Ace of Spades

Best person to visit it with, of course.

The other pilgrimage I had to make in England was obviously to the legendary Ace Cafe in London.

Thankfully my travel companions accompanied me without complaint. We took a train for about a half hour to the northerly outskirts of London and made it to Ace Cafe in the late evening. We walked out of the train station and started seeing metal motorcycle cut-outs of vintage cafe racers lining the sidewalk every 50 feet or so. The two-dimensional cut-outs were pointing the way to the holy moto-grail.

I was super stoked to see it, and to see a bunch of bikes and a bunch of great classic cars parked outside on a random weeknight. I felt right at home.

We walked around the outside and I took some pictures on my iPhone. I really dug the old Jensen cars people had brought. We admired some Jags, Mercs and Rollers. Obligatory Minis and Austin Healeys.

Then we got inside. It rules in there. Very down to earth. Exactly what you'd expect, only surprisingly their menu had some fake meat options for us of a gentler persuasion. We had eaten dinner, so I didn't indulge, but I did have the world's worst milkshake. I kid you not it was inedible and unbelievable. It was just like a glass of white milk with a dollop of ice-cream in it, and a teaspoon of cocoa powder. I watched her "make" it. I know she was doing something and pulling levers and shit, but this was the worst excuse for a chocolate milkshake I'd ever encountered. So I ordered a sticky toffee pudding and that was amazing. 

It's definitely very Rocker in there. But the cool thing is that they don't cater exclusively to old codgers on Norton Commandos with greying pompadours. The bike scene is very diverse. Lots of street bikes and some cruisers. It's not just a hang out for cafe racers. And it's definitely not just a hang out for bikers. Car nerds are just as welcomed. There's always an event going on. Every night there seems to be a different gathering, party, show, or happening of one type or another. It's sweet. A really cool place and it exceeded the hype for me. I'd love to go on a super busy night or a cafe night.

Of course, I picked up a shirt (not the generic one, though) and a pin. And I brought stickers back for the FSMC. So next time I see you take your pic of the stickers.