London, SpitalfieldsCafé from Crisis

By Karen Brown, Glowcations head of production
5 October '17

Photo credit: Jon Ashford

Seasonal, local, ethical and delicious with a mission to end homelessness. Café from Crisis ticks all of our boxes!.

This award- winning cafe helps place 30 people in work each year.

It serves healthy breakfasts and lunches made from scratch on site in the café’s kitchens. It uses quality sourced ingredients and is open from 8am till 3pm near Spitalfields Market, East London.

The setting

Light, bright and spacious with large windows looking out onto Commercial St. A choice of individual and communal seating with pretty, mismatched wooden chairs.

Clean white tables and lots of plug sockets. The vibe is buzzy with stripped brick walls and industrial metal piping. The staff were very friendly and attentive.

Order at the bar from a daily menu featuring a hot vegan, veggie and meat special. Plus, breakfasts, salads, sandwiches and pastries.

At lunch time it was busy with locals and visitors to nearby Spitalfields and Petticoat Lane.

The little things

Or the big thing! The mission of the café. All funds raised through the café are invested into their training programme for homeless people and ex-offenders in hospitality and catering.

They have many success stories featured on a photo wall in the café – including one trainee who went from sleeping on night buses to become a successful barista with a home.

The green juice test

Café from Crisis is seasonal. In Spring/Summer grab the green smoothie – spirulina, cucumber, apple, pear and lemon. In Autumn/Winter its replaced by the warming beetroot, ginger and apple-both at £2.95.

All juices are pressed on site and are so good that they often run out by lunch – so go early!

What we ate

We went veggie and had the aubergine, fava bean, feta and roast pepper stew with feta and couscous.

Perfectly spiced for early Autumn.

The salad selection featured bulgar wheat, caramelised onion, kale, and pomegranate molasses, plus Portobello mushroom, tomato, rocket and whole grain mustard. Filling and fabulous. For desert, a protein packed flapjack and a pretty and warming cinnamon, star anise chai latte with almond milk.

The Bill

Smoothies £2.95
Hot veg special £6.40
Salad plate £5.70
Latte £2.50

What else?

The portions are large and good value.

The staff are happy to pack a take way box for you if you don’t finish.

What made us glow?

The ethos of the café. Café from Crisis really does make a difference and seeing the photo board of who’s moved on since working there was heart-warming.

Café from Crisis

66 Commercial Street,
London E1 6LT

020 7426 5681
@cafefromcrisis
visit website
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