Two huge wooden tables and long benches make up Papa Del’s communal dining area! There are also a few window seats!

Papa Del’s has a very natural feel to it. The tables are uneven so that slate placemats are used to keep the plates level! It was nice to have such a dining area with all the wooden surroundings! The painted walls and wall lights gave a soft ambiance!

The food was cooked fresh in the open kitchen and so we were waiting a short while for it! The Vegetariana pizza had a thin crispy base and the tomato sauce was tasty. It was topped with tomato, mozzarella, sweetcorn, onions, peppers and mushrooms. We had an additional topping of aubergine! The vegetables were all cooked perfectly!

The Penne Arrabiata was a big portion! The pasta was topped with a sauce of garlic, tomato, olives and chilli! The sauce had a good flavour and it definitely had a spicy kick to it!

The staff were friendly, but there was a slight language barrier going on. A few times when we asked the staff questions, they just said that they did not understand! Luckily, we had the patience to try and explain what we meant in several different ways!

Papa Del’s does a good evening deal between 9pm and 11pm! It is also open in the morning for breakfast!

Papa Del’s, 347 Archway Road, London, N6 5AA

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The Highgate Pantry has a big display of tempting sweet things in its window! Cupcakes, fruit tarts, macaroons, fruit crumble slices, egg custards and the list goes on!

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

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What I like about Cafe Rouge is that you can come here just for drinks or for a proper meal. The atmosphere is very relaxed and the staff don’t rush you in any manner. The red and white furniture complements the dark wooden surroundings. It does feel like a bistro that you would get in France!

The tea is always served by the pot and the coffee is also of a good quality. The butter biscuits are a nice accompaniment if you just want something small to go with the hot drinks.

Cafe Rouge do a soup of the day and the one that was on offer when we went was red pepper and aubergine soup. It was a  flavoursome soup with big chunks of aubergine. The soup came with half a baguette which was very fresh. A filling starter that could easily satisfy as a main meal.

Another good starter is the warm ciabatta style breadsticks which comes with three dips: hummus, tomato and aioli. You also get a  small amount of salad. The amount of dips is fairly small, but it suffices.

To finish the meal, a good choice is the assortment of desserts. These are smaller portions of the creme brulee, red fruit crumble and chocolate ganache. None of them disappointed and it was nice to get a taster of them all!

Cafe Rouge, 6-7 South Grove, Highgate, London, N6 6BP

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