Grammatically the apostrophe is always a tough one, denoting plurality or possession. The boulangerie/patisserie/café chain Apostrophe is certainly plural, having branches all over London. Primarily a chic sandwich and coffee joint, they have added a daily special: a selection of soups and stews to their spring menu. I went there with Fat Les who knows his coffee:
‘Nice latte art. You can tell a proper barista if he can do a rosetta’.
He’s talking about the design traced on top of the foam of a cappuccino.
I ordered the day’s soup: ‘minestrone’. It was a hearty, filling bowl with a roll for the economical price of £3.45. However the pasta was rather soggy, probably because their soups and stews are made in a central location and transported to each café to be warmed. Pasta doesn’t stand up well to this treatment, and it was faintly reminiscent of spaghetti hoops. Basically it was too sweet. Surely they can do better than this.
Stew of the day was Thai vegetable curry. Certainly the vegetables (red pepper, sweet potato cubes, mange-tout), the coconut and spice base could be characterised as Thai. Therefore the addition of couscous was odd to say the least. However at a mere £3.75 one could not complain about value for money. I didn’t eat it though.
We moved onto the sandwiches. My choice, ‘Feta noir’, had crumbly, soft feta cheese, an onion marmalade and semi-dried tomato and rocket, all generously tucked into a dark crusty baguette. Fat Les was delighted with his rye and raisin roll filled with Parma ham and Parmesan. This would be a good choice for coeliacs being 100% wheat free.
For dessert I can highly recommend the paysanne tart (£2.40 takeaway, £2.75 eat in); fresh chunks of caramelised apple in a good pastry casing. The chocolate tart (£2.20 takeaway, £2.60 eat in) did what it said on the tin, richly satisfying a craving.
Prices at Apostrophe are reasonable and service is cheery. Décor at the Baker Street branch is nouveau ’70s, slim teak look tables and benches with natural daylight streaming in. People surrounding us worked away on their laptops, taking breaks to sip at their coffee. What works of literature were being created before our very eyes?
Apostrophe
19 Baker Street
Marylebone
W1U 8EQ
Opening hours: Monday to Friday 7.30am – 5.30pm, Saturday 8.30am – 6pm, Sunday 9am – 5.30pm
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