Caffe Grana

«Patient: Doctor, I keep going to [chain cafes] and having terrible coffee.
Doctor: Well don’t go there then.»
Traditional Italian café Caffe Grana is not short of confidence in its coffee. Located in a prime spot in St James’ Park station, its marketing MO is regularly changing cheeky, cocksure messages on a blackboard designed to entice passing commuters in for a coffee and pastry. It clearly works, because more often than not there are queues of customers snaking out from the counter.
Whether it’s worth it really depends on what you’re after. If the idea of lounging in a traditional-​style Italian brasserie with some dark woods and brass (but also with a large, slightly dirty window — it is based in the rather brutally designed St James’ Park station after all) floats your boat, then you might want to take your place in the queue. Personally I find the coffee here surprisingly expensive — their medium-​sized latte for example is £3.60. It is good coffee, but undeniably it is expensive. Better, and cheaper coffee can be found from the likes of Flat Cap Coffee 100 metres away in Strutton Ground.

Set in St James’s Park Tube station, this unassuming little Italian café is precisely what a wary traveller needs. It’s particularly tempting when the mizzle outside turns into proper rain… for the 10min that ever lasts.
Caffe Grana looks and feels like your grandfather’s café, and that’s not actually a bad thing. It’s retro-​cool without trying, which makes all the difference, and the ambiance makes you faintly wish that you were sporting pinstripes. Jeans are fine, though. Seriously, it’s a coffee shop in a Tube station, remember?
Around rush times, it fills up quickly with businesspersons talking shop over coffee and panini. Espresso here is unpretentious and in the Continental tradition rather than the micro-​managed brews of hipster havens (hey, I love my single-​origin espresso fine-​tuned within a half-​second of its life as much as the next gal, don’t get me wrong). It’s strong, smooth, and gives you a kick in the ass; no wonder all the suits circle this watering hole.
When you’re not busy half-​listening about someone’s upcoming merger or bid for CFO, chow down on one of those panini. They’re home-​made and the ingredients are spot on. We shared a mozzarella, pepperoni, and arugula on sourdough and a prosciutto di parma, parmesan, arugula, and olive oil on sourdough. Verdict? Rustic, delicious, and perfectly fresh. The ingredients were top notch and two panini and two Americanos with extra shots came out under 15 quid.
Judging by the dude waving his biscotto around like he wanted me to dive for it in a moment of desperation, the sweets here (also home-​made) are also worth investing in, and they have fresh-​squeezed orange juice if you need a hit of vitamins to go with your caffeine.
So next time you’re passing through this station, take a moment to kick back in the wood-​panelled, brass-​trimmed ambience of yesteryear and caffeinate yourself within an inch of your life. Who knows, it might help you make that business decision you were mulling over.