strawberries mixed in - a marble effect, something brown, either chocolate or Oreo cookies. A solid orange was mango. That was my choice.

I must admit the mango, although flavoursome at first bite, was light like a mousse or blancmange. Although it had a nice solid biscuits base, and being on a diet I would not expect or complain that I wanted a larger slice, it was not the solid clotted cream and baked effect of New York style cheese cake I had always loved in Singapore.

My friend chose a cinnamon dessert. It looked a bit like profiteroles with small balls of dough covered in cinnamon. I have read that cinnamon has health benefits.

We chose a delightful table, behind the square bar, against the floor to ceiling window, wo we had the entertainment of watching passers-by outside, but nobody pushing past us so I didn't have to keep watching my bag and packets the whole time. I could concentrate on my friend and our conversation.

Looking back on it, I loved the seclusion of the tables for two at this particular venue. The tables were tiny. But I could put my bag on the floor against the window - not very hygienic, but at least nobody passing would have access nor would they fall over it.

Looking back on our food choices, I don't think I'd have the mango 'cake' again. Nothing cake-like about it, apart from the shape. It seems to me you have more chance of finding fruit or vegetables in the regular McDonalds than in the coffee shop. (Starbucks elsewhere served an apple.)

Would I go back? Yes.

I looked on TripAdvisor and could not find McCafe in To a Payoh listed. I googled McCafe To a Payoh and found a Singapore food site which listed all the McCafe branches and discovered that Toa Payoh has four. At this point I have to hunt through my stored receipts to locate the branch I visited. (I always keep receipts. If you leave behind a phone or lose your doorways or hat or gloves or anything else and need to ring around, it's so handy to have the phone numbers of everywhere you have visited, if only to phone and get a no luck and eliminate them from your list of places to check.


According to a reviewer who is regular customer, the McDonalds sometimes has free flow of coffee in the morning breakfast time.

I picked up a leaflet in McCafe offering a loyalty system which gives I free beverage with 5 stamps.
Visit
www.mcdonalds.com.sg/mccafedevotee

For reviews on local websites see:
hungrygowhere.com
goodfood.sg

McDonald's To a Payoh HDB Centre
490, Lorong 6 Toa Payoh
Number 01-11 (ground floor, unit 11)
Singapore 310490
tel:63972392

My bill says I had a Mango Cheesecake Set at S$6.50 and aM Cappuccino (MC) at 0.70 total 7.20.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Seclusion, Cinnamon, Fruit flavour but little fruit in the McCafe

McDonalds in the USA and Singapore
I made a new friend and we both decided we wanted to have time to talk longer. My friend suggested 'McDonalds'. I used to be a devoted daily follower of McDonalds when we had a child under ten years old. One of the attractions was the free toy. This was more important to me than our son. I am a sucker for freebies. Afterwards my tastes progressed on to Burger King and when I first arrived in Singapore, after 6 months of trying to eat local I reverted to Burger King for hamburgers and Starbucks for coffee and water and found my mood much improved. (I might have had an allergy to MSG or have been suffering from dehydration, cured by going to American style outlets where it was OK to ask for or help yourself to water.)

Later, with family members recovering from cancer, in the UK and Singapore we were on a strict regime of lots of fruit and vegetables. We avoided processed foods. We had a preference for brown bread, seed bread, crackers, or, because I was on a calorie cutting diet, no bread.

However, when I'm eating with others I go with the flow. A little of what you fancy does you good, goes the old saying. For physical and mental health. So a little of people you fancy, friends, does you good.

Besides, McDonalds has inexpensive coffee, I thought.

McCafe
To my surprise my friend walked into the mall at Toa Payoh in Singapore, beside the MRT underground station, towards the McDonalds and then veered to a cafe on the right. It turned out to be the McCafe which I had heard about but not yet visited so I was keen to check out the prices and choices.

I'd been under the impression that it would be alongside the serving area of McDonalds, a different cashier, or on the opposite side of the room. I had not envisaged a separate unit with a cake display,like the established coffee chains such as Starbucks and Costa.

