Rana Khoury
Co-owner, kitchen
Writes the food menu. The manakish recipe is her grandmother’s and she will not change it.
About
Open since 2021. Still two people most days.
Rana grew up with a rakwa on the stove every morning in Tripoli, and could not find anywhere in London making qahwa the way it is actually made. Sam spent eight years behind espresso machines in Melbourne and wanted a room small enough to know everybody who walked in.
The compromise was Bell Lane: twenty-two seats, one grinder too few, and a menu split evenly between the two things we each could not live without.
We do not roast. We buy from three roasters whose names are on the board, change the espresso every few weeks, and keep the filter offering to whatever is genuinely good that month rather than whatever sounds impressive.
The specifics
- Open since
- March 2021
- Seats
- 22, plus 6 outside
- Espresso
- Rotating, 3 roasters
- Milk
- Whole, oat, soy — same price
- Bread
- Baked on Brick Lane, daily
- Wi-Fi
- Yes, and there are plug sockets
- Dogs
- Welcome
Who is behind the counter
Sam Ottley
Co-owner, coffee
Chooses the beans, dials the grinder, and will talk about it for as long as you let him.
Dilan Aslan
Barista
Weekday mornings. Knows what you order before you say it.
Marta Nowak
Kitchen
Runs weekend service and bakes everything in the sweet section.