Bread and Olives

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

Bei and Nannini coffee, fresh pastries and bacon and egg rolls are breakfast hits at this West End deli/café, owned by chef James Freeman. Sandwich combinations of slow home-roasted beef and fiery horseradish, or Loch Fyne smoked salmon with dill crème fraîche, cucumber, lemon and cracked pepper, and others – made to your liking – are put together in Au Gourmand breads, and can be included in a lunch deal or a private catering order. The simple, fresh, honest flavours sing out. Four types of olives, hot panini, jacket potatoes and hot specials of chorizo stew, stovies, quiche and haggis, neeps and tatties consistently attract the lunching locals. Green wooden shelving is lined with home-made preserves, chutneys and cordials, and, in the fridge, Jansen's organic pâté can be found alongside Fentiman's traditional fizzies, Soma organic smoothies and Firefly herbally-infused juices. As if that wasn't enough, Kshocolat, home-made cakes and mini (syrup) stroopwaffles are treats for those in need of a sweetener. Perch on a stool by the window or takeaway – and if you return with your eco-friendly cornstarch takeaway box, you can have it refilled at a discount price.

• High point: By, and for, lovers of good food
• Low point: Tiny sit-in space