Canela

Canela Review

Just off Seven Dials and behind Neal Street in Covent Garden, this laid-back-but-lauded Portuguese-Brazilian café serves winning and unusual pastries, savories, tarts, soups, plates of nosh, and strong coffee. Portuguese snacks like chicken-stuffed coxinha dumplings are £2.50, while generous mains like feijoada (black bean stew and smoked pork), meatballs in tomato sauce, chorizo tart, or bacalhau salt cod with fried potatoes all come in for less than £7. There's a galaxy of desserts: wheat- and gluten-free chocolate, coconut, orange, and carrot cakes, Brazilan brigadeiro chocolate balls, creme caramel, and those intriguing Portuguese Pastel de Nata custard tarts.