I looked at the prices. Oops. Not the cheap coffee I expected at McDonalds. The coffees all seemed more or less the same price. My friend chose a capuucino so I opted for the same. It was served in a large solid cup with a pattern in the froth on top. My fired asked for tap water so I did the same.

I looked at the cakes and saw what purported to be three or four vairites of cheesecake. Strawberries mixed in - a marble effect, something brown, either chocolate or Oreo cookies. A solid orange was mango. That was my choice.

I must admit the mango, although flavoursome at first bite, was light like a mousse or blancmange. Although it had a nice solid biscuits base, and being on a diet I would not expect or complain that I wanted a larger slice, it was not the solid clotted cream and baked effect of New York style cheese cake I had always loved in Singapore.

My friend chose a cinnamon dessert. It looked a bit like profiteroles with small balls of dough covered in cinnamon. I have read that cinnamon has health benefits.

We chose a delightful table, behind the square bar, against the floor to ceiling window, wo we had the entertainment of watching passers-by outside, but nobody pushing past us so I didn't have to keep watching my bag and packets the whole time. I could concentrate on my friend and our conversation.

Looking back on it, I loved the seclusion of the tables for two at this particular venue. The tables were tiny. But I could put my bag on the floor against the window - not very hygienic, but at least nobody passing would have access nor would they fall over it.

Looking back on our food choices, I don't think I'd have the mango 'cake' again. Nothing cake-like about it, apart from the shape. It seems to me you have more chance of finding fruit or vegetables in the regular McDonalds than in the coffee shop. (Starbucks elsewhere served an apple.)

Would I go back? Yes.

I looked on TripAdvisor and could not find McCafe in To a Payoh listed. I googled McCafe To a Payoh and found a Singapore food site which listed all the McCafe branches and discovered that Toa Payoh has four. At this point I have to hunt through my stored receipts to locate the branch I visited. (I always keep receipts. If you leave behind a phone or lose your doorways or hat or gloves or anything else and need to ring around, it's so handy to have the phone numbers of everywhere you have visited, if only to phone and get a no luck and eliminate them from your list of places to check.

For reviews on local websites see:
hungrygowhere.com

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Fellini Restaurant - always open for coffee, cake, sandwiches and snacks between meal

Fellini is easy to find and always open, all day, every day of the week, and almost every day of the year. (Open Xmas Day if you want to pre-book Xmas dinner - and two sittings on New Year's Eve last year).

So, popping out for a late lunch or tea, two of us stopped for a sandwich and cake and coffee.

The cakes and drinks are on one menu, the savoury snacks and sandwiches on another. We opted for the goat's cheese and dried tomato. About £4.50.

Baguette - not toasted.

What's inside?

Carrot cake.

The sandwich was not in the sort of bread I was expecting. We were offered a choice of baguette or something else and chose the baguette.

My friend decided to have her bread toasted. My bread was untoasted, although the filling was warm.

For cakes, we went up to look at the deli counter. I dithered over the cheesecake with fruit topping. Was it the baked sort? I asked for all the cakes to be turned around so I could see the cut part and insect the insides. Anything with nuts? Yes. The one which used to be my favourite, Tarta della nonna (granny's tart, exclaims my friend, who speaks Spanish). But it looked too much like a custard tart. My friend opted for carrot cake, so I tried the  same.

We both ordered cappuccino, which came up fast, first.

The tables are small enough for you to sit eyeball close, which I like. Cosy.

I seem to have gone off bought cakes, which seem either too sugary or too dry. I should have had the pear tart which looked nice and moist. Next time.

Except that:
a) I am on a diet.
b) It always seems to me that it's better value to have a whole meal for not much more money than a snack, and you get the glamour, too. But if you are in a hurry, a snack is the thing. We had a white cloth table, just for coffee and snacks, which was rather nice.

The cappuccino just disappeared fast. That's the way I like it. Usually when I notice coffee it's because the taste is bitter.

Service was friendly and fast. I particularly liked the welcome. "This is your table!" As if we'd reserved it, or it had been saved for us.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer,