Pintadera Café — Restaurant in London

I went here with my partner on a whim. Google led the way one lunchtime as I contemplated the fair uplands of the school holidays.

This is an outstanding Italian cafe. The room is pretty without being pretentious. I think the owner's roots are in Sardinia, given the Ichnusa beer displayed prominently and the wedge of orange our paninis were served with. That's all I'm going on here. Sherlock Holmes' job is safe.

The paninis were exceptional. Check out their menu. In my experience eating paninis in London tends to be a matter of finding new ways to put nondescript foodstuffs in nondescript bread with molten cheese. These are then squeezed together by way of a compression machine not unlike that found in the final sequence of the first (and best) Terminator movie. My Shardana actually made me smile when eating it, and I'm not given to smiles of pleasure.

The freshly squeezed orange juice was perfect, sweet and sharp. Similarly, that incongruous wedge of orange was a lovely way to end our meal. What can I say, I like good citrus fruit.

For myself, and I know tastes differ, Pintadera's coffee was as good as I've had in this part of South London: better than Perks and White's offering in Herne Hill, and for me that's praise indeed. It's worth coming here for the coffee alone.

The service is good. Unobtrusive and attentive and just the right amount of old-world insouciance that when they're thoroughly nice to you as you leave, you hear yourself incontinently gushing in gratitude. And indeed, why not? They've just fed you beautifully.

The food here was so good that after our initial visit my partner and I attempted to have lunch here the next day. The cafe was shut for refurbishment. I placed a consoling arm around her as her knees gave way. When I reached the car I too began to sob over the wheel. I'm over it now. I'll be back...

I have never be treated like that at any place. Nobody told us before we bought the coffe that we will have limited time if we order just drinks. What is interesting this ,,rule” was only applied to us. There was plenty people working there and enjoying their drinks but the staff had problem only with us?? When we asked the lady why other people didn’t need to leave the place she mentioned something about our age?? That other people aren’t in same age we are? Btw we are about 24:) And what kind of discrimination is this?????? Additionally, the lady who kicked us off was super rude for us and as I said she asked only us to leave the place. Definitely won’t recommend this place. We won’t came back as will, that’s for sure. I forgot to add- we didn’t even finish our drinks so we needed to...

Stopped for a coffee and sticky bun with my Wife and our cavachon/wolf. Loved the quirky decor and the unfussy but keen attention of the servers. Our order was prepared fresh and quickly and we enjoyed it while peoplewatching, as an eclectic mix of people bustled in and out for a sit-down or takeaway. Our dog was treated to a bowl of cool water and enjoyed a mild flirtation with a golden doodle who brought her human and youngster in for brunch. The coffees demanded another with a shared sweet pastry, there was no rushing to clear the table as we savoured them while nearby four suits cornered the market in sprockets and two lively mums fed and entertained their children. Lingered and relaxed, I couldn't come here for a swift visit, almost...