Orée, Hight St Kensington

147 Kensington High Street
W8 6SU
https://www.oree.co.uk/
​
One thing about well-heeled areas is that you can find decent speciality coffee without too much effort. Orée is, first and foremost, a patisserie. Stocked with cakes and pastries of varying delights, glazed fancies and filled bread delights line the front counter as you come in, as a steady hum of middle-class chit chat drifts down from the seating area where people gnaw their choice of sugar fix and discuss the bland trivialities of life like only those with no problems can. Fortunately, this sort of clientele also guarantees several vegan options so, not only can I get an oat latte with no problem but I can also pick up a vegan croissant to dip into the frothy coffee as I percolate over my next move and try and piece together the early parts of my day. The coffee is Allpress, which seems to be cropping up more and more across London, and has a strength to it that I’m not expecting. Not a strong roast but with a short, sharp stab of bitterness underneath the chocolatey appeal of the latte that perks you up and makes you more than aware you’re drinking a cup of coffee. There is something quite delightful about sitting in a cake shop, just drinking coffee and hypothetically picking out what sandwich you’d go for if it were lunchtime. The blue signage and steaming silver pots that the cups of tea are served in hark back to a different age but the sheer array of baked options, proper coffee and dietary alternatives positions it more towards being a modern masterpiece. Get a table near the door and you can watch the flotsam and jetsam of Kensington pass by on their way to do everything and nothing.