Attending a birthday celebration in Brockley I got to sample one of the recently "done up" restaurants around there. The Gantry is broken up into a number of different spaces, bar, dinning room, conservatory and outside at both the front and the rear. The style of the place is generally modern but with nothing too striking to catch ones eye. The food on offer was quite wide ranging but centring in on what I would see as brunch. We were seated in the conservatory at the back and although nice and light I was bothered by a strange odour for most of my stay.
After an enormous delay (and after some promoting) some good quality complimentary olives and bread arrived to stave off the hunger. A little later the ordered food arrived along with a few mistakes that needed to be ironed out. Despite these issues the quality of the food was good, the produce was top notch and it had been well prepared. Being with the family I managed to sample a wide range of what was available and thought each meal was a solid offering.
A pretty exciting looking Bloody Mary dominated our tables by those who had them. They were a little lacking in vodka for my tastes but perhaps that is just me.
Of course a black coffee was my beverage of choice so lets discuss. It had a little crema but a good amount of oil tracing across the surface. On imbibing it was found to be lacking in any real kick and pretty devoid of flavour. After some time and tasting I found it carried a gentle sweetness that was quite pleasent but a muddiness towards the end and through the finish started to dominate.
- Black Americano, drink in
- £1.70
- Weak
- Small
- A slight sweetness
- Very light Crema
The Broca is one of two coffee shops just outside of Brockley station in charming South East London. Set up by Erin and Rob, The Broca has an admirable mission to be an ethically aware community focused cafe. They provide this by sourcing ethical products and using second hand and found furniture and equipment. As well as coffee the cafe has a range of things to eat but we did not sample any on this visit.
The coffee shop is divided into two halves and has two doors, with the ordering and business end in one, seating in the other. With one side of the venue all windows, sun light streams in and fills the space well. The decor of truly mismatched and used furniture works well together but the graffiti and notice wall off set that homeliness to a more ascetic student vibration. However to counter my aesthetic critique the notice wall leads us directly back to the owners desire to create a venue focused on the community.
The coffee came in a tea mug and was shrouded with a light brown crema. On tasting it was unfortunately a huge disappointment, it was strong but overly bitter and muddy to the taste. It was a little watery and a little burnt, so much so it was hard to pull out any of the actual flavour specifics. It wasn't out and out terrible but one expects more from a modern day coffee shop. The old mugs it was served in continued the theme of the place and the hot chocolate also being served went down well (see below).
- Black Americano, drink in
- £1.80
- Strong
- Medium size
- Muddied and a little burnt
- Light crema
- Machine: La Marazocco
To be blunt not a great coffee but the cafe has some charm and an excellent location by the station.
Map
http://www.brocafoods.com/
I first stumbled across Dark Fluid at the Brighton Food Festival and after some ex-Monmouth Coffee recognition & conversation I was treated to a lovely black Americano.
Roll forward a bit and I'm in Brockely Market on a wet Saturday morning in May. I've heard that they are here and they are indeed, tucked into the corner with a subtly branded stall, serving coffee and selling beans.
The market is what we have come to expect from a city market, offering a good mix of produce and food to eat on the hoof. It started to rain so sadly we didn't get to explore in depth but it seemed like a good spread and I particularly liked the central benches for gorging and resting.
As well as purchasing a bit of seasonal asparagus I sampled some outrageous honey roasted ham, now that was worth a revisit alone.
After a bit of banta with the baristas and a quick chat on how the little one wanted her bambinoccino we traversed the long but quick moving queue and waited to one side. The coffee arrived shortly after.
They had a good system of service on the stall and the baristas seemed genuinely into what they were doing even in the rain and early on a Saturday.
The black americano looked good, it had a creamy light layer of crema and gave off a good strong aroma in the cold air. It had a great kick, it was a strong coffee but not overly bitter to taste. It was quite sweet and this was balanced against a good cheewy nuttiness.
The coffee was clean and smooth throughout.
- Black Americano, take away
- £2.00
- Strong
- Sweet and nutty flavour
- Fine but thick crema
- Small size - 8oz
- Beans: Dark Fluid
Great tasting coffee, served up well; sweet, nutty, strong, hot Joe.
Brockley Market is every Saturday.
Map
http://www.darkfluid.co.uk/
info@darkfluid.co.uk
http://www.brockleymarket.com/
@BrockleyMarket
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