Go out of Angel station, turn left, turn left again, then turn left again. You'll be on a little dead end road. Look to your right, up a bit but not too high, and you should see a horse rearing out of the brickwork of an old factory building, garlanded in fairy lights. This is Candid Cafe, next to the Candid Art Gallery. If it's open, the door under the horse will be too, and in you go, up a twisting flight of stairs that made me think of my primary school, a stairwell painted in bright basic colours, old sash windows. It's not polished but it's in good working order, and solid. Strains of classical music, Vivaldi. Through two more doors and you're in the ante-room.
A couch, bookshelves, the bar where you order, then through the doorway decorated in old pasterwork and into the main room.
It's really quite beautiful. It's romantic, decadent, opulent. The style is bohemian Louis XV. Old red velvet, faded gold brocade, creaking floorboards, candlesticks with dripping candles, mismatched chairs and rickety tables. The room is barely lit. A long table dominates the centre of the low room, which extends back to a mural of a nude Venus. The other seats are dotted around the periphery. Windows along one side of the room overlook the yard, two stories below where apparently you can sit outside in good weather. The view consists mainly of bricks and rooftops, chimneys. The sun is setting. It honestly makes me think of Versailles.
We sit at one of the window tables, breathless, looking through the windows dripping with condensation. One of Bach's Brandenburg Concerti (G Major?) complements the low hum of conversation. The cafe is populated by people having discussions, meetings: whatever they're saying, this place seems to inspire heartfelt emotion in everyone, and passion for whatever they're thinking at the time. On my second visit (skiving from work), I was so glad to be feeling the same emotions that I was overcome - it's not magical, it's real, and I love it.
On top of this, the coffee is excellent and the staff are brilliantly placed and fast - they seem like a family run business even though the two younger women are clearly not related to each other or to the older lady, who is authoritative as she tells us to leave promptly at closing time - but I appreciate being ordered out like this as it demonstrates her grasp over the coffee shop, her territory. The whole place fits together, and it's perfectly placed - it's like an embassy: it's not quite of London but it's here.
Candid Cafe is entirely unique in my experience - Brighton-esque but better - somehow it's more genuine than that. I feel like it needs to be taken seriously, so go; but don't go lightly. £1.80 for a large latte, £1.50 for a pain au chocolat.
