The S&M Café in Long Acre, London

My cottage pie, peas and red onion gravy

After a meeting in the Smithfield area of London, I wandered aimlessly along Long Acre wondering whether to simply get back home or stop somewhere for a spot of lunch. I decided on the former as I found the S&M Café just sitting there on the sidewalk.

I'd heard of this place before, having once worked in Islington, on the Green, where a great little caff, known as Alfredo's, was turned into the first ever S&M Café. There were all the obvious jokes about bondage and stuff but it turned out that S&M stands for 'sausage and mash'. Or that's what I recall from when I went into the Islington outlet.

My bill was a reasonable £10.30.

Anyway, now it seems as if they have more than one outlet AND their own website (click here).


The Long Acre S&M Café was excellent. It was long and shady and there were gingham tablecloths and everything you might expect from a 'caff'. My order was for cottage pie and peas with the house red onion gravy, plus a mug of tea. For some reason, the waitress wrote the word 'lover' on my bill.