The Common E2 — Restaurant in London

First of all, we came for brunch in the weekend during busy times. My mushroom and eggs on toast were well cooked and I enjoyed it. My partner’s shashuka was forgotten and therefore arrived after everyone in our group of 6 finished eating. Fair enough, it was busy.

Now on the service, we had mixed feeling.

I have mild allergy of nuts n sesame. Ever since the Pret incident, life has been occasionally difficult for me when visiting restaurants. I tried to explain everywhere I go that I have a mild allergy that caused my skin to itch when I consume these ingredients directly, but contamination by these ingredients in the same kitchen is fine.

But in this occasion, when I tried to explain, the lady at the till plainly said, sorry but we cannot take the risk, we have so much contamination in the kitchen we simply can’t take the risk. I looked at my partner asking him what we should do as we came in a group and whether we should leave to eat elsewhere or just not eat. I said,”Apparently I can’t have anything here.”. The lady got further defensive and said,”I didn’t say you couldn’t have anything. I said we simply cannot take the risk..”. I stared at her confused..... then I said, containing my anger,”So what can I have then?”. She was like,” i am not sure”. Her colleague then came to the rescue and listened to us and agreed to take our order. The lady at the till proceeded to take our payment with the most sour face.

In another occasion, I would have made a small scene about this. But we have our friends who invited us and I didn’t want to make the them feel bad. And honestly, everyone else in the restaurant were wonderful and accommodating.

Fair enough on the allergy concern. But being emphathetic in service industry is really important. It really goes a long way. We are all adults here. This lady treated me and looked at me like I was a walking disaster that really need to be rid off. I was made to feel really bad and horrible for having allergy. I was made to feel like I should never go out and eat at restaurants if I have allergies. Not nice... She might have had one of those bad days, but not fair that it’s taken out to customers..

2 better options to respond: Check with chef and colleague, agree on response and say politely,” we’re very sorry that we don’t have good enough awareness in the kitchen for allergies that we are not able to serve you. I would be disappointed, but really would have understood and not take offense. Listen to my explanation and serve me anyways because I’ve discussed enough about the system in the kitchen with you and agree that there’s no risk.

So my mushroom and eggs on toast came out great, nothing happened to me, I smiled throughout brunch, and knew I would never be back again.

UPDATE: Received kind response since then,...

What about sit side by side with designers, architects, photographers and artists in a co-working coffee shop? There is a minimalist cafe in east London which I checked today. But is it really good as what they said on the internet? Need to find out.

London Coffee Shop for Digital Nomads-21 The Common E2

Category: A cafe + architectural studio

WIFI: Reliable and free to use, but a little slow Download 4.64 Upload 4.87 PING 3 JITTER 16

Seating: There are small tables, chairs, and long communal tables, around 27-30 seats. Actually a little cramped when it is busy time, such as weekends. They provide some power outlets under the tables near the wall but very limited.

Ambience: Very industrial style and a peaceful alternative to the busy east London. Really like the in-house plants by the window. The staff is quite nice and happy people. However, the music sometimes is too loud, definitely, on lunch time. And they have a small and cute backyard for some fresh air if needed and the architectural studio is also next to the backyard.

Cost: Coffee £2.1-£3.4 Tea £2.5-£3.0 Food(Breakfast/Brunch/Lunch) £2.5-£11.0

Toilet: One for Unisex (A little shed in the backyard)

Something Special about the Cafe: (1) Actually it is renovated from an architecture studio, which aims to blur the boundaries between private office and public cafe; (2) A place to meet up architects, designers, and artists.

Problems: (1) Only allow laptoppers to come over on weekdays, and on weekends, it became a busy restaurant, which is a quite annoying policy; (2) The original concept is quite creative but hope it will not lose it gradually and become a normal restaurant+cafe. (3) It is...

During my visit, I was one of only five persons seated in the restaurant and the only one eating. The others were surrounded by empty cups of coffee and enjoying the free wifi. Two of them, each others' company.

Everything appeared comfortable when I walked in. I liked the short menu, casual atmosphere and location and thought my friend's suggestion was a good one.

However, I must say the food and drink just left me wanting and was not at all good value for the price. I ordered the most simple items on the menu and was very disappointed with what I received.

My order took more than 15 minutes to prepare and what I received was a lukewarm cappuccino (not surprised, given the barista looked very uncomfortable using the coffee machine). A slice of warmed sourdough with chopped (flavorless) avocado and a very overcooked, but cold "poached" egg. In all fairness, the egg was simply boiled.

There is absolutely no excuse for this sort of thing and while the right thing to do is to get a manager and allow an establishment to correct itself, I did not see anyone else present, nor did I have another half hour to wait for this to get rectified.

Perhaps I stopped in on an off day, or the regular people were not working. What ever the reason, I WILL NOT go back to the E2 Common and WILL NOT recommend them to anyone else, no matter how close they are...