Big up the interior design at Boki, a coffee shop/bar hybrid in Seven Dials, with a short, mostly veggie all-day menu and a slightly more modish evening one with tacos on it. There’s a lot of gold and a lot of distressed concrete, plus spindly leather stools, drapey succulents and a snazzy horseshoe bar. It’s a sort of Levantine/art deco mashup, and it’s very nice indeed.
Of the standard café fare, an Allpress espresso was decent – a little sharp but rocket-fuel strong – and a slab of chia seed-laced banana bread was over-delicate but again, very fine.
A more substantial McBoki sandwich saw a rather crumbly charcoal bun (still a trend, still no idea why) stuffed with salt beef, mushed avocado, a fried egg and a slathering of sriracha mayo. The sauce needed more heat, and it was all a bit polite, but the contents were soft enough to offset any issues with the bun’s lack of structural integrity.
But it was positively filthy compared with the vegan bowl. Clean eating’s all well and good, but this needed something – anything! – to lift it. A dressing, some sugar, some salt, something acidic: any of the four basic flavours would have done. Smoked tofu, it transpires, is not at all delicious on its own. Below it was a mound of red quinoa, which was the punchiest thing there, if you can believe such a thing. It all looked lovely, though; kudos to whoever mandolined the avocado and radishes – they’ll look great on social media. In any case, plump for a sarnie and a coffee – or, y’know, some booze – and Boki would make a welcome little shopping stop-off.