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Albion

Address:2-4 Boundary Street, London E2 7JE
Tel:020 7729 1051
Website: Visit Albion website
Price: £34.00Wine: £16.00 Champagne: £49.50
Opening Hours:Mon-Sun 8am-12M

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The ground floor of Conran’s new Boundary complex is home to this soi-disant ‘caff’. A bakery-cum-corner shop sets the retro tone, leading to a long, light-filled dining room that looks like the platonic ideal of 1950s catering with its enamel light shades, tongue-&-groove panelling & spotless tiles. The school-dinner menu is in keeping – boiled beef & carrots, shepherd’s pie, egg custard – though dishes read better than they taste. Tangy Welsh rarebit came on bread rather than toast, & big-flavoured steak & kidney pud was housed in a too-thin suet casing, while sides of bubble & squeak & cauliflower cheese were lukewarm – perhaps because we declined to have our starters & mains served all at once, Wagamama-style. Food is washed down with a selection of French wines, Meantime beers or pots of tea in woolly brown cosies. In spite of reservations, a good-value, all-day drop-in.

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Reader reviews of Albion:

Chrystal S.

Chrystal S. ( 20s, Female, London )

I went here a on a Sunday having cancelled my reservation to eat at the Boundary Restaurant. I expected the perfect Sunday brunch style meal. I walk in and unsurprisingly I need to queue for a table-the place is buzzing. Its bright and you're surrounded by temptation. 45 mins later I'm still waiting for a table. There are 8 of us to be fair, but the manager wants to avoid pushing tables together. Hungary, we stare at a party of four as they tuck into their second serving of ham sandwiches! The waitress, friendly to begin with, are now frustrated that we are “in the way”. But there where else are we supposed to stand and wait? Finally, we sit down-a waitor, with no apologies for the wait, hands us our menus-£5 pounds for an omlette-not bad. At the bottom of the menu it says we will cater for special dietary needs. I am actually dairy and wheat intolerant-so I immediately get excited about this statement. “Excuse me sir, is it possib le to have the omellette egg white with spinach rather than cheese?” "Um-no". “oh-ok-well do you have any wheat free toast?” " No." “Ok-well what can you do for me?” "I will need to check with the chef." I look over towards to open view kitchen and see a rather large, sweaty man, omelette pan ready in hand-I'm thinking, “do I really want him to cook my food?” The waitor proceeds to take our orders-so thats coffees all round (a soy latte for me) and one virgin mary. 30 mins later, our food arrives, my omlette is egg white with just tomotoes. A smoked salmon sandwich is forgotten and we are still waiting for our coffees – “Excuse me sir-are drinks?” "Um yeah we are really busy-the coffee orders are busy." “Well what about my bloody mary?” "Oh right." He obviously forgot that too. I just dont understand why a great looking cafe-ideal of sunday brunch-the perfect spot really, cant handle one sitting? Fair enough if you are busy-but atleast serve food with a smile. Lots of potential but I can't say I'll be going back for a while. A real shame

April 2009
Overall:5
Food and Drink:5
Service:4
Atmosphere:7
Value for Money:4
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