Crazy Goat Abbots Langley was one of the establishments that kept us caffinated and hydrated throughout lockdown. These guys do excellent coffee! They roast it, bag it, grind it, and brew it (the lesser known lyrics to a Spice Girls song) all in house for that perfect cup. Their house blend is smooth with a slight fruity note and its versitile enough to stand up to a long black or a frothy cappuccino. It's pretty good. And so it should be....Crazy Goat Co is taking over the southwest! They have branches in Abbots Langley, Croxley Green, Leverstock Green, Amersham and Pinner with a sixth site in Hammersmith. But this review is about more than coffee my friend!
After frequenting the Abbots Langley branch many times over the past few months, we were totally befuddled as to why we hadn't actually gone to the much closer branch in Leverstock Green! This branch is the largest, and now, thanks to restrictions easing, we can eat indoors and partake in their delectable food menu. So we dropped mini human off to nursery and had ourselves a breakfast out.
Upon entry to the cavernous cafe, we were greeted by a merry fellow sporting a very dashing leopard print face mask- safety first. We took a seat and checked out the menu. There's the usual brekkie options: granola, toast, jams, avocado, bacon, etc, all available all day. But the full sandwich and salad menu is also available morning till night. So there's a huge amount to choose from. We went for the Smashed Avo on Toast with Scrambled Egg and Bacon, and the Pastrami, Pickle & Mustard Mayo Sandwich. J had a long black, and I had a Turmeric Latte which was delectably sweet and gingery!
The food arrived in good time and was simply presented with good sized portions. The avocado on sourdough was generously slathered and incredibly well seasoned with a kick of chilli. The scrambled eggs were well-done, soft and fluffy with a great buttery note and well seasoned. The bacon was fab. It was thin cut, perfectly crispy and maple cured which gave it a slight smokey sweetness. The only problemwith the bacon was that there wasn't enough of it!
The pastrami sandwich was on great seeded sourdough bread which had a good tang to it. The pastrami was tasty, but again not quite enough for me; so much so, that the thick-cut pickled gherkins overpowered the sandwich. But it was generally a good moist sandwich; the mustard mayo was fiery and the meat was salty. Would get it again, but maybe go easy in the pickles.
All of this came to £19 and some pennies which was almost London pricing but we left feeling satisfied and satiated so seemed like good value (if a little steep for brekkie and a coffee).
Crazy Goat Abbots Langley are looking to open in the evenings and offer wines and sharing platters which sounds lovely! And they are also about to launch Full English Breakfasts with all the trimmings so I'm already there.
This cafe has a lovely artisinal feel to it whilst also being a glorious community hub with great coffee, friendly staff and a lovely airy atmosphere. We will be back for sure; there's a lot more sandwiches and breakfasts to try, and it's also conveniently closeby!
Service:
Super friendly, chatty and welcoming. Food was brought out in a timely manner and served with -what we hope underneath the mask was- a smile!
Quality:
Good quality, comforting, reliable dishes. Nothing here is outstandingly imaginative, but it's a safe bet and executed well.
Value & Price:
A bit high, but happy to pay prices for something more than your average greasy spoon. This feels like an indy East London coffee shop but in teh comfort of Hertfordshire
Overall:
EXCELLENT- Coffee is outstanding and the food is good. What's not to like? This is a pretty lovely local to have!
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