Shad Thames is a great riverside path, lined with restaurants and great views of Tower Bridge. Most of the restaurants have tables at street level. The blueprint café is at least one floor above.

I’m not sure who owns the street area in front of the slatted metal plates, but there aren’t any tables there.

The entrance is modest and the stairs that lead up the café are more like an office or hospital building.

Once inside, the place is modern, but cosy, with great views to the river – well except on our visit the view was obscured by a yacht belonging to billionaire Joe Lewis, owner of Tottenham Hotspur football club.

There was a special two-course menu for £15.95 – we went for the Angus Burger with sticky brisket and Treacle Tart. Sadly chips were extra at a hefty £4.50 – I guess there’s always a catch to these deals.

A bottle of Chardonnay ‘The Listening Station’ was £26 (shop price £6.89 – so a little overpriced). A jug of tap water was free. The wine was placed away from the table. I always wonder why restaurants take on the extra responsibility of having to watch diner’s glasses and top up – they almost never get it right and this was no exception as I got tired of waiting, got up and poured myself a glass.

The burger looked more like a slider when it arrived, despite the small plate.

However, what it lacked in girth it made up for in height, so was actually quite filling. It was a good burger and the brisket combination is quite a nice idea.

The treacle tart was nice, but nothing amazing.

The restaurant filled up around 8.30ish (we’d arrived at 7) but there were still seats available on that Friday evening. I think the café suffers from not having street-level tables, but that also means it has that feel of a place for those ‘in-the-know’.

A service charge of 12.5% was added to our bill and I was fine with that.

I’m not sure why the place is called ‘The Blueprint Café’, there doesn’t seem to be any theme to support the name.

I would probably go back again, although with so many places to choose from along Shad Thames, I think the Blueprint Café needs to do a little more to be the obvious first choice.

BluePrint Café
28 Shad Thames
London SE1 2YD 020 7378 7031

https://www.blueprintcafe.co.uk/

blueprintcafe@danddlondon.com

OPENING TIMES
Monday (closed)

LUNCH
Tuesday – Friday: 12pm – 2.45pm
Saturday: 11am – 2.45pm
Sunday: 12pm – 3.45pm
DINNER
Tuesday – Saturday: 5.30pm – 10pm