The Open Guide to London: the free London guide

Cantaloupe is a bar and restaurant in Shoreditch with a Mediterranean feel, decorated in a sort of post-industrial warehouse style - lots of dark wood and earthy colours. There are three sections - the main bar area, a lounge section with distressed leather armchairs and sofas in the middle, and a separate restaurant area inside. A bit pricy - a draught beer will set you back about £2.90 (as of April 2004) - but has a great atmosphere, with mellow but funky music being played at a very reasonable volume. The food at the bar is expensive as well - £12-17 for their platters of Mediterranean snacks - but it's very good. On the other hand, mains like a burger or nachos are in the £5 range, which should be good if their quality is comparable to the snacks.. Coffees of various types are in the region of £1.30. Bottles of wine are available from £12-22 or so, and even champagne (try the Dom Perignon '95 at £69 a bottle if you feel special).

There's also wireless internet access, as the writing of this entry is testament to! Several networks are detectable - most are WEP encrypted, but the one called "Studio" seems to be open, although it was a little flaky. Still, it's pretty damn good when you combine it with a bar as nice as this one.