MJ had visited I Heart Café ages ago, and we featured it as one of our Top 5 cafes in the 2012 Lunchquest Guide. For some reason, I hadn’t visited, though, but set about rectifying that, today.

Exterior

With spacious and relaxed surroundings, the place has an airy front-shop, taking advantage of the light from their large windows, coupled with a back-shop which is more of a bookish hideaway. It’s a nice blend to suit different tastes, while retaining a coherent identity across both areas.

When considering their menu, I was immediately drawn to their soup and sandwich lunchtime combo. Their selection of deli sandwiches looked really good, so it took me a while to make my choice. Eventually, I plumped for their “French dip” steak sandwich, which sounded gloriously messy.

Bookish section

Their soup of the day was carrot and coriander. This was a very good example of this classic combination, with a heartily enjoyable soup packed with lovely sweet, herby flavour.

The sandwich was just as entertaining as it sounded. Slow cooked beef, taleggio cheese and caramelized onion were heaped inside a large, Italian roll. It was really impressive, and right up there with the Bespoke BBQ pulled pork roll as the best hot sandwich I’ve had in the city.

Soup and sandwich

The only slight let-down was their coffee, which while well made, was not the finest bean I’ve come across on recent travels.

So overall, I was impressed by I Heart Café. I’m really glad to have finally made it along for a visit. I was every bit as impressed as MJ had been on her visit. I’d strongly recommend you visit, particularly to try their excellent sandwiches.

Scores
Blythe scores I Heart Café
4/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
4/5 for setting
4/5 for service
giving an overall 15.5/20

Today’s quester was: Blythe

I ate: carrot and coriander soup; “French dip” steak sandwich

I drank: espresso, water

I wore: pinstripes

Total bill: £8.30