Gourmandise

A small café right next to Hanger Lane station. The owner is friendly and the food is very good. The English Breakfast is £7. The deli has many other options. Potatoes, Pasta and Quiches with salads for under £3. WiFi is free and fast. Clientale is all sorts from passing trade, workmen to some suits. It’s ok but not the most comfortable place to spend more than 1 hour.

A small French café in possibly the worst location in the world. OK, OK, perhaps this is an exaggeration. While it’s not in a Falkland Island minefield, or backing onto a sulphur factory, Gourmandise is on a parade of shops right next to the junction of Western Avenue and Hanger Lane, by Hanger Lane Tube Station. But, once you get inside the café, it’s actually pretty nice.
Star one is for the staff. The owner is extremely friendly and always has a smile. If you’ve got some time to kill he will be up for having a chat.
Star two is for the food. There’s a counter full of different sandwich ingredients ranging from coronation chicken to roasted vegetables, different meats and cheeses, tuna etc. There are also usually tasty looking bits of quiche and savoury pastries. They have a panini press (and panini), baguettes and standard white sliced depending on your mood. Also jacket potatoes. There’s a serious looking espresso machine, which is used to make very acceptable coffee. And they have good buttery croissants, and do a mean carrot cake.
Star 3 is for the décor. It’s a bit ramshackle, bohemian and would be nothing special were it in Central London — but compared to virtually everything else in the area it shines out as a beacon of the owner actually cares about this place. There are individual touches, like a copy of a big old french painting (I think the owner said it was a Renoir), on a canvas hung, sail-​like, over the door. There are little tables (like you’d find in a French Café, funnily enough). There’s also a little conservatory area further back in the restaurant where you can sit and pretend you’re not by a road junction.
Star 4 is because it’s a nice little sandwich shop in an area which is desperately crying out for nice places to eat, and I would very much like them to stay in business — so go and grab a sarnie and help keep their tills ringing!