A feverish quest for a Full English lead to a crack-of-dawn stumble into Meadows recently. The café is slap bang in the centre of KT Road, replaced long-standing pun-tastic lunchtime joint Sam Widges. But despite the bright new signage (font fail alert!), it remains the sort of place that blends into the street scenery rather than beckons the casual passerby to come hither.
Once inside, the place has had a pleasant enough refit, warm and inviting, with big mirrors. Even the overly loud Olympics crowd soundtrack on TV added to the buzzy pre-work vibe. Then, to accompany our egg, beans ‘n bubble fiesta, a proper cup of Italian coffee.
No mug of watery black stuff here, proper crockery and a dense, honey roasted crema. The staff claimed to be sworn to secrecy as to the beans/blend for an unspecified reason. With a bit of leading probing, they did eventually let on that these came from the Doppio Coffee emporium a few doors down.
As we already know, Doppio are incredibly serious about their coffees, so regardless of the strange secrecy levels at Meadows (except for, er, the Italian Aroma sign outside) to find their gear being served up alongside an honest platter of carbs was a pleasant little revelation. A suitably cheeky coffee. Who knew? Now, about that signage…
Words & Pics: Tom Kihl