I recently visited a cool, new cafe in London. The Cereal Killer Cafe, which opened a few months ago, specialises in retro and hard-to-find cereals. They import cereals from all round the world. As a fan of Nerd Lunch and cereal:geek and all things retro/geek/food related I just had to check it out. The cafe has courted some controversy here and here around “a pair of hipsters selling over-priced cereal in one of the most deprived areas in London”. I wanted to see it for myself.
The cafe is not just a place for specialist cereal. It’s a piece of retro heaven in terms of its decor too. Upstairs has a few cool items such as the Rock’n’Flowers, dancing Coke can and various Honey Monster toys, along with various Gladiators stickers on the side of the counter, but when you venture downstairs you are met with a veritable Aladdin’s cave of retro items. A lot of it of course is cereal related. There are several Kellogs milk bottles and bowls, Cabbage Patch Dolls and my personal favourite, the plush Weetabix Neet Weet Gang dolls. If that’s not enough, they also have several TVs on the wall playing loops of He-Man and other 80s cartoons and TV shows. And if you want some light reading there are some comics and magazines like the Beano and Smash Hits etc too.
It’s almost a bit overwhelming when you walk in because the upstairs is quite small and you’re met with a wall of cereal boxes and a huge menu items available. You’re certainly not lacking choice. I opted for one of their ‘cocktail’ recipes, a “Feckin’ Nutcase” which consists of Crunch Nut Clusters, Honey Nut Scooters, Crunch Nut Cornflakes, Hazelnuts and Almond Milk. I also had to get an Um Bongo with it, of course. Would have been rude not to. The whole thing was, as you would expect, very nice. Not very healthy I’m sure, but very nice for a treat. Just check out some of the other awesome cereal boxes that are on display. WWF, Bill & Ted, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, Ninja Turtles. The list goes on.
I saw a video online where someone did a pretty aggressive interview with the owner asking how they can justify such high costs for cereal in one of the most struggling parts of London. My viewpoint on that is that it’s actually right on the edge of one of the most up and coming, digital business areas of London where the well paid employees will lap this up, and besides, if someone wants cheap cereal they can go to the newsagent across the road. The Cereal Killer Cafe is offering specialist, imported cereals which you can’t get anywhere else and they’re offering a little slice of nostalgia with it too. Fair play to the guys who opened this cafe and I hope I’ll be able to go back sometime soon. I definitely need to go back around Halloween when they have the infamous Franken Berry, Boo Berry and Count Chocula from the States.
If you’re interested in going, the cafe is located in Brick Lane, London and they have a website, a Facebook page, Twitter account and Instagram account. Give ‘em a follow and tell them Retromash sent you. If you know what’s good for you. OK?
Sorry for the poor quality of some the photos below but the light wasn’t great and I was just using my smart phone.
