My favourite London caffs part 2: East and West

A record of what has moved me between Slough and Upminster

Hello and welcome to Wooden City, a newsletter about London. If you haven’t come here via @caffs_not_cafes, I'm a writer called Isaac Rangaswami and this is my new Substack.

This is the second instalment of my three-part caffs guide, focusing on 20 east and west London caffs.

Part one introduces the guide and covers central London spots. Part three, on north and south London caffs, will be out on Friday. That final instalment will also include my first ever London-wide map, with all 50 entries. 

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East London

E Pellicci

Not long after World War II ended, a carpenter named Achille Capocci arrived at a 46- year-old business on Bethnal Green Road and set to work. After he’d finished his job, E Pellicci’s walls had been replaced by a thousand intricate pieces of wood, interlocking in geometric patterns as bold and beautiful as the spire of the Empire State Building. Of the few truly classic caffs left in London, this is the only one with listed status.

Today, Anna and Nev’s TikToks do what their ostentatious decor was designed to do all those years ago: make E Pellicci stand out. But it’s been an institution for decades now, so the Pelliccis could really have just rested on their laurels in recent years. Instead they chose to double-down, hosting celebs, turning every day into a party and giving customers what they really want: chips with everything and escalopes covered in bolognese. After 124 years in business, E Pellicci’s biggest success isn’t that its stayed relevant; it’s that it's still such fun.

332 Bethnal Green Rd, London E2 0AG

Doorsteps Cafe

When I found out about Doorsteps in the Vittles column Six of One, I couldn’t believe I’d never heard of it. So I went myself and was thrilled to find a caff in its purest form: a makeshift room with a corrugated roof, where friendly people will make you a cup of tea and fry you some bacon. Doorsteps shows that all you need to start a business is a patch of land and a local economy, in this case one that has formed around a Bow industrial estate. According to the lady behind the counter, they’ve been here for 30 years.

1 Empson St, London E3 3LT

Randolfi's

The original Randolfi’s got hit by a lorry in 2008, disfiguring one of the most historical sandwich bars in the city and forcing the business to move a few doors up the street. But maybe that doesn’t matter, since the “new” spot feels a hundred years old too. That’s because it has the old place’s marble tables and Thonet chairs; I reckon its letter board menu predates the current premises too.

Like the ancient pie and mash shop next door, Randolfi’s has preserved an old East End that now exists mostly in people’s memories, many of whom now live in Essex. But this sandwich bar has survived here for good reason, and it still caters to the people who pass through Roman Road today. The old boys who run the place are true gentlemen, giving ham sandwiches the respect and amount of butter they deserve. It’s a miracle that their labour of love still exists, so go while you can.

514 Roman Rd, Old Ford, London E3 5ES

Ivy’s