London SE4 2QZ
www.thebrockleymess.com/
Brockley Road is dreary. Super dreary and totally uninspiring. We ended up here after a potential café find turned out to be closed, and The Brockley Mess came up on a google search as being in the vicinity.
As we drove up the road, I expected the worst, but we agreed to have a look inside.
I’m so glad we did! This café/bar/gallery is a great find.
Firstly, the staff are extremely friendly, courteous and very attentive. Top marks guys!
Secondly, I was won over by the décor. So simple, yet very effective.
The café makes great use of colour, with funky mismatched vibrant wallpaper strips covering part of one wall, and an unusual tiled feature wall by the entrance.
This is contrasted by two huge black and white blown up vintage photographs (stretching floor to ceiling) which dominate the space but don’t overpower it.
There is a small section of the café towards the rear that is used as a gallery. To be honest, I think they should just put some chairs or lounges in the centre of the room to increase their capacity. Out the back is a little courtyard.
I’m not sure what this is used for, but I think more could be done with it in terms of seating for customers. As it was, we were fortunate to get the last table, so the café has enough footfall to justify more seating.
The cake selection was adequate, but not prominently displayed to make it a feature (the cakes were tucked into an alcove).
I ordered the lemon drizzle, and was a little apprehensive as came rather unadorned (ie: no icing or creamy filling). You can see from the photo that it looks quite plain. I needn’t have worried, because it was incredibly moist and flavoursome.
Lemon drizzle cakes, if made badly, have a tendency to dry out, but whoever made this one obviously has some skills in the kitchen. It really was surprisingly good.
You can also see from the photo that Ben ordered toast. He’s really letting the team down here.
The tea was good. Coffee was good.
But really, The Brockley Mess wins out due to its uber fantastic customer service and appealing design. If only the rest of the shops on the street could take a leaf out of their book!
CakeMyDayLondon Rating
