Farm Collective

I was very excited to eat here, but I was unable to find it. Much to my dismay, I later found out that the collective had closed down in order to be a part of the street food circuit. I wish that information had been on their website.

Cute little lunch spot in the heart of clerkenwell that’s well-​priced for such quality food. Great pork and mesh potatoes but it’s definitely food-​coma material so better having this on a Friday if this is a work lunch. They have other great selections such as pie and fish cakes… mmm you can’t go wrong here!

A great healthy lunch Café :-)
Farm’s pie’s are a MUST!
They aren’t the best for eating in, though I seem to always be lucky to find a nice look corner to position myself in before the lunch rush.
Farm seems to have extraordinary good ethics when it comes to meat products, something that I’m extremely appreciative of and value.
Their menu is either a pie or a pasta. Not matter what you have, it’ll be good wholesome food. Even better if you’re managing a hangover from the previous night ;-)
This is not the place for a date or business meeting. It’s the type of place that you go for during your lunch hour to escape the rest of the world and visualise that you’re on a farm.

Good food but a bit expensive!

Mmm, food the way food should be.
That’s the first thing that could possibly go through my mind as I walk through the door. This place is so fabulous and so original. The food is reasonably priced and the servings are huge. I am a big fan of their Friday Pie and Mash sessions which have just been brought back by popular demand (woohoo!).
The best part about the shop is that the owners are good friends that decided to start a business together. You can tell they put tons of love into what they do because not only do they put detail into everything but most importantly they make sure all their food is sourced with the right credentials!
There’s nothing not to love about Farm. Conclusion, hurry and go!

I spent my first week here in London looking for the right joint to get my morning coffee.
My walk has three routes which get me there all at the same time so my choices are varied and morning coffees are like the right blue jeans, they feel right the moment you try them on.
Farm made it feel right for me. Maybe I have been listening to too much folk music and My Morning Jacket but it was nice to see a bearded and mustached crew dishing out my brew. And it certainly was worth the attention they took for each coffee. For me if I have to wait five minutes for them to get it right I am more than happy to wait — and boy was it right.
See you Monday dudes.

So, one week left in Clerkenwell, a few quick lunchtime reviews to kick out.
This place is ery good. Wide selection of pre made sarnies, baps, wraps etc which are made with decent bread and fillings.
But the star is the hot counter where specials are aplenty. I had jerk chicken and salad and was well satisfied, even though I’m a big eater. Made with a bit more care than ordinary and slightly more ingenious ingredients which surprise. If you can outsmart the ridiculous queuing system which makes you queue to order then queue again to collect, for no apparent reason, then this is a good place. Possibly a tad more expensive, but fair prices nonetheless. Good selection of tasty but slightly off piste food for those who can’t decide and want more than a ham sandwich.

I see this place as a treat. It’s good for when you want an unhealthy lunch but you kid yourself that you’re eating locally sourced, natural ingredients so it’s okay. They do a decent pie with nice smooth mash, a nice jerk chicken salad and a decent sausage roll. I used to like their feta salad too… forgot about that, might try it next week in fact.
So the food is good but because it is what it is, it is a bit expensive when compared to the other lunches available. Tastier than most nevertheless.

Perfect post-​yoga lunch: jerk chicken and salad from Farm! This pairing of spicy, juicy chicken breast and crisp, bright, dressed-​just-​right salad really made my midday.

Peanut Butter Brownie.
Really, I should just stop there, but if only by the grace of God this review is read by the powers that be, please, please, please, please make more. A lot more.
And to think — the only reason I was privy to this glory is because the super cute staffer shoved it in my bag claiming that he ‘could not, in good conscience, let me leave without one’. (We also purchased a lemon drizzle cake and chocolate fudge brownie that did not disappoint.)
So there you have it, my Farm review update is heavily influenced by the holy cake. And I’m ok with that. It’s in my gastro-​sexual nature.

Gosh this place really lets itself down. It promises so much and sadly delivers so little. Farm Collective, a cute concept but expensive and doesn’t even close to live up to its own hype. Do you want to perch your ass on a hard slab of wood, masquerading as a chair? No, neither did it.
Inside it has that rustic in the city vibe, with hearty pies, soups and sandwiches. Cute cakes, friendly workers. But all this did not add up to a great experience. I ordered fish cakes and mash, the fish cakes alone were a whopping £5.60. Um, really? Semi-​cold fishcakes in a cardboard box for £5.60?
Perhaps you better go back to the farm.

The current culinary paradigm in the London seems to be freshly made from high quality ingredients, as evidenced by the ebola like outbreak of Pret and eat. throughout the city. This isn’t a bad thing at all, and Farm Collective seems to subscribe to that philosophy with excellent execution.
We stumbled onto this place while wandering around the Smithfield Market area. Even though we had already eaten breakfast but the call of the bap was just too strong. I enjoyed a delicious bacon sandwich on a perfectly baked bun.
I wish we had been in the area a little bit later to pop in for lunch, but it was not to be. Based on the quaility of the breakfast, I suspect it would be wonderful.

I keep on coming back here and it’s now become one of my favourite morning rituals. I come in get out my purse have a chat with the cute staff, discuss the days cakes, sometimes I’m even tempted to buy one and then I walk down to the end of the counter and collect my coffee. They remember me now and I even get a «how’s your morning going?» asked every now and then.
Well thank you for asking farm. Thank you!
Just a little note, bring cash as they don’t take cards.

Another great coffee place in Farringdon!
Lovely staff and delicious food.
Their bacon bap is the best thing you could buy yourself to start your day in the best way

This has to be one of the worst work day lunches I have had of recent times.
The pie was luke warm, the mash bitty and the gravy the only thing keeping it hot. And that’s before I even bother to get to describing the pie.
The Angus beef pie had about 30% filling of the pocket made by the pie, and probably represented about 10% of the overall pie construction.
At £6.15 this is the most over-​priced pie I have ever eaten.
=================
UPDATE:
Emailed the guys and voiced my complaints. They seem receptive. So stand by for more fun and updates!

Perhaps I’m being unfair in handing out two stars because all I ordered was an americano.
But it cost £1.90.
And it was terrible.
It was truly and utterly appalling in every conceivable way.
It was as if Starbucks and Nescafe had a bastard espresso lovechild.
Burnt and bitter and stale and wrong.
I binned it immediately lest its abominations in the eyes of God sully my palate.
(The extra star goes to the food. It looked nice.)

Absolutely heaven. Our city is packed with too many Prets and EATs. The Farm Collective sends you to the countryside — where the air is clean, people are pleasant and the food is just deliciously rustic. My husband took me here for lunch during the week and it is nicely tuck into a quieter corner near the city. We had fresh made sandwiches, soup, and the best brownie ever. Their fresh made pies and sausage rolls also looked divine but I need to stop my gluttony.

Farm is amazing, their tagline is a ‘Provenance-​conscious caff’ and indeed they are, sourcing from local farmers and making everything (including the bread) in-​house daily. If you want to know where anything comes from, ask the staff and they can tell you! Their sandwiches were really good, the soups were always spot-​on, the only thing I’m not terribly wild about are the sausage rolls (though that might be in general). The staff were all very friendly. For opening fairly recently, I hope this branch takes off, as I certainly welcome it to Clerkenwell. Farm makes you feel good about eating a quick lunch in London, especially when you’re surrounded by all the chain shops!