Cafe St Germain

you're on crystal palace parade, which doesn't have the foot traffic of central london but has its own stubborn sense of place. the area sits at the top of the hill between norwood and the palace grounds, and the people who live here tend to stay. cafe st germain has built a reputation in that kind of neighborhood, the sort where locals actually know their local. you won't stumble across it by accident if you're not from se19, which means when you do show up, you're usually there on purpose. that counts for something. the coffee is taken seriously here, which is reason enough to make the trip up the hill on a weekday morning when crystal palace parade is quiet and yours for about an hour.