Monocle Cafe: designed to perfection?

Monocle Cafe is one of those places that I've been meaning to visit for months and I finally managed it a couple of weekends ago. This neat little cafe is based in Marylebone, located amongst other pretty boutique shops.

The space is quite small but very well designed (you'd expect no less from Tyler Brûlé, the founder of Wallpaper* and Monocle!) with a Scandinavian feel to it: clean lines, wooden furniture and contrasting colours. Monocle magazine is displayed all around the rooms and obviously available for sale. They serve Allpress Coffee, which was a nice surprise, tasty looking cardamom buns, as as well as light and fresh lunch dishes which I was very tempted by!

It is hard to ignore the overwhelming presence of Monocle here: magazine, radio, sale items... there is no doubt as to where you are in this place! The good news is that you can get your hands on a copy of the magazine for a reduced price if you buy it with your coffee.

Even though I enjoyed my visit, I felt slightly underwhelmed. It was a little bit like walking into a set of an advert but at least it was a quality one.