Cooper & Wolf

Four stars for the food, but I can’t give more than 3 stars for a place that doesn’t offer any soft drinks… Yes, I know Coca Cola doesn’t fit in with clean, Swedish-​style living, but if I wanna buy overpriced brunch then I have a right to have a side of diet coke with that :)
The interior itself is so stripped down I felt I was at a church coffee morning, but that made it all the more appealing in a way! I also liked the fact there was a book swapshop and the soundtrack to our food was the inimitable Patti Smith.

Near Milfields Park in the up and coming Clapton area, sits a lovely welcoming café deserving of a visit, even if you don’t live nearby.
Magnolia walls and light coloured wood chairs and tables evoke a pre-​Ikea Scandi vibe… very comfortable; you feel as if you’ve entered someone’s very big kitchen. There is a sharing library available and the staff are friendly and non-​intrusive. The café offers a typical variety of coffees and teas, with a selection of pastries beckoning near the cash register. What stands out here is the selection of Swedish dishes on the menu — some with smoked salmon, others with Swedish meatballs and other meaty Nordic fare which overall is a nice change of pace from the usual ciabatta sandwiches found around.
Excellent spot for breakfast or a lazy afternoon.

We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the Swedish meatballs at Cooper and Wolf. Just so unexpected from an understated café in a residential area of Hackney. However, the Chatsworth road neighbourhood is up and coming and the place to watch. Cakes were good too (not made on site) but slightly disappointing were the Swedish sausages which essentially tasted like Spam (but perhaps it is suppose to). Shabby chic décor complemented the über hipster staff. Fully baby equipped.

So this was our third attempt at this place. The first two times all but one dish on the menu where sold out by lunch. This time the meat balls and few other dishes where sold out so I had the last of the fish pie. For £9 there wasn’t much on the plate and it was mostly filled up with salad with too much dressing. The salmon was a bit dry but overall it was an alright dish though this is the kind of dish you would get at school in Sweden. We also had a carrot orange cake that was a bit underbaked but I think was home made. Some of the cakes on the menu are clearlly from Ikea’s food shop, such as the princess cake. The café is nice and well decorated, feels scandinavian with a London touch. The menu is very mixed and not much of it is really Scandinavian (both me and my partner are Swedish). would come back with hopes on a full menu if it wasn’t for the staff, they could use a high dose of charm injection. Didn’t get a hi, bye or thank you even though the place was half empty and my menu questions where met with a yawn and a bit of shoulder action. There are a lot of friendly good places on chatsworth road so think we’ll stick to those.

Cooper and Wolf boasts tasty espresso drinks and yummy food in a comfy-​n-​slightly-​funky seating area with mis-​matched tables and chairs, leafy-​green plants and eye-​catching art. I didn’t see a pronounced Scandinavian influence on the food, but that could have been because most of the dishes and desserts on offer had sold out by the time we arrived. I ordered a fish cake on a bed of rocket and a slice of banana bread, both of which didn’t seem particularly Scandie, but what do I know?
The service was both attentive and friendly.
If one is ever out in Clapton, then C and W is worth a stop-​in.

This lovely café only gets 4 stars as it’s not located on my door step, which I think was incredibly rude of the owners not to consider this when picking a location!
I love it here! The food is lush, especially the meatballs and the potato gratin, oh and the cinnamon buns are to die for! The staff are laid back but attentive and the atmosphere is lovely. What’s also great is it’s dog friendly.

Good coffee and very good cake. Very tasty food overall.
Low key, casual atmosphere and slightly strange hours. Not open for evening food/​drinks.
A scaled down version of the hackney pearl.

Yes, it’s not even been open a week, and I’ve already been twice. I happened to be staying on the other side of the Millfields Park, and Cooper & Wolf was simply too convenient to avoid.
Adorned in the very finest of hipster-​safe squirrelcage light bulbs and old maps fastened to the wall with bulldog clips, the café unabashedly endorses Clapton’s nascent gentrification.
The food, Scandinavian and fluctuating around £8 per dish, is delicious. The pytt i panna (diced potato, bacon and egg) is accurately marked on the chalkboard menus as ‘hearty’, and the oven-​baked chicken and bacon salad, served with avocado and walnuts, is similarly substantial. The salmon and crème fraîche on sourdough, whilst not as filling, is exceptionally fresh and beautifully presented.
Cooper & Wolf is likely to become a weekend brunch favourite on Chatsworth Road, so if you want to be sure of a table, best to visit on a weekday lunchtime, when it appears to be an oasis for the area’s (literally) expanding population of yummy mummies, no doubt attracted by the range of teas and coffees and separate children’s menu.