Cut the Mustard — Restaurant in London

South Londoners this cafe in Tooting is for you. Set a few streets back from Tooting Broadway is the unassuming, modern and cosy Cut The Mustard. It is a gem of a cafe that bakes unbelievably tasty sourdough in house and serves up hearty dishes. We ventured in on a Saturday afternoon for brunch.

Cut the Mustard serves North London roasters Campbell & Syme coffees – we had flat whites (£2.70) to start. A fresh carrot & ginger juice (£3.50) was also a nice zingy addition to brunch.

The menu offers a good range of options from pancakes, granola to fully cooked comforting breakfasts. We chose the latter opting for “The Priory”(£11). This is most certainly recovery on a plate – brunch SOS. The base of the dish is Ginger pig bacon lardons cooked with homemade baked beans . Cubed stacks of sliced potato with crispy exteriors sit on top with melt-in-your-mouth creamy texture – fabulous. Mingled with the soft golden yolks from 2 poached eggs was heaven. There is a great tangy homemade brown sauce on the plate too and a slice of fried sourdough. Perfect for mopping up the delish beany sauce, this sourdough is one of my faves I have had. A huge thumbs up for this dish, I could honestly eat it every weekend.

There are also a range of hearty sandwiches. We tried the 106 Sclater Street (£7.50)– salt beef smoked emmental cheese, mustard & house pickles. Using the fabulous sourdough meant this sandwich had a great base, the salt beef was generous and the pickles were lovely and sharp.

There is care and attention to every element of the dishes at this gorgeous cafe in Tooting. From the excellent sourdough (baked by the owner and a regular sell out) to the in house pickling and homemade sauces, we were super impressed. There is a friendly, laid back vibe to sit in and wile away an hour or two and we highly recommend this spot for a special brunch. The baked goods looked great too so coffee and cake is a must for...

I have had to change my original review from 3 months ago to 1 star. I’ll leave the original review further down so that you can read.

The last few times I’ve been in here, it’s been abysmal. The service levels now are beyond atrocious, the turnover of staff doesn’t help. When you have a local coffee shop, part of the charm is building a rapport with your clientele, understanding how they like their coffee, food etc as you tend to get repeat clientele. The last few visits for a combination for food and coffee have been really bad. I don’t like to judge on one visit, however my last visit was the final straw.

In the past I did not allude to the prices which some have noted as quite high. I always thought for what you pay, you get in return by the way of excellent coffee, food and service, all three of those in my opinion fall way short of expectations.

My most recent visit was akin to being robbed. That may sound excessive, however my motto is that I’m always happy to pay a certain price if it’s justified. My opinion is that the shop is no longer good value for money and all the staff are going through the motions.

I genuinely try my best to be objective. sincerely hope this improves as I don’t want to deter others as in the past, it’s been superb.

Despite the above, I always like the client to make up their mind so this is not to put you off at all as I’m all for local businesses flourishing, make your own judgements and do give it a try. Your experiences may differ from mine and we all have different expectations and are looking for different things.

Original review below which goes back a few months .......

Great coffee and food, atmosphere is lovely and the staff are always personable. A lovely local coffee shop which is easy to recommend.

It can get quite busy on the weekends which is expected when the coffee and food is excellent.

Glad to have this...

Unfortunately they have lost me as a customer. I have been going there 3-4 times a week as we live one street away but service level is poor. When you have a local coffee shop, part of the charm is building a rapport with your customers, and despite coming here all the time and ordering the same coffee for the last 12 months, we don't get any how are you?s or smiles! They don't even remember how we like our coffee and keep asking if I want chocolate on top like a robot. (And then forget to put it on anyway!)

Long and slow queues, highest prices I have seen in the whole Balham/Tooting area (4.10 for a croissant?) I also wanted to check if they would be happy to contribute to fundraising for a local school and many local businesses took part. The manager asked me to e-mail, and then didn't reply although I asked twice in person. It is absolutely fine to say no but don't make me waste my time if you aren't going to reply to my email.

Pastries finish early- sometimes they don't even bother to have anything other than leftovers from the day before.

There is no personality and warmth here, and if they had a strong competitor, I strongly believe that people...