Reviews of The Monocle Cafe, London

Literally, a hidden gem in london. It's amazing place with speciality coffee and pastries, it's really a lovely place. The wooden interior makes the place very cozy and welcoming.. and well crafted 👍 It's very japanese feeling when you enter, you can sense it, it has upper seating, downstair seating, and outside seating. All are nice, the downstair seating is warmer and a bit darker, i prefer natural sunlight areas. The staff is nice, the food and coffee is the best, speciality coffee is really a signature.. I enjoyed my time there, reading a book while having a nice warm coffee in a corner with such a beautiful window view toward the garden, can't ask for me, it's just perfect. highly recommended!

I had a bun and green oolong tea. No regret! The tea was AMAZING and I got hot water three times! The bun was also really good and simple. I saw many reviews saying it's a small place, I went here on Tuesday 2:30pm so it wasn't so busy. But I might avoid to come during the weekend or busy time. The place was super cute and had a good vibe, and even the toilet! Even though the toilet was very small, it was warm- they had a bidet- and I was so satisfied with this kind of details.

Very trendy Japanese style cafe. Seating upstairs and downstairs (downstairs is warmer) the pastries are really nice. Only downside is, their bagels are kept cold, would have been nice if they were warm. And there's not much to choose (food wise) on the menu. I had saw on Google a dish I wanted to try, but the photo was taken a few years ago, but I hadn't realised😔, so I couldn't get it.

I was told this cafe was good. I accidentally went to the book shop, but the polite staff pointed me down the road. Quite narrow as you enter but those staff are on the ball and served me with good timing and curiosity. The cinnamon buns are amazing and reminded me of my Swedish fika days. I waited at the back and the kind lady brought me my items as the cafe was now extremely busy. £7 for an americano with oat milk and bun, extremely reasonable considering it was like being back in Sweden. Recommended and tucked away nicely.

I try the cardamom bun and cinnamon bun, personally recommend the cardamom bun. The cardamom aroma is quite elegant and the bun is moist, not too sweet, and good. A cinnamon bun is less cinnamon aroma and is a bit drier than a cardamom one. As for the latte is okay but not the best. The pro is the atmosphere is cosy, but the con is there is no wifi to use so it’s not convenient if you want to use a laptop here.

It’s been many years since my first time visited this place. I’m glad the quality is as good as in my memory. I ordered flat white and a vanilla bun. The coffee is perfect with pretty latte art, the bun is nice, but too sweet for me. I think I would prefer to have the cinnamon or cardamom bun next time, or try their cakes. The staffs are friendly, also love the music and decorations in this little cafe. Highly recommend to visit here if you visit London.

I know about Monocle as a fashionable magazine from my time in Japan.  I didn’t know that they had made the jump to serving beverages too.  Maybe this is an idea for me although my current career and drink don’t really mix, except to dull the pain…. Indeed the staff looked to be exclusively all Japanese and cheerful in that typical smiling way of Japan.  Although I know that a favoured pastime seems to be bemoaning the advance of automation taking our jobs, in many coffee shops I think a computer taking your order would actually have more emotion.  So Monocole makes a nice change from the usual robotic London service which implicitly asks you to move along quickly.

The Monocle Café is a chic small café nested in Marylebone opposite Chiltern Firehouse by the printed magazine with the same name Monocle. It offers great coffee and food with a Japanese flair, along with Swedish pastries and cakes from Lanka. Seating for the café is limited so if you want to sit in to eat you need to get there early.

A combo of posh cafe and Offering of Japanese cuisine! Was there originally for their coffee by word of mouth and ended up going there for their unique Japanese offering - their full Japanese breakfast! <br/><br/>I found their double espresso a bit too bitter leaving an unpleasant aftertaste in the morning, perhaps a but too strong for me. But I did discover that they offer Japanese breakfast and it fills my stomach quite well with their tuna rice sandwich! It was nom nom nom! <br/><br/>Recommend to anyone who is after great Monocle experience in the middle of their busy lives! Great decor!!

Such a great place to chill whether you are wandering solo or with company. It was a great mash up of scandinavian and japanese, it worked as they both embodies the minimalistic vibe. The hot chocolate was amazing, generous portion as well. I ordered the prawn katsu sandwich and kt was soooo tasty. The salt and vinegar crisps on the side were the perfect accompaniment as it added extra flavour to the dish.

