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Saturday marked a couple of "firsts" for me: I finally met one of my blogging/Instagram/Twitter friends in person, Laura of The Whole Ingredient, and I finally tried my first matcha latte (so good!) at Curators Coffee Gallery, after swooning over photos of both the lattes and the coffee shop over on Not Just Another Milla's Instagram account.
You might remember that I featured Laura's recipe for these delicious vegan goji bliss balls a few months ago. I adore her writing and her vegan recipes - they look mouthwateringly good and are totally appealing for non-vegans as well! Aside from that fundamental difference (i.e. Laura's vegan and I'm, well, omnivorous ... in fact, I blanched while mentioning a steak to her!), it seemed that Laura and I had everything else in common (okay, I'm a little shorter than her, but what's a few inches between friends?!).
Have you ever met someone and clicked straightaway? That's what talking to Laura was like. We shared the same opinion on so many things and often found ourselves finishing each other's thoughts. A little scary, but so fun at the same time!
Meeting bloggers IRL (that's "in real life" for all you non-abbreviating types!) always makes me a little apprehensive. On paper (or rather, on screen), we might have a lot in common and a seemingly great rapport, but there's always a risk in real life that ... we have nothing to say to each other. Or are completely different people than we thought we were (my nightmare is something akin to an episode of MTV's Catfish).
Luckily, meeting Laura was the total opposite. She is so nice. We sat for a while in the sun-drenched window of Curators Coffee Gallery and shared stories between sips of matcha lattes (milk for me, soya for her), which were frothy and delightful.
If you live in London and haven't been to Curators Coffee Gallery yet (they have a couple of different locations), go.
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We went to the cafe on Margaret Street (near Oxford Circus/Tottenham Court Road), which has beautiful interiors (and beautiful floors!), as well as a selection of mouth-wateringly good pastries and cakes. If we hadn't had brunch already, I definitely would have indulged in one of those tasty-looking sandwiches (and probably a slice of cake - I can never resist).
I can imagine that it gets pretty busy on weekdays or even on weekends, but if you can find a place to sit and settle, it's a lovely place to meet with friends to have chat. Natural light makes any space glow.
Oh, and those floors:
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Pinterest-worthy, right there.