Outstanding Fitzrovia Coffee Residency Puts Down Roots in Brockley

Good as Gold, the outstanding central London coffee residency, has opened its first permanent cafe in Brockley, south east London. Owners Anthony Khouri and Tom Hibbert have put down roots at 209 Mantle Road, after a successful stint at well-know cafe / barber Sharps on Windmill Street in Fitzrovia.

While the formal opening is 19 March, the duo have been running a soft launch in SE4 this week, continuing to platform numerous roasters from across London, the U.K., and Europe. Hibbert’s background as group chef at the Gentlemen Baristas comes to the fore in atypically inventive lunch specials, so far including gozleme and a truffle mushroom melt; during their time at Sharps, some serious looking puff pastry tarts would grace the counter too. Sharps has long been a kind of incubator / shop window for talented baristas and interesting cafes in London, including Rob Dunne and Victor Frankowski’s Dunne and Frankowski; Rag and Bone, run by David Robson, and F A T, the popular sandwich concession from Snackbar’s Freddie Janssen.

While a few new openings have suggested that central London restaurants left vacant by the COVID-19 pandemic will be playthings for the famous chefs and independents with cash to burn, a few more suggest that a more interesting, varied restaurant and cafe economy is building outside Zone 1. Good as Gold’s near neighbours Brown’s of Brockley have opened Bon in East Dulwich, while Dalston bakery the Dusty Knuckle heads for Haringey. South east London has a fresh contender for the best new cafes in London.

Good as Gold, 209 Mantle Road, Brockley SE4 2EW