Cafe Zee

I visited Café Zee last weekend having had it on my list of places to try for a good few months!
Upon entering I was surprised to discover they actually roast their own coffee beans on site, as in all the hundreds of times I’ve walked past, I’ve never seen that fact displayed prominently outside the café front. The cakes, however, have always looked mouth-​wateringly delicious and have caught my eye on many occasions. We were around Ealing looking for a quick lunch and decided to grab something savoury. I was impressed with the selection of sandwiches and opted for the southern fried chicken wrap, with cheese, soured cream & lambs lettuce. Toasted of course. Upon eating, I was unfortunately disappointed with my choice. There was too much soured cream, making it quite gloopy, heavy and not all that tasty. The chicken was also a lot less flavoursome than it could have been, it resembled plain breaded chicken more than any kind of southern fried spiced variation.
However, my boyfriend had the prawn baguette which he said was delicious.
I also ordered a large skinny latte, which was delicious, though they were slightly expensive. I suspect this is due to the fact they do roast their own but it tasted very similar to other coffees available at a lower cost near by.
We did however also have room for something sweet and shared a triple chocolate cookie and Portuguese custard tart between us. Both of these were utterly delicious!!! The cookie was so richly flavoured it tasted more like a brownie and it was so good!
I’d definitely return in future for coffee and cake, I’d just leave the savoury for elsewhere!

I really wanted to like this place, it looked really really nice from the outside and I was looking forward to trying breakfast.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not horrible. Just a bit of an underwhelming experience.
They big up their coffee quite a lot, and even though I didn’t have one, my boyfriend said it was indeed really good. But I wouldn’t know… so yeah.
We ordered a full english and eggs royale (benedict with salmon).
The full English had hashbrowns, which are the same one I get from Morrison /​Tesco for £1 a pack. Dry and not particularly tasty. The sausage was nice, didn’t look like your regular pork sausage though, must have been a nicer cut? No idea.
My Eggs Royal were quite disappointing. For some reason they thought it was a good idea to cover the whole plate with A LOT of parsley.
Why. Why would you do that.
My dad always told me not to trust dishes covered in herbs as they’re likely trying to masque bland flavours. I don’t think that was it, I think they just hadn’t realised how badly parsley goes on hollandaise, eggs and salmon, and wanted to be fancy. Had to pick them off the eggs.
The bread was also weird, like it hadn’t been toasted all the way through but just enough to make the crust harder (but not crunchier).
I was also fancying some freshly squeezed orange juice, and all they had was small bottles of tropicana, McDonald style. Poor show considering that Limeyard around the corner, A CHAIN RESTAURANT, does fresh juices (as well as much tastier food).
All in all, a big ‘meh’. Nothing utterly disgusting, but nothing particularly good either. Might pop back in to try their coffee on the go but won’t be going back to eat.

Overpriced breakfast. Dry burnt toast, raw poached eggs, small plate (I had to manœuvre my food on top of each other to have space to eat). And this £7.95 breakfast included no coffee or tea. Without a doubt one of the worst breakfasts I have ever had. Shameful.

Charming atmosphere, aromatic coffee and indulgent pastries. As micro-​roasters, they care about their product and the shop really takes you on a journey as you enter. Coming here is like stepping in to a miniature museum, where you can buy souvenirs in the form of coffee beans. The big glass windows flaunt their many sweet things to the passing street, and that is more than enough to tempt me in each time I pass.

Meh, indeed. Café Zee talks the talk, making much of the fact that it roasts its own beans, but the flat white I had was, well, flat, flavour-​wise. My girlfriend’s cappuccino was much the same. It’s a shame, because on-​site roasteries are rare, and I liked the unusual green and yellow tiled interior. When I asked why their coffee was so expensive they confidently replied that it was because they had ‘the best coffee in town’. In practice, I think you’d find a better, cheaper coffee just two doors down at Pret, with a bigger quality difference at Harris & Hoole nearby.

Although the staff will tell you that they are only a recently opened café, they still offer breakfast from full English to Eggs Benedicte or Royale till 11 am. At the counter you can also get a variety of delicious Danish pastries and a good quality coffee of all kinds. Breakfast is served till 11. Good way to start the day with Mocca and Eggs Royale on a Sunday.