All orders are taken at the counter. The first counter fridge had the savoury items including sandwiches, salads, quiches, savoury rolls and pizza! The second fridge had all the tempting sweet pastries, cakes, cookies and pies!

Euphorium Bakery serves Teapigs teas and I chose the English Breakfast. It was served in a tall mug and not by the pot. It came with a small jug of milk on the side, balanced carefully on the saucer!

The spinach and ricotta roll was tasty and very moreish. Not one of those items where you can just have one bite! Once you’ve tried it, you want to finish the whole roll! The spinach and ricotta filling was encased in a lovely buttery flaky pastry!

The vegetarian quiche was a big portion. It was jam packed with broccoli florets, button mushrooms and tomato! The taste of the creamy cheesy filling went well with all the vegetables! The pastry was quite dense and slightly harder than I like.

There is a long wooden table with small plastic Perspex like stools as the main seating area. There is also some outdoor seating.

The staff are efficient and friendly. All the tables are constantly being cleaned, ready for more customers.

Euphorium Bakery is a good place to come for tea and a bite to eat!

Euphorium Bakery, 79 Upper Street, Islington, London, N1 0NU

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Madam Chi is spread over two floors and we chose to have our drinks on the upper level this time. There is a cushioned bench like sofa along one wall and also normal table and chairs. Various books are dotted around on one of the shelves along the wall!

As expected, Madam Chi’s does a range of coffees and teas but it also serves wine! The Darjeeling Earl Grey was served in a big clear pot, and it was with fresh tea leaves. It had a fantastic flavour and there was so much so tea! We couldn’t finish the pot between the two of us!

The staff were really friendly and gave us service with a smile! Even though they had an event planned on the upper floor, they allowed us to go and have our tea there. When it got closer to the time of the event, the staff politely said that we could take our tea downstairs and they made sure that we did not feel uneasy about having to move!

Just a note, the menu for the hot drinks is not on the wall behind the counter! Instead it is on the wall opposite the counter! So, when you walk into Madam Chi’s, you would have your back to it! We couldn’t spot the menu when we entered and had to have it pointed out by the staff!

Madam Chi Coffee Lounge, 187 Upper Street, Islington, London, N1 1RQ

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

An afternoon filled with tea, cake and the girls brought us to this bakery! We were spoilt for choice so we decided that the only way around that was to pick a few cakes and to share them!

Two fruit tarts, one lemon and one cherry, and a plum crumble slice were our final choices! The cherry tart had plump cherries bursting with flavour. The lemon tart was tangy but also sweet! Both had good pastry! Big slices of plums mixed with a cake like filling made up the crumble slice. It would have been nice to have had a little more crumble topping.

The tea was served by the cup. The English Breakfast tea was a good accompaniment to the cakes!

The staff were friendly and did not rush us. The Highgate Pantry also serves hot dishes such as jacket potatoes and it also does various bakes, pastries and sandwiches.

The interior of The Highgate Pantry is quite small which means that the tables are close together. Also, customers queuing for takeaway items are waiting around the seating area. This is a sweet little shop but would definitely benefit by having a larger seating area.

The Highgate Pantry, 57 Highgate High Street, London, N6 5JX

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars