Chapter One Coffee House

This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 – in the shops now or buy online.

Chapter One's glass front window is half clear, half frosted, and from across the street the café could be mistaken for a design firm's office. The white walls and boxy space bring to mind cafés from Australian soaps, where locals linger as part of their daily routine. Locals here are reassuringly familiar, too – like a cross-section of an Avril Paton painting with thirtysomethings toting babies and well-spoken ladies relaxing in this hidden corner of domesticity. It's a shame that Chapter One isn't more widely known. While its café fare of light meals and cakes has a limited range, the quality is up there with many of its more celebrated West End competitors. Lentil, sweet potato and coconut soup is smooth, and customers are welcome to suggest their own fillings for sandwiches and panini. The majority of the baked goods (imported from Tapa Bakehouse) are organic, and the cakes are first rate: one chocolate and almond option is so soft and rich that you'd never suspect it doesn't contain wheat. Books are left on a shelf for customers to borrow and a few local writers are known to lurk with laptops among the regulars.

• High point: Amazing cakes
• Low point: Incognito location