Cafe Yeha Noha, South Norwood, SE25

Close to Norwood Junction station, this is a simple café bar offering coffee and cake, hearty traditional Polish dishes and a few alcoholic beverages to the local community. The café’s unusual name is derived from a Native American chant and means ‘Wishes of Happiness and Prosperity’. Outside there is a small front patio area with some decent looking seating, set back slightly from the road, making it a more appealing spot than the pavement seats offered by your average High Street coffee shop. Entering through a small porch into the main room, you find a compact laminate floored room with the servery on the back wall. Large curved front windows with bull’s eye panes have been decorated with fairy lights and colourful lamps, whilst the sill is full of cushions and a marvellous painting of the café. Standard tables and chairs run in two rows through to the back of the room, with a single sofa breaking the pattern along the right hand wall. The décor is pretty eclectic and includes a dresser with an old telephone, a set of scales and some lamps in the front left corner and a display unit further along the same wall with old clocks, radios, candelabra and the like. Walls have been covered with paintings of various European scenes, including one huge image of a Juliet balcony next to the bar, giving the place a pleasant cosmopolitan feel. There appeared to be a second room to the right of the bar, but I didn’t venture through. Pop tunes played quietly throughout our mid week evening visit and there was a good turnover of customers coming and going on their way home from the station. There are no draught beers available here, but the fridges are full of a mix of mainstream bottled lagers and some more obscure Polish brews. The extremely friendly proprietor helped me identify a Pils that I thought I might like and I have to say it was a pretty good discovery, although sadly I forgot to note what it was called. The menu lists a small selection of wines, but the owner pointed out that he had a lot more varieties available and my other half was able to find something to suit her as well. We tried the food, which was pretty good value (Homemade burger £6.00) and I particularly enjoyed the Polish dumplings called Pierogi which were £8.50 for 10. I really liked this place as a café and thought it was a very friendly, welcoming and inclusive spot with some good food options and a nice relaxed vibe. However, with no draught beer available, I can’t really rate this highly as a pub and whilst the owner was great in helping me find something I’d enjoy, it’s ultimately a café and regrettably scores low from the perspective of this site.

Official site of Yeha Noha Cafe - www.yehanohacafe.com

Official site of Yeha Noha Cafe - www.yehanohacafe.com

This is a popular drinking venue before Palace homegames and is directly opposite from the Cherry Trees.The front terrace with seats was proving popular.