Brooks & Gao Coffee Shop Review
Brooks & Gao is a coffee shop on Streatham High Road that opened in 2014. It’s one of the better coffee shops (if not the best) in Streatham. Scroll down for our review of a recent brunch at Brooks & Gao.
Opening times
Day | Opening Hours |
---|---|
Monday | 8:30am – 5:00pm |
Tuesday | 8:30am – 5:00pm |
Wednesday | 8:30am – 5:00pm 6:00pm – 11:00pm |
Thursday | 8:30am – 5:00pm 6:00pm – 11:00pm |
Friday | 8:30am – 5:00pm 6:00pm – 11:00pm |
Saturday | 9:00am – 11:00pm |
Sunday | 10:00am – 5:00pm |
Menu
Food menu:
Drinks menu:
Location and contact details
Address: | 28 The High Parade Streatham High Road London SW16 1EX |
Email: | brooksandgao@icloud.com |
Review
We visited Brooks & Gao on a sunny Sunday morning for brunch. It’s easy to miss this coffee shop because they don’t display their name very prominently. But it would be a shame if you did miss them. You would be missing one of the best brunches Streatham has to offer.
As soon as you enter you notice the alternative decor. This is certainly a unique coffee shop where every detail seems carefully chosen. Even down to the cute teaspoons:
To drink I ordered a hot chocolate which tasted as amazing as it was presented:
And to eat I had the smoked salmon with scrambled eggs and organic rye toast:
The scrambled eggs were amazing!
Pip had a black coffee and the baked egg in aubergine imam:
Eggs and aubergine is a combination I thought sounded odd. But I realised how wrong I was wrong when I tasted it!
In total the food and drinks came to £24.50 making it one of the more expensive brunches in Streatham. But worth every penny!
Overall
Brooks & Gao is a fantastic place to eat. It’s decorated in a funky style, the music is relaxing and the food is heavenly!
The only thing I think they could improve is the service. They could be a little more friendly and welcoming. But please don’t let that put you off visiting.
It’s one of the more expensive coffee shops on Streatham High Road so expect to pay £10-£15 per person for a main and a drink.
The best coffee in Streatham and the food is delicious too ?
I am writing this review due to the unethical and illegal work practices of the owner of this business. I worked as a barista at Brooks and Gao from the period of late May to mid July 2018 and what I initially took as an ‘easy going’ workplaces albeit slightly unprofessional soon became something more sinister. During my period of work, factors I didn’t consider became clear as to why it was designed that way. The high number of international workers was due to them being more vulnerable and less able to leave or enforce legal action so the owner could operate in an unethical or illegal manner, such as paying wages 10 days after the pay day with no prior indication of what time this would happen. Other factors such as the workers not having the opportunity to fill out their own contracts, not being given a copy of it and there not being a clear set of procedures available to them allowed the owner to operate in a very unprofessional manner. The implications of a business framed in this manner was apparent when I became sick during a day at work, not only being forced to continue handling products that customers were consuming which made me very uncomfortable on ethical grounds but having no response from the owner and no standard to follow after attempting to contact them. This forced me to find someone to cover my shift not knowing if this was the procedure I should be following. Due to the business not having a sufficient employee base to cover shifts I had no option but to illegally work and handle products while sick to make my boss happy. 11 hours after my first message the boss replied and confirmed he wanted me to come in and work illegally whilst sick (which I had no intention of doing given a sense of pride in my work). Once I left the business I waited the usual couple of weeks after payday to receive my final pay roughly £500. When this didn’t come through I made many attempts to contact the owner and the second in charge to see when this would come through. It was apparent the individuals received my message (via whatsapp) and as they didn’t provide any reply it became clear they did not intend to repay me. I suspect this is a common theme within the business and other international workers have been taken advantage of. I write this hoping that anyone who shops at Brooks and Gao sees this and understands how they treat their staff. I encourage everyone who supports ethical business practices to give a 1 star review saying ” I do not support the unethical and illegal business practices of the owner of Brooks and Gao, please refer to Liam’s review”. This behaviour is unacceptable and hopefully this review will prevent other workers from being treated unfairly and the owner from stealing from his staff. Thanks for your consideration