Named by T Magazine as one of 25 essential dishes to have in London, Café Deco’s oeuf mayonnaise is deceptively simple. A boiled egg is neatly halved to reveal a soft orange yolk. The halves are turned face down, almost disappearing beneath a lavish spoonful of silky homemade mayonnaise, before a plump Italian anchovy is cut in two and laid over the top. Dressing an egg in more egg is a small, sublime pleasure, and the chefs at Cafè Deco have it down to a fine art. While the rest of the menu changes with the seasons, the egg mayonnaise has remained a fixture since the restaurant opened in 2020.
At the time of writing, it is early November and well and truly autumn. As browning leaves fall through the morning mist and our breath condenses into white plumes in the crisp air, Café Deco is serving the kind of warming dishes its Head Chef, Augusta Hood, simply refers to as “yummy, real food.”
This week, there is pumpkin, white bean, and pheasant soup; beef, venison, and prune pie with mash and quince sherbet. Each dish relies on few ingredients without feeling austere or dull. It carries the generous nostalgia of a roast chicken half-remembered from childhood, passed around a crowded kitchen table. It’s the kind of nourishment Hood cherishes: “I think London needs more places for affordable and convivial lunches. I get sad when I see all these disparate people on their lunch breaks, staring at their phones eating plastic packed salads and sandwiches, by themselves.”
Hood brings a dash of her native California to Bloomsbury, a welcome influence at this time of year. After moving to London, she spent three years at the River Café, where she met Café Deco’s chef-owner Anna Tobias. Hood later joined Café Deco as a junior chef when it opened in November 2020 and, after almost five years in the kitchen, was appointed Head Chef in July 2025.
For COLD, Hood shares five London restaurants she returns to, each tied to a particular ritual: A birthday dinner at 40 Maltby Street, fish stew and Guinness at The Cow on a gloomy day, Sweetings every Valentine’s Day, hand-pulled noodles at Lanzhou Lamian Noodle Bar before a film, and Four Seasons when she knows exactly what she wants (roast duck, of course). Some pleasures only deepen through repetition. French comedian Daniel Provost, fittingly, had a phrase for it: Le temps passe mais les oeufs durent – time passes but eggs endure. Preferably with mayonnaise.
40 Maltby Street, 40 Maltby St, SE1 3PG
It was Anna Tobias who first told me about 40 Maltby street. When I moved to London, we worked together at the River Café and she told me I had to go, that it was some of the best cooking in London. I didn’t expect this to be the start of a longtime love affair. It’s my favourite restaurant. Steve is a genius and the team, Anna, Darrel, everyone, they are the warmest and the sweetest. I love that you don’t get rushed from your table, that you can order as and when you wish. The menu changes weekly like ours, so over the years I’ve picked up on dishes that make their way back each season – ones I make sure to go for when on offer. If there is something slightly “odd” sounding, I always order that, because it’s the most unexpected ones that are often the best dishes there. It’s perfect for any occasion – birthday dinners, anniversaries, long lunches with friends, solo meals, you name it.
The Cow, 89 Westbourne Park Rd, W2 5QH
I lived in west London for four years, and there wasn’t much in the way of pubs or restaurants that I fancied frequenting – except The Cow. It’s an exceptional pub; the cozy back area is ideal for lunch on a grey drizzly day, or for meeting friends from out of town. I always get the fish stew or the chicken Kiev, sometimes a pint of prawns or oysters, and a Guinness. I don’t know how I discovered it really; it’s rather well-known in the area. Back then, it was my only option, but an excellent one. I go far less now that I no longer live west, so it’s more of a special excursion, always worthwhile.
Sweetings, 39 Queen Victoria St, EC4N 4SF
Sweetings, oh Sweetings. A truly iconic institution for very good reason. I went for the first time five years ago on Valentine’s Day, and now I go every Valentine’s Day. I love the table where you have to climb under the bar in order to get to your seat. I love the servers, the tankards, the sliced buttered brown bread. The clientele are perfect for people watching, as they’re often very sharply dressed business folk from the city. It’s all about the fish, so we will have a starter – either fried whitebait or house-made gravlax – then skate or sole, a side of incredible chips, some buttered spinach, and only one pudding! Or else I’m too full. Once, I went on a random day and nothing was right – it was me not them, so now I make sure to preserve lunch there for this special annual visit and I hope to do it for many more years to come.
Lanzhou Lamian Noodle Bar, 33 Cranbourn St, WC2H 7AD
I went here years ago for the first time and didn’t care much for it. A few years later a friend and colleague told me about it and I tried it again, not realising it was the same place, and again, it didn’t do much for me. More time passed, then I went again. I had the wonton noodle soup, and finally, it clicked. Once I knew what to order, and to expect neither comfort nor charm, but the biggest bested bowl of noodle soup, I was hooked. I am in awe of how many people they fit in the tiny upstairs kitchen, sometimes five chefs and two servers. I am mesmerised by the man slapping the vast rope of dough against the tabletop as he pulls it into the most perfect lamian noodles. I am inspired by the speed and efficiency with which they finish the bowls of noodles, ladling from the ever full and bubbling salty white peppered beef stock.
This is somewhere I go only with my nearest and dearest, or even better, by myself, often before or after a film at the Prince Charles Cinema or the BFI. I refuse to sit downstairs and love being crowded onto the benches upstairs. My favourite thing to order is the sour spicy beef soup with regular lamian noodles. The stir fried cabbage is also delicious, but, if alone, only order one thing. And be warned, the pot of chilli crisp, with the unassuming little plastic spoon sticking out, is very very spicy.
Four Seasons, 12 Gerrard Street, W1D 5PR
I went here for the first time with my friend Max Rocha, and I credit him for showing me how great Chinatown really is. Now, if I want roast duck, rice, and greens, I come here, and it is always totally delicious and satisfying. Once I went with my boyfriend after a movie, and I think we sat down, ordered and ate in under 30 minutes. We were so certain of what we wanted, needed, and they delivered exactly that. I almost prefer the top floor, where you are interrupted by a screaming crackling voice on the intercom – the volume button must be broken. It’s kind of disruptive, but it makes me chuckle every time.
If you only have 24 Hours…
I don’t go out for breakfast, but if I did I would go to Cafe Cecilia and order the Guinness bread, boiled eggs, and coolea. Lunch would have to be dim sum at Royal China Baker St. Instead of a late night snack I think I’m more up for afternoon tea at Maison Bertaux with a chocolate eclair, or an early evening drink and a Gilda at Quality Wines. For dinner, it would have to be 40 Maltby St.
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