Vertige Café

Where to Eat in Angel, Islington and Holloway Road - Eater London

"Islington residents, staunch Remainers one and all judging by the window-dressing back in 2016, love themselves a French cafe/bakery. There’s Le Péché Mignon, snuck away in a residential street just of the Holloway Road; implausibly, Belle Epoque and Joie de Vie find themselves operating a baguette’s length away from each other on Upper Street. Best of the lot, though, is Vertige, where the shop-front counter display is enough to seduce anyone with a hankering for enriched pastry or bechamel. The croque-monsieur-esque cheese toastie is epochal, the pains aux chocolate are just so, and the croissant is quite possibly London’s best, a marvel of flaky layers with an almost custardy centre. Weekends see a short, simple brunch menu including a very good, classical cheese omelette; really, though, the best time to arrive is whenever something is being taken out of the oven." - George Reynolds