Good Friday: Leila's

I hate packing. There are much better things I can do with a few hours, so on the day before I went away on holiday I managed to speed up the process in order to go out in the rain to meet H for a long-awaited catch up meal. I emerged from Old Street underground into the grey and walked to Franze & Evans where I waited until H approached on her bicycle. The grave news which she soon learned on arriving was that Nicholas - the owner of this Italian deli/lunch spot H had been meaning to share with me - had selfishly shut up shop for the bank holiday, probably in order to holiday himself.

No worry, as we strolled around the corner to Arnold Circus as the clouds began to part. Inability to lunch at F&E had proved lucky for us as it meant we were able to try Leila's, a small cafe and grocer on the corner of the square. I suppose this is really the aim of their design, but it really was like entering into someone's kitchen. There are old-fashioned cookers and a wooden drying-rack at the back, with wooden tables in front, nicely close but not so you have to make friends with the whole cafe.

The food on offer is chalked up on a board as a short list. If I remember, this includes breakfasty things like porridge/muesli, fried eggs with either ham or sage, a few classic sounding sandwiches, and a 'Polish platter', which was what we opted for after much deliberation. It arrived on a wooden board, as pictured, with a mixture of cured meats and sausage, a boiled egg, pickles and rye bread. The highlight I think was the home-made horseradishes, one of which was dyed a beautiful pink with beetroot and tasted fantastic on the seedy bread with a piece of ham. Gladly we had enough room for a slab of ginger cake: enough for two was simply cut from the tray and given to us with a knife. This was perfectly sticky and went well with what I assume was freshly pressed apple juice. The 'small milky' coffee I had was smooth and delicious, although I knew it would be having the barista Jack's coffee before.

Everything here has been chosen with utmost attention: Le Creuset pans for the eggs to be served in, Opinel knives, etc. etc. Some might note this as pretentious and inauthentic, since if you choose your oven on looks, you might not get the best results. I didn't find it so - there is so little they are cooking here anyway. It added to the homely feel and made it a place to sit for hours sipping juice. We left after buying a few blood oranges from their grocer, and as we stepped out the sky was blue.

Leila's Shop

17 Calvert Avenue

London E2 7JP