Pretty cafes that are made for Instagram have become the trend in London and beyond. Unfortunately, in most cases, it is aesthetics over quality and taste. You know the type of places I’m referring to right? Flower walls, fancy light bulbs, selfie stations – all unnecessary in my honest opinion and usually it is an indication of poor quality food that is just hidden behind such materialness. I guess it’s the society and time we live in today. Every man and his dog has a social media account and every other man and his dog seems to be a food blogger. And as a result, the quality of food blogging has declined. Some are just impressed by flowery walls. How many recommendations have you seen of places that look OTT good only in terms of interior, but not actually the food or definitely not the taste of the food. I will not name any, I’m sure you all know one or two spots that fit into this category. Anyway, rant over and let’s get to the blog post. Fair Maison is the OG Instagram cafe spot. They take pretty flowery cafes to whole another level, but to be fair to them, they did it way before TikTok even existed.Â
2001
Mohamed El Banna and Mohamed Osman established Fait Maison back in 2001. They offer a variety of different dishes covering breakfast, lunch, dinner and tea! The variety is insane. For example, for breakfast you can get the Full English or a classic Egyptian breakfast or a Turkish or a very difficult breakfast dish to get that is Balaleet (popular in the UAE). Or maybe you fancy Paratha with Karak? Seriously impressive looking menu. I cannot vouch for any of this as I didn’t try it, but definitely looks impressive and will pay a visit when I get a chance. Judging by what I mentioned above, are you surprised this spot is heavily and frequently visited by Arab tourists and locals alike? It’s like being in an Arab country!
Check out their menus here.
Our Experience
In reality, we only visited this place by accident. We were staying over in a nearby hotel for a weekend and had breakfast in a spot near this place. Then as we walked past it, we were drawn in by the aesthetics (guilty!). So, we ordered coffee and some like cakes and desserts. Eeverything was of good quality. Delicious, almost as good as it looks! It is a decent spot to chill with family. A place you will visit to take pictures (this is the reality) and if what you order tastes good, I feel it is a bonus. A little pricey? Yes, for sure. But I feel with such places you are paying for a lot more than just the food and drink you order. You’re paying for the aesthetics, you’re paying for the flowers, you’re paying for the pretty seating, the pretty cutlery. This is the reality.
That’s this brief review of this place for now. Hopefully, I can revisit it soon and do a more comprehensive review.
Getting there
Nearest station: Gloucester Road
Nearest mosque: Chelsea Muslim Community Hub (7 min drive)
Parking: Most of the side roads nearby are free evenings, Saturday afternoons and Sundays.
