Reason To Eat

It was a very nice place to be, drinking a coffee, chatting, writing… but it’s closed for quite a long time.

Upon a search by area via Unilocal on the phone, Reason to Eat came up among mostly non-​restaurant choices. Unable to get my super slow phone to cooperate and narrow down to only food results, I resigned to simply walk the .3 miles from the Camden Town station and see for myself.
At 130 on weekday, this place — a narrow hallway with a deli counter along one side where you order and pay, that opens to small room of tables for diners) was an absolute cluster-​fuck of hungry lunchers. People were in line, some holding their food and ready to pay, some not. The line went past the register, creating a small bubble of people ready to pay up milling around right in front of the door. Signs overhead indicated things that made sense: «Sandwiches» «Salads» «Register» but I still couldn’t make heads or tails of where to start or what to do once I got there. Seeing the far end of the counter was slightly less messy, I made the decision to have a sandwich.
Though there was no actual queue, the workers, much like bartenders, kept track of who was next, easing my «what the fuck is going on i just want a sandwich» anxiety. It’s a build your own system, where in you tell the person which bread choice (they vary by day, apparently, and that day was standard white sandwich bread slices and baguettes) and then choose a meat, cheese and all your veggies. Each addition added about 50p to your sandwich cost. Still flustered about the commotion and the system, I hurriedly just nodded to everything the worker offered — tomatoes, salad, cucumber, mustard, mayo, salt/​pepper — the only thing I made executive decisions on were my bread, cheese and meat (baguette and roasted turkey).
My sandwich was plated (10% added to dine in) and I grabbed a bag of crisps from the basket and headed to the counter to pay. I realized the cluster fucking was mostly over their incredible «salad bar». And I immediately wished I’d done that option. Given a plastic bowl of green mix, you then choose from an impressive case of salad topping options, and it was a salad eaters dream. Green beans, sweet peas, sweet corn, tofu, peppers … You pick it out, they build and toss it for you.
In the end I paid about £7 for my sandwich, chips and a bottle of water. Not bad, and the ingredients were fresh, quality and proportionally satisfactory. It was busy and looked like a hot mess, but when all was said and done I got and paid for my food quickly. A fantastic rec for someone looking for a fresh and light lunch (though they also have hearty options like jacket potatoes and soup) and will certainly come back and try that massive salad bar.
If you dine in on a busy weekday lunch, be prepared to ask to sit with others as the tables fill up quickly.

If you want lunch to take away, with good, fresh ingredients, then this is the place for you.
They sell other stuff (sandwiches, coffees, cakes etc) but the salads are what make this place for me.
You pick up a bowl (either mixed leaves, pasta or spinach leaves) and then have a choice of 4 additional ‘salady’ ingredients, croutons, choice of 6 dressings and a wedge of baguette in the main price of £3.99
For an additional 50p you can add a protein (chicken, ham, blue cheese, tuna, duck, goats cheese etc) and for 25p extra you can have additional salady ingredients.
Or you can choose from their standar salads menu (eg asian duck, nicoise).
This is a perfect example of a well-​oiled machine that are good at what they do — the quality of the ingredients is great and the staff are very friendly.

A perfect Reuben amidst the chaos of home office license training. For London standards, perfect means BEEF of Katz Deli level (I KNOW!) but NOT on rye. No rye = illegal in 48 of 50 states. But inhalation of said sandwich ensued regardless.
As I didn’t have any of the made-​to-​order salads I can’t offer up any opinions in that realm, but all the ingredients in the shop looked fresh and crunchtastic. Bench-​style seating also reminded me of the healthy and delicious canteens back on the west coast.
Avoid the chaos of tourists on the other end of Camden High Street and hit this place up, stat. Wish I got off my lazy kadunka-​dunk when I actually lived around the area!

Was craving a good breakfast sandwich around 2pm of a Saturday. They serve break toasties all day on weekends, so this was a score for me.
A bacon and cheese on croissant was listed at only 2.75 (takeaway). I added sliced boiled egg (.30), roasted peppers (.30), and red onion (.10). With the eat in service charge of 10% my toasty came to 3.80. It was a great sandwich and worth every pence. Along with a large latte my brekkie total came to 6.55. Definitely a place that I’ll be stopping at again for breakfast.

YES! I’ve found it! At long last!
Ever since the hunt for a London equivilent of NYC’s Hale and Hearty Salads began, i’ve only ever been disappointed. It might be that they seem to have exactly copied the H&H formula that I love this place so. Reason to Eat offers you a ‘make your own salad’ option. Choose your choice of greens out of the fridge cabinet (in a plastic takeaway tub) and hand it to one of the lovely ladies behind the counter. Then tell them what you want to be mixed in; choose from lots of veggies, meats, cheeses, egg, croutons and dressings, and they’ll make it up there and then for you. Ingredients are fresh and seasonal and the outcome is a delicious salad for under £5. Huge too.
They also serve jacket potatoes, bagels and great sandwiches. I’ve only ever had the salt beef on rye, and if that is anything to go by, I’m sure the rest of the range is just as delicious.
You can takeaway or sit at the tables and benches out the back, there is plenty of space. The staff were incredibly friendly and helpful too.
And the best thing? It’s round the corner from my office. Winner! Lunches just wont be the same.

Really good freshly made salads and sandwiches, though the sandwiches have generally been sold by about 2 ish, so head here early!
Better to take away than eat in though — the seating area, whilst clean and modern, is poorly lit and feels like you’re eating in a cave with questionable modern art decoration.

I went here for a coffee the other morning and ended up staying for lunch! We started off with coffees and teas but the food looked so great we had to try it. While I stuck to a chocolate brownie, some of my friends got fresh ciabatta sandwiches which were filled with really nice fillings like mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes, Parma ham, salmon etc. They weren’t expensive either, a hot chocolate and brownie came to £3.50 while the sandwiches cost about the same.
The staff are lovely and let us sit there chatting for hours without trying to clear us from the table, but perhaps if didn’t leave by lunchtime they would drop some hints! Although from the front it looks like it is takeaway only, it goes back quite far and has plenty of seating. The benches are quite hard to get out of while trying to look lady-​like though.