Our intrepid intern Ben Blake recently spent a few days gallivanting around London; we asked him to check out a few shops for us along the way.

Nestled in London’s Shoreditch neighborhood, at the far side of a dead-end alleyway, sits an achingly quaint little cafe called Protein by DunneFrankowski. There’s not much in the way of foot traffic, which most would consider a liability for a coffee spot, but the guys at DunneFrankowski use it as a way to set themselves apart from the rest of London’s coffee scene.

As purveyors of a self-described “social coffee space,” Rob Dunne and Vic Frankowski (formerly of Tapped & Packed) put an emphasis on knowing their customers, and giving them a unique, personalized, one-on-one experience. The cafe was formed in collaboration with creative agency “Protein”, and sits in the first floor entryway of their 18 Hewett Street gallery.

Intentionally clean and simple (and menu-less), the seating and bar are both built and situated in such a way that demands customer-barista interaction. They want you to talk. “How do you order if you don’t have a menu?” Mr Frankowski asked me by way of Socratic rhetoric. “You talk, you have a ...