La Vida Cafe

Near The Branch pub on London Road, La Vida is a sandwich café that, although small, has seating inside and on the street-​only a table or two mind.
The pastries are beaut-​sausage rolls particularly-​and they’ll rustle you something up in no time.
The prices at La Vida are at the higher end of the market but the daily deal of a baguette and drink for £1.99 is great opportunity to get one of their lovely sandwiches for cheap.

I’d recommend La Vida for those already in the area. It’s a café/​sandwich place but due to it being independent it has to charge that little bit extra than the various chain places nearby. If you’re on London Road and you fancy a coffee to take away this is the place for you. With its friendly staff relaxed atmosphere it’s a great place to grab some hot refreshment. It may not be the most trendy place in the world but if you fancy helping out an independent coffee house then pay La Vida a visit.

I was walking down London Road and had a dizzy spell. This was largely in part to me not eating anything for breakfast and lunch, and thinking that I would be able to get along with my day without eating anything until supper. I was wrong. I had a brief blackout spell, and had to stop briefly to regain my bearings. Once I regained vision, I looked at where I was. It was directly in front of La Vida Café.
Given the option between a healthy sandwich or a delicious pastry, I’ll choose the delicious pastry, regardless of whether or not it’s what my body requires. And since a coffee goes well with a delicious pastry, I had to order that as well. It’s a bit pricier than most, but when the quality of the food is superb, it’s sometimes worth it to pay those extra pence.

I love this little place. I grabbed a baguette and filter coffee for £1.99 here, and was shocked at how good the food was for such an obscene price. I had a mozzarella, tomato and basil wonder that balanced its flavours wonderfully, containing enough butter to taste but not overpower and that great kind of baguette that has the right amount of crunchy crust and fluffy dough. Its not the best I’ve ever had, but certainly up there, and considering the price, I was blown away. For those wanting a bit more meat in their bread there was a good variety, with standard fillings like bacon being supplemented by chicken tikka.
It’s very small inside, with just a trio of tables, but the intimate size makes for a comfortable environment to relax with a book or laptop briefly. A couple of New York pictures and black fixtures give the place a good look, but I was disappointed by the lack of music. I may be alone, but I find it more relaxing listening to a radio than the gentle hum of fridges. That’s all that stopped me bumping this place up a star…
Oh! and the cakes are pretty decent too. I picked up some caramel topped shortbread and never looked back…

Small café selling a range of good quality foods, which make it nice lunch stop.
There is a range of sandwiches and pastries, and the sausage rolls are divine– just the right consistency iin the meat, and the right amount of flakiness in the pastry.
They don’t have any seating, so it’s a grab and run kinda place, but it’s far better than most of the takeaway options in this area.

Whilst it’s by no means super trendy, La Vida is a great place to grab a coffee and a snack if you’re travelling down London Road. Because of its independent status the food is more expensive than many of the fast food places in the vicinity, however, it’s a safe bet with regards to quality of service of healthiness of grub. That said, I’d recommend it more as a coffee shop than a food place because there are quite a few places worth eating at nearby. Like I said, it’s great if you’re passing by but not worth travelling to.