Absolutely Starving

Had a sausage and bacon baguette with a cup of coffee, the staff were friendly and helpful and overall it was an enjoyable experience.

It is overpriced and sometimes the stuff they make is not of the highest quality, but there is a good variety

A fab selection of cakes and a great deli offering lots of sandeich options. There is also a hot meat counter and a salad bar tucked behind the back. A great place to hang out in the afternoon or even have a business meeting. It’s even got a juice bar with lots of fresh fruit. A huge variety if food gifts. Perfect if you’re wanting a coffee shop. Totally recommend it.

Absolutely Starving is so promising. It’s big and airy, a bustling space that makes it clear with the décor that it’s friendly but also serious about quality. Given that London Bridge is riddled with dismal chain coffee shops, it’s lovely having a space like this in the area.
I do wish it would live up to the expectations a little more though. There are some flaws that are constant. For example, the queueing system was designed by somebody who presumably has never returned to view the havoc they have created. Lines merge unhappily as those waiting at the roast counter run into the sandwich counter run into the soups run into the mains… it’s a real pain. There’s also really variable service — considering baguettes can cost over a fiver, it’s annoying to unwrap them to find sauce all over the outside, so everything’s a total mess.
I’ve also stopped having the falafel (or anything where I’d want garlic sauce) after a rather traumatic incident a few months ago when I found a large, whole, bright blue clove of garlic in my wrap — it was truly radioactive and very offputting. I did get in touch with them about it but didn’t hear anything back.
All that aside, it’s still worthwhile coming by every now and then — their hog dogs (hot dogs with pulled pork) are delicious, their roast pork belly baguettes are spot on, and I’ve recently started having chicken, bacon and sweetcorn sandwiches, which go down well and are a bit cheaper at £3.50.

One of my favourite places to eat in London.
A massive choice of food and all of it is delicious, particularly the pasta and tortillas.
Really good salad bar and so cheap! Only £2 for a small (which isn’t so small) take away of fresh, high quality salad.
Impressive selection of cakes and pies etc also, which are very tempting. The raspberry coconut slice has been my favourite so far, perfectly moist.
Highly recommend AbStarv but don’t go during peak times as it can get overwhelmingly busy.

This is mainly a review for the quality (or lack thereof) of their coffee.
Nice vibe and the smell and display of cakes as you walk in is very tempting. The deli counter also has a good selection but I can’t comment on the food as I’ve never eaten here.
I’ve had coffee here on a few occasions; normally just an espresso or a black coffee which was underwhelming but nothing egregiously bad. This time however I ordered a macchiato after being snapped at by an Eastern European waitress ironically backdropped by a massive «we absolutely adore you» sign in honour of V day.
She then proceeded to just pour a measure of milk straight from the carton into the espresso. The result — the worlds smallest and coldest latte. Café owners please teach you baristas how to actually make the coffees on the menu otherwise it just smacks of couldn’tgiveashitness.

Une petite faim peut se faire ressentir quand on fait un peu de shopping à Hay’s Galleria.
Sur place ou à emporter et à un pas et demi de la galerie marchande, le personnel très sympa d’Absolutely Starving propose une pause à tout moment de la journée.
Je n’y suis allée qu’à l’heure du thé, pour un tea time bien mérité.
Pour autant, des plats chauds et d’autres froids étaient encore proposés: ils étaient appétissants et étaient frais. D’ailleurs, il y en avait pour tous les goûts, végé ou pas, grande faim ou non.
Concernant mon petit goûter, le thé proposé était très bon. Malgré un service dans un gobelet (sacrilège !), le goût de mon thé vert s’est bien révélé et j’ai adoré.
Venons en aux gâteaux: un muffin moelleux et un sponge cake ont répondu à toutes nos attentes.
Niveau décoration, le bois règne en maître et je vous recommande de vous blottir dans le coin biblio, qui a son cachet.
Petite note: Il y a un coin épicerie fine qui propose des pâtes Barilla (!) mais aussi des confitures qui avaient l’air super.

