Le Regal

Whoa, whoa, whoa. £6.50 for The Ultimate English breakfast — two perfectly fried eggs, two sausages, three slices of savoury bacon, a mess of beans, a mound of potatoes, roasted mushroom and tomatoes, and some crusty slices of toast with butter. If you’re –still– hungry after all that, you might want to get checked for tapeworm.
As if the absurdly affordable monstrous meal wasn’t enough of an incentive to walk through the door of this fine establishment, everyone from the cashiers to the servers to the cook in the back is beyond friendly, going out of their way to offer a welcome.
And they’ll do you one better! If you come in between their opening time and 1100, they’ll offer 10% off for dine-​in (and reportedly 20% off for takeaway, per the publicity outside). Simply amazing.
This is the kind of joint that makes me glad to live around the corner. Undoubtedly I’ll be around early and often.

Super friendly owners and staff. Great coffee and food.

Has someone stolen all the staff and replaced them with people who have no tastebuds? I’ve just had my lunch from here and it was so terrible that I felt the need to google review sites, sign up to Qype, verify my account and find Le Regal, just so I could write a scathing review about it.
A couple of years ago this place was brilliant. Delicious food, good staff, busy but efficient, excellent coffee…
But now… I had to tell the girl that I wanted a cheese, ham and tomato baguette three times, as she couldn’t remember what I was ordering past the cheese bit. Then I had around a 20 minute wait while the other girl sliced some cheese and stuffed it in a baguette (during which time I counted about 5 dirty plates and watched a man wait 15 mins for a glass of milk and some tea — he looked bemused, so I’m not sure if that was what he’d ordered).
When I finally got my lunch and sat down to eat it, I was thoroughly disappointed to find that the bread was chewy, there was no butter/​spread/​mayo/​mustard/​taste to accompany the filling — and the filling itself looked like it had been chopped up and added in by my 3 year old neice. With a blindfold on.
All in all, total bollocks. I’m only ever going back there if the rest of Farringdon and Clerkenwell has burned to the ground and I’m on the verge of starvation. Otherwise, steering well clear.

Le Regal sells a mean steak sandwich. This little French deli on Leather Lane serves seriously good food. Their sandwiches are my favourite part of their menu, but they also do good pasta, omelettes, salads, quiches and breakfasts. Every week they have new specials, so if you want to try something different be sure to check what meals they have available for a limited time only. Their prices vary. For a ciabatta sandwich you can be sure to pay from £3-£4. If you want an 8oz sirloin steak you’re going to pay £10 minimum. No matter the price, you’re in for a treat.