Squat and Gobble takes standard, limp breakfast and lunch dishes and cranks up the flavour.

The Venue
Charlotte Street is the heart of Noho (North of Holborn) with a proliferation of bars and restaurants. It's close enough to Soho to feed off the diverse, cosmopolitan feel, but not so close that it falls prey to the dirt and sex shops. It’s a great area of town to work in because there is so much choice when it comes to lunch. One of the more popular spots is Squat and Gobble. Set on the corner of Charlotte Street and Tottenham Street the beige-y exterior and zany-font logo coupled with year round outside seating make it hard to miss.

The Atmosphere
Being located a few hundred yards away from the main strip doesn’t diminish Squat and Gobble's popularity with fashionable agency and production types. Clientele are friendly, an outright necessity since diners will share tables, or even chairs, or laps, or iPhones, to get a seat at lunch time. Staff are a well drilled army of elite L.A.M.B. experts (Lunch-And-Maybe-Breakfast), highly trained at delivering M.D.M. (Maximum Daytime Meal).

The Food
The action starts at breakfast. Sandwiches are doorstops, bacon crisp and fried eggs perfect with a firm white and runny yolk. The total commitment of the kitchen troops is on show even at this hour. A request for a cheese and ham croissant, which does not appear on the giant, entire wall of menu, is met with a reply akin to 'We’ll get the job done, sir'. The experienced team swing into action and the resultant sandwich is a testimony to precision-carved ham and mercilessly grated cheese.

At lunch, a 50-strong rotating crowd of customers peers at the giant menu for a full two hours. The massive scale of the menu reminds the diner of a situation room wall-chart, to be gawped at by diligent, hungry generals. They have a secret weapon here: roast chicken salad. Ordinarily a boring, listless meal, it is transformed by crisp golden boulders of chicken, robustly herbed, on a bed of fresh hearty avocado, tomato and red onion. Some leaves make an appearance but most are scared off by the rare delicious dominance of the meat.

Likewise, sandwiches are a similar exercise in a full meal hiding between some bread. The bread is admittedly very tasty foccacia but the fillings wouldn’t look out of place alone on a plate. Fish fingers, falafel or that brilliant chicken, an array of cheeses, all fill well-constructed, tank-sized sandwiches.

The Drink
Cappuccinos are frothy and too hot, like all cappuccinos, but with a good fresh nutty coffee taste. A range of coffees, hot chocolates, mochas and fruit teas complement fresh fruit juices, smoothies and original recipe drinks such as a cold lemon grass and ginger concoction. Best of all are the little details, like hot honey and lemon. The old-wives’ cold remedy is a half pint of contrast, starting with sharp cutting lemon, mellowing to a soothing blend, finishing in hit of warm, sweet, healing, honey magma.

The Last Word
Squat and Gobble provides that little something extra. Service, even during the lunchtime rush, is polite and prompt. It’s a shame it’s not open for dinner, but then again, the troops need some R&R in their daily battle against bland lunches.

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