Absolutely love the coffee here. If I'm anywhere close to this part of town, I'll take a 10 minute walk to be able to pick up a coffee from the Monocle Cafe.<br/><br/>Thanks to Dan for introducing me to this gem of a place.<br/><br/>They have a good sized food menu too, but so far I've only stopped here for the coffee (hot and iced).<br/><br/>There are a couple of tables out front on the pavement and since this road area low traffic volumes, it's a great place to sit in good weather.<br/><br/>There are some comfy tables indoors too. It's a small space, but sufficient. Plus they have a tiny bar space opposite the serving counter.<br/><br/>The staff are always super friendly and helpful and I always leave with a smile on my face.<br/><br/>They have recently started a loyalty card where every 6th coffee is free.

My friend and I discovered this coffee shop when we did our version of food walking tour of Marylebone and it became an instant favourite that we went back the following day. <br/><br/>First, I liked the location. It is in a quiet part of the city center. You can hit the shops along Oxford Street and walk here after for some refuge. It is a nice hangout place with a friendly crew. The outlet is small but the space was maximised. I saw the influence of Japanese style in the interiors as well as on the food on offer.<br/><br/>My friend loved the coffee here. She tried both the cappuccino and espresso. She also tried green tea macaron and she was so impressed that she got a few to take home. There was clearly a heavy influence of green tea here as it is prominent in both drinks and desserts. We said we will give those, as well as some of their main dishes, on our next trip in town. I've had the home made iced tea since I don't normally have hot beverages. It was served nice and cold, without ice so as not to dilute the flavour. The sour flavour made it even more refreshing and I liked that is was not the sweet type. I also had the chocolate chip cookie which I thought was good but not that exceptional. <br/><br/>Price-wise, I think the hot beverages are comparable with other cafés but I felt the iced tea was more on the expensive side because of the relatively small serving portion.

I love The Japanese style ambiance at Monocle, what I don't love is that it is pricier than most coffee shops. The breakfasts are average and the Macha Latte wasn't made well, the macha wasn't perhaps not whisked well, and there were too many lumps in the bottom of my cup. The seating downstairs is excellent and the service is friendly.

Not many people know off Monocle magazine. However after working for amagzine I know exactly what Monocle magazine is. When I found out there is a Monocle Café in London, i couldn’t wait to pay my visit.  I was wondering if it has anything to do with the magazine itself. Without doubt this is Monocle magazine’s first concept store in Europe (there is one in Japan), opened by the publisher and entrepreneur, Tyler Brûlé.

In April 2013, Monocle – widely known as the magazine that brings you a “briefing on global affairs, business, culture and design” opened up their first café in Chiltern Street, London. I visited this place with my friend Tim late last year, and am transferring my journal notes to this blog post now.<br/><br/>Aligning with Monocle’s good design approach, the café was designed by the magazine’s senior designer Yoshi Takagi. You can buy magazines alongside your coffee, or you can pop around the corner and visit the Monocle store on 2A George Street, London.<br/><br/>It serves Allpress coffee, and new to the menu since I visited, filter brew (Moccamaster). I found this café “cheap” for London standards, and we both got the Japanese breakfast (tofu, pickled cucumber, salad, tuna musubi, miso soup and tamagoyaki) for 8 quid each. We got there quite “early” – 9:30am on a Saturday and by the time we had ordered breakfast and white coffees, the café was bustling with visitors and locals.

I came here a few times just for the Matcha hot chocolate, something that became a bit of an Instagram frenzy earlier this year, hot chocolate simply topped up with matcha cream…simple, but so easily satisfying. These desserts are produced by Lanka, a cafe which I have yet to visit, but the Monocle also does macarons and chocolate tarts, not everything is about green tea! I believe the shrimp katsu sandwich is made to be more of a snack than a meal. (I did share this with Grace – so another reason for me not to be full)

This place has been on my list of 'great coffee shops to visit' for quite a while now. And I eventually made it. Quiet Sunday morning but I've been awake hours so I just had a chocolate chip cookie (yes, for breakfast!) and an Americano. The shop is gorgeous, and Monocle-ised in a very tasteful way with the current and previous magazine issues to browse, their gorgeous retail products and their own radio channel on in the background. You're certainly removed from the hustle and bustle of London. I'll definitely return to try lunch sometime.

I live few streets away from this little cafe that print its own magazine. After walking down Chiltern Street for the nth times, finally decided to venture into the Monocle café. For some reason, I thought it sells matcha latte but the closest thing they had was hot chocolate with matcha cream. They also serves Japanese breakfast and Japanese patisserie from Lanka. Decent coffee, coffee beans used unknown. Tea is from Postcard Tea, definitely can't complain about that since I know it will be quality tea. Better than the average high street coffee chains.

