Restaurant Review #1: Maggie's Cafe' in Lewisham

Arrrr me hearties!  This here be a right good feasting hole fer filling ye gullet!  Actually...I'm not sure why I started off the review like that but what I say is true, Maggie's Cafe' in Lewisham is a great place to get a hearty meal.  This little popular spot of feasting has been around in south east London for a good 20 years or so, in that time it has not only collected many regular customers but also considerable popularity in its area.

Now let me say that not only is the food good but the cafe' looks pretty darn inviting.  Kept clean and manned by a dedicated staff headed by the friendly brothers who run the place, Oliver and Anthony Khondoker, Maggie's Cafe' is by far one of the most presentable cafe's this side of London.  Not only is the place good-looking and run by friendly people but the food is (to be somewhat dramatic) incredibly-f*****g-bleeding-exceptionally marvellous.

Not only is there a good quality to the food but the variety of meals to choose from is somewhat awesome.  You can choose from the usual British cafe' meal of an all-day breakfast (a meal I VERY highly recommend) to a hearty lamb roast dinner.  There are also pretty deliciously-simple meals to choose from as well such as very tasty baguettes, well-made beans on toast or even a nice and hot soup.  But despite this, Maggie's cafe' does not just cater for one particular person but all kinds of people what with there being many vegetarian and many low-fat meals as well as the kind of meals I listed earlier.

To make the experience of going here all the sweeter, the hot drinks (a choice of Tea, Coffee or hot chocolate) are bottomless (yay!).  There is one meal above all others in the cafe' however, one that towers up in popularity, quality, enjoyment etc etc.  This meal is the make it yourself all-day breakfast (don't worry you don't cook it yourself), the premise of this popular choice for Maggie's cafe' customers is that you choose a selection of fry-up ingredients from a (quite long) list and choose as many of the items on the list as you want.  What makes this meal truly great though is that no matter how many items you choose from the list it will still be £5.00 and with such choice and the big portions, that's a pretty good deal.

The real heart, atmosphere and soul of the cafe' however comes, most of all, from one of the original founders of the cafe' who still works there: the great Maggie herself.  Maggie passed the rule of the cafe' down to her sons in 2004 but despite that, she maintains this odd air of command, cheerfulness and order around the customers (in the sense that she makes sure they are happy) and the staff (in the sense that they keep everything  going smoothly).

All in all I can only think of two criticisms at all for Maggie's Cafe'; 1-There could be a greater variety of hot drinks (perhaps some herbal teas or hot Bovril) and 2-there could be a slightly greater variety of vegetarian fixed meals.  But really, I am personally prepared to overlook that because the food is good (especially the roast dinners), the staff are good and friendly (especially Maggie and her sons) and above all the place looks like a cafe' should be; clean, tidy and cosy. So I say if you're in south-east London and you need a hearty/big meal then Maggie's will most likely fit the bill juuuuust right.                                                    Rating-9/10