I stumbled in here with my Sunday running crew after a solid 10mile run. Naturally we were starving and this place worked perfectly. Offering a variety of hot food but also some really nice, cakes etc.
I had a chicken wrap which was really nice and also a Vita Co Co to that hydration in!
The staff were very welcoming and helpful.
The only thing that doesn’t give this place a 5 out of 5 is the limited seating space but aside from that it was great.
Even better! Free wifi!

Over-​priced, understaffed… only 1 person in there that knows what customer service is.
The food is very small… tasty? sure… but the portion sizes are TINY.
It is cleverly located next to the big 4 so those working hard all day end up buying their breakfast or lunch there…

I’ve always been fascinated by this place! It does fresh salads, rolls and cakes and pretty much every posh food you can think of, its a café and delicassen! I had the most gorgeous salad… really filled me up! Everything here is posh and organic and whole foods esque! great!!!

I popped into Absolutely Starving for brunch with a friend a few weeks ago. He recommended it, though had never been in, based on the selection of baked goods on display in the window. I will admit that said display was quite wonderful, and we had a few baked goods to top off our meal and they successfully lead to a food coma.
For brunch, they have a kind of a la carte, kind of set menu, which mostly lead to a lot of confusion for both the servers and for us. We ordered a ton of food, and it was pretty good. Nothing fancy, and quite heavy. I ended up taking part of mine away, and it preserved pretty well.
As the morning wore on, it got quite full, so we were lucky to have gotten seats, even if it was at one of the weird high tables near the windows. The view isn’t much to speak of, but it’s a nice corner place that gets a lot of foot traffic from the area. That being said, it fills with tourists as the day wears on.
Overall, it was nice enough. I get the impression there’s not a ton in the area when Borough Market is closed (which strangely, it was on the day I had brunch), but it’s a decent option. Definitely go for the pastries!

I was looking forward to trying here having walked past it on numerous occasions. I was pretty disappointed with what I got though!
I went for the salad option where you can mix all the salads of the day. They looked pretty good and I thought there were some interesting flavour combinations but they were all a bit bland. The price really didn’t match the quality either!
Don’t think I’ll be going back!

After all the hype and looking for a fresh, veggie friendly delhi, I dragged the Mrs along to Absolutely Starving.
Maybe my expectations were high, but I was a tad underwhelmed by the whole experience.
The place looks the part completely. Wide open plan, plenty of seating, lots of levels and very very well presented produce. Lots of salads on display, but at £1.40 per 100 and… absolutely starving, I wanted a little something something on my salad. However it’s a pleasant place to step into.
That’s really where it ended. The stock was pretty standard, nothing particularly excited me or was different from the surrounding cafes and shops. In the end, I bought a coffee and a brownie, not wanting to leave empty handed.
They were OK.

Falafel wrap? Yes. Chicken kebab wrap? Yes. Have lunch up to 500 calories (yes, I counted) that will keep you full, happy and satisfied until supper (well maybe a fruit in the afternoon — but I’m not here to give you a 5-​a-​day lecture! :)
My advice — if you’re going for falafel — don’t do hummus — it’s same chickpeas in both! Also, they microwave their falafel and kebab — just ask them not to: the grill they have is enough to make it hot and microwave is bad for you anyway.
I love their liquorice & mint tea from Teapigs — I fell in love with the flavour there and now keep a pack at home!
Now, for the bakery goods — these would probably be a reason why you came to that place, because they seem to lure you with their sugary shine at the store front. Don’t go for them. Honestly, how do you expect a brownie that’s been uncovered for the whole day to stay fresh and moist? I wouldn’t.
Salads — good, but overpriced.
All in all — it’s all about the wrap!

I love the name of this place, as I imagine those wandering the streets of the Southbank (mostly tourists) stumble upon the inviting deli atmosphere with relief because they are, indeed, Absolutely Starving after hours of walking around.
Spacious but not exactly laid out very well — there was lovely table of treats right when you walk in on display, but that along with the line for the register made it annoying to navigate your way in or out. Plus there are loads of shelves piled with goods to buy (a deli must have), but little seating.
I tried to get breakfast but found out it was after hours (which should be on the menu display so you don’t have to find out while faced with a busy worker in front of you and a line of hungry people behind). So I rushed to the roasted pork and apple sauce baguette. I grabbed a bag of crisps and a can of coke to top it off and found a seat.
The sandwich was incredible. The bread fresh, the meat perfectly cooked and spiced, and my doubts about the heaping apple sauce banished. I think the combo came to about £8 or so. Not bad, would totally come again and keep in mind if I have some out-​of-​towners in tow.