The concept of magazine+hot drink 6£ it's great and inviting. They have a little living room with different magazine issues that you can read if you don't bring your computer. The menu is short but attractive, they mix traditional dishes with oriental flavours. It's a good place to have a coffee but not that good for a meal, because the only place to eat properly seated is downstairs next yo the kitchen. Cozy but badly illuminated and conditioned. I only hade the grilled cheese toast, and it's great!

I'm a subscriber to Monocle magazine, and always read it when I’m travelling. True, it can be pretentious at times but on the whole I love its inspiring stories and interesting articles. I’ve been wanting to check out the Monocle Cafe since I first heard about it a few years back and must say that I was impressed.

REVIEWED AS PART OF THE WORLD CUP OF BREAKFASTS:<br/>Directly opposite the super trendy Chiltern Firehouse, just off Baker Street is Monocle café. If you are a celeb spotter this may be a good place to hang out, if you can’t get a table over the road! Monocle is first and foremost a magazine; “a global briefing on international affairs, business, culture and design” a world edition, printed in English, with its headquarters in London, but with links to Japan too. The café opened in 2013 and is a place to grab a coffee, pick up the latest edition of the magazine and meet fellow readers (according to the website) but you know that wasn’t the primary reason for my visit….<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Pictures of all the dishes are up behind the counter, in a slightly more classy way that the standard greasy spoon set up. And on that rather global style menu is something called a ‘German breakfast’. For £5 you get a selection of breads, ham, cheese and a small salad. Having done a little research, this seems to be the way of the traditional German which surprised me a little, not a German sausage in sight! A slice of rye bread, dense with a nutty flavour and 2 slices of sourdough were fresh and tasty. 2 big slices of quality ham are a natural companion to the mild Emmental cheese, all of which makes for a good value, if not very exciting brekkie! Friends I dined with sampled more interesting choices with the beef katsu sandwich (£6) receiving satisfying nods of approval. <br/><br/><br/>The Allpress brand coffee is the most popular choice on the menu however; west-end hipsters in bowties as well as regulars from the Japanese community sup the strong Arabica flat whites. At £3 a cup it isn’t cheap (compared to the well-priced food options), but it’s made well and hits the spot.<br/><br/>Did I mention that we walked up from South London to the Monocle and I built up quite the appetite?! Well, the menu has a rather Japanese vibe (as well as a smattering of American and European dishes too) and the Japanese breakfast seemed too good an opportunity to pass up. <br/><br/><br/><br/>For £7 I was served Tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelette), a ball of rice covered in sesame seeds, silken tofu & pickled cucumber alongside a miso soup and a small side salad. An interesting selection!<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Tamagoyaki is a popular breakfast food in Japan and is made with layers of cooked eggs and has a slight sweetness to it. Silken Tofu is similar to regular tofu in that it is made with Soy milk curds, what makes it different is the moisture content. It was served chilled and had the texture of a crème caramel, however, I didn’t get much flavour from it in fact it is pretty much void of any taste! The hunks of cucumber were only lightly pickled so still had plenty of crunch to them adding a good contrast to the eggs and tofu.  <br/><br/><br/>The best part of the dish for me was the rice, when breaking into the well-presented mound I found at the core flaked tuna and throughout matchsticks of fresh ginger adding a kick of heat and flavour. The miso soup was an interesting side with fresh spring onion livening it up. <br/><br/><br/><br/>If I was to criticize, it was all a bit dry (I added soy sauce which helped a little) and the ingredients are fairly plain in terms of flavour. On the flipside it seems like a very healthy choice to start the day, certainly no sign of a frying pan having been required!

I have to admit I have long been awaiting for this place to finally open in the UK and here it is…       This year on the 15th of April Monocle arrived on Chiltern street. Internationally well-known for its magazine, radio stations and design products you can now enjoy coffee around the corner from Marylebone high street.  With a small selection of drinks and cakes created by Lanka bakery, modest and minimalism at its best pull up a stool at the bar and enjoy. Expect a cosy feel with plenty of magazines scattered around for you to read, wooden counters, monogrammed chocolate with the Monocle logo and plenty of Adult conversation. At the back of the shop you will find an airport style lounge with air-line style trays, a television showing the Al Jazeera news and its 24 hour radio station playing in the background. As they say themselves: