The Place Café, Euston

The Place Café
17 Duke’s Road
Euston
WC1H
0207 383 5469
www.theplace.org.uk

by Mabel Syrup

What better start to a Friday morning than being asked by your employers to join a ‘Working Committee’ for the inhouse café? It struck me, however, that if I am going to be held responsible for any part of the central attraction to this Contemporary Dance Organisation Extraordinaire, then I had better pass judgment on their breakfast.

The Place is hidden away on a small cobbled road next to St Pancras Church and provides a welcome relief from the misery that is Euston Road. The café, which is open to the public, isn’t atmospheric or particularly special, but it attracts a surprisingly large amount of visitors who I doubt are there for their love of contemporary dance (although some may wish to stare at the scantily clad dance students who swarm in every day).

The Place staff themselves have a love-hate relationship with the café. They relish the chance to regale others with stories of despicable meals they have attempted to consume there, but you will find them ten minutes later lurking around the salad bar or salivating in front of the cakes. I am no different, especially given that I have been rescued on many a hungover morning by an impromptu breakfast eaten surreptitiously behind my computer monitor. For £3.00 one can choose 6 items from 10 of the usual breakfast constituents, placed on regular-sized plates, and it comes in as a substantial, bargainous amount. It’s not a spectacular breakfast, the quality of the ingredients is ‘normal’ and nothing forces any utterances of ecstasy – but it will settle the contents of an alcohollow stomach and the resultant lingering warm greasy contented feeling makes for a good sleep, ahem, full, productive working day.