A late Friday afternoon is how we ended up at Ziloufs! We weren’t sure what we were expecting when we went into Ziloufs. We were after a relaxed afternoon with some tea!

Surprisingly, Ziloufs was a spacious place with a separate dining area and another area near to the bar. There was plenty of light coming into the bar area due to the glass front of Ziloufs. It was nice that there were cosy leather sofas, just what we were looking for!

Ziloufs did serve tea and they did it by the pot! The Earl Grey tea was good. The latte was made of strong coffee and it had a good depth to it.

We had some double cooked potato wedges to snack on. These were served in a big bowl and were steaming hot. It came with some wasabi mayonnaise. I wasn’t too sure if the combination of the wasabi and mayonnaise would work. I thought that the wasabi may give too much heat to the mayonnaise. Actually, the two worked really well together. We were totally satisfied with the wedges and the wasabi mayonnaise!

The staff were really nice and friendly and let us take our time even though we were only having drinks and snacks! It didn’t take long for Ziloufs to get really busy as the afternoon became evening!

Ziloufs, 270 Upper Street, London, N1 2UQ

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Euphorium Bakery is an extremely busy and popular one! Heading here on a weekend, it was pretty full, even though it had seating on the ground level and additional seating on a lower level too! It seemed like it was one of those places that if you saw an empty seat, you should grab it, otherwise it would get taken up fairly quickly!

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

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It is refreshing to have a coffee lounge that is open late into the evening and it’s all thanks to Madam Chi! At least you can go here and not have to worry about the time!

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

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