Bonnington Centre Cafe  

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• Visitor Information

This delightful commune, relic of a more laidback era, used to be the collective kitchen that fed a street of squats. It's a jolly, ramshackle room, with a piano in the corner that sometimes inspires impromptu singalongs. The kitchen is run on an entirely co-operative basis, with members taking turns to do the cooking, with the consequence that standards vary wildly. Some nights, especially vegan ones, the food can be absolutely calamitous, the sort of mung bean mush that gives veggie cooking a bad name. On other occasions, your six quid will buy something that you would happily pay twice as much for in a gastropub. You can check their website to see which member is cooking each night. New Covent Garden Market is just round the corner so ingredients are top draw, and you can often do well ordering the simplest things on the menu. In any case, it's all so cheap that you can't feel upset about a bad meal, and the atmosphere (well-lubricated by the bring-your-own-booze policy) is worth the money on its own. A lovely, hippyish, community cafe, with occasionally great food.

Alternate names and popular misspellings for Bonnington Centre Cafe