Positives: We were recently asked to recommend places for a group of Spanish art students to go when visiting London and Bonnington Café was the only place on our list. It’s off Bonnington Square, a magical, unique place which is surely the crowning achievement of the squatting movement in London (the café was originally a communal kitchen for the squatters, many of whom didn’t have functioning kitchens of their own). The food is crazy cheap and it’s BYOB. It has always been vegetarian and nowadays seems to be vegan as well. Best of all is the atmosphere – never not joyous.
Negatives: The chefs and waiters are keen amateurs on a rota so don’t expect fine dining, but do expect wholesome, tasty vegan food, generally served very quickly if rather eccentrically at times. The café was briefly “threatened with closure” but like 6 Music, this only served to make it stronger. Viva Bonnington Café!
It’s a little gem. And fond memories of using the upstairs room for gigs.
It’s good to see Bonnington Cafë featuring in your top ten restaurants. “Keen amateurs”, you say. I don’t know what defines ‘amateur’ in your book, but what I see is ‘professional cooking’ served up by really nice people – some of whom have been there longer than the eleven years I have lived in Bonnington Square.