‘Absolutely Starving’? Maybe not, but definitely ‘Quite Peckish’ when I walked through these doors. There is food everywhere: my choice-​o-​meter almost exploded.
I opted for a sandwich as it was, after all, just lunch and I was only ‘QUITE peckish’. «And can I have it toasted please?».
15 mins later, «erm, excuse me, has my sandwich toasted yet?». Yes, you see, they had sussed that I was only ‘QUITE PECKISH’ and needed to ensure I was ABSOLUTELY STARVING before they gave me my sandwich… damn my ‘not so hungry’ stomach. The sandwich was bloody burnt by now but I couldn’t be bothered to wait for another so I told them to scrape off the burnt bits and I’d eat it anyway*
As for the food, it LOOKED amazing but taste… yeah, not awful but not good enough to get me back on those rare occasions I find myself in London Bridge on a weekday afternoon.
*The server was extremely apologetic for forgetting about my sandwich and kept trying to make me another one. She looked horrified as she tried scraping off the burn into a bin. HA!

Holy cr@p the Breakfast Baguette was amazing!
We stopped in for breakfast while I was on my way to the airport, and I immediately regretted not eating here earlier in my trip so that I could have gone back again. The décor is nice and rustic, and while the layout is a touch confusing, if you head to the back and work your way forward to the registers you should be okay.
The coffee is good (they use Monmouth beans, which are excellent) and the baked goods were also tasty, but the Breakfast Baguette was the standout; it is a delicious baguette with sausage, egg, and bacon. If you are an American you should know that ‘bacon’ means something like irish bacon (or back bacon), not the thin-​sliced, smoked and cured belly bacon that you find in the States. Regardless, the combination of the sausage and bacon with a perfectly fried egg in a fresh baguette shouldn’t be missed, and it is even quite reasonably priced!

As it happens, looking at real estate makes me hungry. Thankfully our rammed itinerary had a coffee break built in and we came here to Absolutely Starving (because I almost was, having skipped breakfast!)
The table by the door was heaving with sweets and included a delectable looking oversize chocolate chip that all but whispered my name.
It was my first time in an outpost of this chain and everything I encountered gave off good vibes, from the large selection of teapigs to the smell of chorizo being grilled for lunch and the airy, light-​filled space.
Oh and that massive chocolate chip cookie? I ate it over the course of two days and can surely say it was faultless.

It’s just like any other deli-​cum-​grocery store in a tourist area — mediocre and overpriced.
Still, in a pinch it’s great for nipping in to pick up a bottle of Diet Coke and some crisps on the way to London Bridge station. Or perhaps a slightly stale-​tasting scone. And some Italian nougat for £11.
Basically, it’ll satisfy you if you’re absolutely starving.
[rimshot]

Wow, what a selection! Who would go to Eat or Pret when there’s this? Everything just looks so fresh and everything just looks so delicious. Tables of yummy looking pastries and coolers full of salads and sandwich makings and all sorts of other hot and cold foods. I was spoiled for choice!
Decent seating areas with power outlets nearby and a working free wi-​fi system, which are always big bonuses in my eye.
I thought the bookshelves were an interesting and unique idea. Is it a lending library or are they for sale or what? I didn’t think to ask.

man, working in London Bridge has its privileges.
This place does serious food seriously good. They manage their massive queue decently well.
This is good, honest, home-​style food. Especially good in winter.
I’ll admit: I’ve been craving potatoes lately. So I had some beef and ale stew over mash.
I dunno if they use a ricer or just a massive Hobart, but these are some creamy, delicious mash. Tender ale-​braised beef. Braised carrots. Chunks of potato. £4.95. More than you can eat, but you will anyway.
Also filled with loads of odds and ends of British überfoodie staples, from Franco Manca sourdough to Dorset cereals. And assorted £2 pastry and cookies.
You won’t come away hungry. Bloated, maybe. But satisfied. My favourite little girl had as a spelling word «contented» this week. I’ll take her here to demonstrate contentedness.