Oxted is a small town in Surrey just off Junction 6 of the M25.
It is an affluent community boasting good links to London in a beautiful
setting. Playing host to one of the largest state schools in the country yet
being home to busy moneyed commuters, the town has to cater for a wide variety
of customers.
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| Oxted is quite pretty! (Photo: David Kemp) |
Unlike many towns, Oxted shows little sign of the recession, with
the high street so full of shops it successfully brims across two streets known
as Station Road East and Station Road West. From Indian and Chinese to pubs,
smaller cafes and bistros there is a lot to offer both for the hungry commuter
and peckish school child.
Café Papillon is a cafe and bistro conveniently placed at the top of Station
Road West, within spitting distance of the train station. It’s strikingly popular considering
its distance from the more commercial street Station Road East and is packed
most lunchtimes. The staff are friendly and the atmosphere is relaxed and
accommodating, so maybe its popularity isn’t so surprising!
The atmosphere is one thing, but the food is pretty
important, right? To begin with, for a cafe in Surrey the prices are very
reasonable and the menu offers a wide variety of dishes, from burgers and
sandwiches to bangers and mash, so there is something for everyone! They also
offer a bistro menu for the evening (Thursday to Saturday) with steaks and other
larger mains, meaning that there is something to suit everyone (at most times of the day).
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| yummy club sandwich! |
Last time I visited for lunch, I had the club sandwich with
chips, I love bacon and I have a particular weakness for chips, so it was the perfect
option for me! This club sandwich was particularly large (as you can see from
the photo) but having been cut into sections (with cute cocktail sticks as well)
it was easy to eat (which is a
solution to a problem I experience with club sandwiches, burgers, paninis, subs
etc. etc. which involves fillings spilt all over me, my clothes, the table, my
friends...). The chips were served in a cute little basket, but they were not just
aesthetically pleasing but were crispy and tasty too!
It’s not just food that they do well; their coffee was
particularly good! It seems that the days of terrible lukewarm “coffee” are
fading away (or maybe I’m just visiting the right places) and definitely for
the better! The latte I ordered was really tasty, a lot better than what I can
get at the coffee chains and (even better) quite a bit cheaper! They do
takeaway coffees, so it could be a better place to pop in for a coffee compared to other places nearby!
I would definitely recommend Café Papillon, my boyfriend, my mum and
my brother all love it too and it’s a really convenient place to meet people if you
went to school in Oxted (like I did) or just fancy a bite to eat. I’m a strong supporter of independent cafes and it’s
great to see that Oxted has such exceptional offerings.
You can visit their website
here, or pop in to:
54 Station Road West
Oxted
Surrey
RH8 9EU
