spacekadet

Rootmaster Sunday Lunch
Originally uploaded by lucy_copping

This afternoon I used my lunchbreak to look for a brew basket so I can enjoy loose-leaf tea at work. "Tea Smith" is a trendy tea shop nearby that seems born to sell brew baskets, but all they carry is a £21 procelan mug-filter combo thing to go with their equally expensive tea. To their credit, the 2-person staff really care about tea and proper brewing and have lots of good reasons for preferring the ceramic basket. They even tried to help by suggesting a few places I might try but whose names I forget because they are too far away for me to bother.

So I decided to use the time to shop for a winter coat. I tried a few shops around Brick Lane but they left me feeling either poor or way uncool, so I thought I'd listen to music at Rough Trade Records, but felt even less cool there.

I don't know why I was feeling like such a square this afternoon but I was.

In the end, I didn't find a tea basket, but I did see something cool - someone has turned an old Routemaster bus into a restaurant (called Rootmaster), and it's parked behind The Old Truman Brewery. I doubt I'll ever dine there because it's probably overpriced and we cook better food at home (a general rule when it comes to dining out in London). I'm glad there are people in the world who think "wouldn't it be cool to turn an old Routemaster into a cafe?" and then they go and do it.

Read TimeOut's review of TeaSmith

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Since writing the above I found the Rootmaster's website. Turns out it's a travelling gig, whose goal is to promote "healthy living and respect for the environment". Their website was clearly created prior to its inception:

A traditional London Routemaster bus will be transformed into a vegan restaurant and wine bar. This conversion will offer dining both upstairs and in front fo the bus beneath an awning, as well as takeaway service. The bus will feature a restaurant grade kitchen serving original recipes made with fresh, locally sourced produce.

Green issues are a priority for us and so the bus will undergo all necessary conversions to make ita s environmentally friendly as possible. We hope to offer an innovative, healthy product at a fair price that will appeal to all.

The food is in the £10 range, which isn't cheap, especially when Story Deli is just a few steps away and has the best pizza in the world. But that's another story.