Shock Horror - a great shot outside the house

[kingseven]

Carluccios are an interesting beast. I met him once and was witness to his assistants crumbling face as his boss deviated from the script to adlib a somewhat racist joke. Ah well...

The coffee isn't theirs, it is a fairly large Italian roasters coffee, just rebranded. (Or at least it was when I last had it).

However they do put a strong emphasis on the coffee, employ people to just be baristas and do train reasonably - though I would suggest ordering a ristretto as their espressos are usually a little bit long.

I like that they serve the coffee with water on a nice tray and it is definitely one of the better high street shots.

[CakeBoy]

No water here unfortunately ...... clearly they are a different prospect in Town.

[monkey66]

Regarding the comments about inconsistant food served, I have always been supprised that i have never had bad food (across at least 5 diferent branches in London) at Carluccios, always fresh and not tasting 'out-of-a-packet' like so many other chains. I have always considered it a reliable place to stop.

I wonder if they are now franchising, hense the poor quality food you talk about. I remember when Cafe Rouge was a small (2-3 unit) resturant serving great food, last time i went in there it was a huge franchised chain serving portion controled packet food.

[bruceb]

The problem with coffee in restaurants is not trivial. As has been noted it doesn't usually fall under the jurisdiction of the cooking chef. Depending on the size and organisation it is up to the owner/manager or bar man just how much effort is going into serving a good cup.

I photographed a new restaurant for their brochure a few years ago and was impressed by the kitchen, dining area, decoration, silver, porcelain, napkins and so on. A great deal of effort had been put into getting things right. Someone mentioned to the owner (of Italian decent) that the WMF coffee robot would probably not produce a drinkable espresso, whereby he raised his eyebrows and said, "If people want to drink coffee they should go to a café!"

If good espresso is not part of the dining culture it won't get made because it is too demanding and costly.