Disappointed, underwhelmed, let down. These are just some of the things I felt when I made the trip to Finsbury Park’s trending Algerian café. Cafe Salaam and Sandwiches, on Rock Street just off Blackstock Road , has been going viral on X for being one of the ‘best feeds Londoners have had in ages’ and is getting named in many roundups of the best London sandwich spots.
The café, to put it lightly, has a very under-the-radar setup. There’s no sign on the shop front, it sits on a side road with nothing else around it, and the front window is full up with boxes. At a first glance, from the red exterior you’d be forgiven for assuming this place is more likely to be a Post Office as opposed to a café.
READ MORE: The unbelievably beautiful 'secret London park' that so many walk past without realising it's there But the reviews on X said remarkably positive things, so I made it my mission to give it a go. As I enter, I am presented with a menu consisting of only four options. Mincemeat, potatoes and eggs, Merguez with chips, Chicken breast or liver.
All served in a baguette. You can’t be any more straightforward than that. The comments on X reflect this.
Greg Seward, @Gseward, commented: ‘Any menu with four items is a great sign’. However, the very next comment by Giselda, @Giselda_11, simply reads ‘A Gordon Ramsey kitchen nightmare’. Whilst I’d normally agree with the former, I tend to favour the latter.
'The service was friendly and quick' The café i.