Fred and Fran

I’ve been to Fred and Fran several times and each time it consistently ticks three boxes — amazing coffee, beautifully fresh and presented food, and friendly and attentive staff.
It also has a very chilled, local feel about it, located on a leafy back street of Stokie. Although I’m tempted to keep this place to myself, it’s deserves a ⁵⁄₅ review.

This is a great place to go and get some work done, have a read or a ponder or just enjoy a coffee and some amazing cake. The granola with fruit and yoghurt was so pretty I istagrammed it. (I know, I know I am not that girl It was only once. Honest. But it really was pretty)

Delicious coffee but so small that I never get a table on the weekends to try their tasty looking treats. Even when I dragged my friend there early saturday morning.
And there’s a cute little garden area in the back that apparently doesn’t belong to them?(see the sign) so you cant use it but all those empty seats just taunt you while you have a mini adult tantrum and stomp down to the next closest café for brekkie.
They have a cute promo where they randomly place a stamp on a to-​go cup and if they choose it out of the stack then your coffee is free. Awesome!
Just go assuming you wont get a seat but then do a little dance when there’s a space free.

This is one of the best cafes I’ve visited in a long time. A tiny space, but the food was amazing. I was so tempted by the cakes but couldn’t resist the very imaginative sandwich menu, and chose a smoked salmon with sour cream, coriander, beetroot and dukkah on multigrain sourdough bread. Due to my new veneers which mean anything too crunchy is impossible to eat, they kindly served it up open faced on untoasted bread, and it was delicious. My friends polished off a vast pork belly roasted carrot and garlic mayo sandwich, a quiche with avocado and roasted pepper salad, and a ham and cheese croissant. All great, along with Square Mile coffee. We shared a fabulous carrot cake for dessert, incredibly moist, with a generous layer of cream cheese frosting and lots of walnuts. I’d cross town for that alone. So glad I have discovered this place and can’t wait to find an excuse for another visit.

The coffee here is heaven, the service is lovely, the atmosphere is coxy and cute. Love love love this place and cannot wait to try their food, too.

I had long bemoaned the lack of proper coffee in Stoke Newington, so I was delighted when Fred & Fran opened a few blocks from my flat. Finally, a place with good beans and skilled baristas, closer at hand than Tina, We Salute You!
The atmosphere: relaxed and neighborly. It’s very friendly to parents and small children, and is frankly overrun by them at peak times; if you’re hung over, you might find one of the Turkish cafs on the high street more suitable to your mood. I’m mostly charmed by the kids, when they’re not shrieking.
The space is small (more so since the council shut down their back courtyard), but the turnover is high enough that I’ve never had problems finding a seat. The décor is a credible hipster-​rustic, with plain wood tables and counters built by the owners, complemented by water served in old milk bottles, and occasionally house-​made jams sold in repurposed Bonne Maman jars.
The food is good enough that it’s become my go-​to place for random lunch on weekends, after picking up my latest book deliveries up the street at the library. I’ve never had anything I didn’t like there, and I’m particularly fond of their sandwiches thick with a delicious garlic mayo.
In short, this place has earned its place as my current favorite café in Stokey.

We went in for flat whites and croissants. What we received were the crème de la crème of both. One orders at the counter and then scouts out a seat. Fortunately, we found a table tucked away in the back patio in the 25 plus degree weather. They’ve tap water in jugs, so we were able to stay hydrated while racking up the vitamin D.
The service was almost Californian, in a way. The proprietor, I assume, or someone who simply takes pride in what he does, took our order promptly and with a friendly and humorous demeanor, told us where we could find both self-​serve water and seats.
We spied the food menu and it looks to be a delightful bit of breakfast fare – muesli and yogurt with fresh fruit, freshly baked muffins, croissants and pain au chocolate, and savory lunch offerings in the form of sandwiches and such. The folk next to us had a lovely hunk of bread topped with fresh chunks of creamy avocado at their table. Yummmmm. There were other bits of edible loveliness, too, but I felt I was gawking, and had to look away, so I forgot what all else they were eating.
Oh, and the flat whites were served with delicate slivers of biscotti that, we were told, change daily. –look forward to sampling more of F & F fare when I’m up in Stokey again!