Long White Cloud – review

Burger sans slaughter. Long White Cloud specialises in veggie options. Photograph: Sarah Gill

Had enough of over-hyped hipster hangouts, secret restaurants with unmarked doors and the latest rooftop bar thrusting radioactive orange glasses of Aperol Spritz in your face? Me too.

Head on down to Long White Cloud instead; a cafe-cum-gallery in Hoxton with simple food, plenty of gluten free and vegetarian goodness and simply lovely staff.

Launched by New Zealanders Nikki Stewart and Zuzie Poskitt two years ago, the place has earned a name for itself for sterling breakfasts, good Monmouth grind coffees and as a place you can hop into for a quick bite or idly mooch about in all day.

They’ve got a busy evening schedule with a menu rotating through everything from all-you-can-eat pasta Mondays, to pie or Mexican-themed night, as well the Haunted Jazz Sessions every Friday with resident musician Tomas Ciucelis.

The decor is reshuffled regularly, with local artists using the walls as a shop window for their work, making it a natural hub for the local creative community, as well as a haven for caffeine-deficient customers stumbling out of the hectic petunia-trading melee of Columbia Road nearby each Sunday.

We headed in on a balmy Wednesday evening and settled down with a nice crisp glass of white and some good garlic bread made with crunchy ciabatta and fresh parsley.

Seemingly unable to resist the tide of burgers sweeping the city’s eateries, restaurants, food markets and pop-ups we opted for the veggie option, with nice fat slabs of haloumi, juicy mushroom and chilli jam. Where many veggie burgers are a cursory nod to non meat eaters, this was made by someone that understands a meat doesn’t need to make a meal. That said, the cheese burger was good too, nice and juicy and sweetened nicely with beetroot.

For pudding we had warm slices of lemon polenta cake and a fortifying espresso from the Monmoth grind, both of which were excellent.

Long White Cloud
151 Hackney Road
E2 8JL