At the edge of a large park in inner London’s Stoke Newington, the canal widens slightly, providing a resting place for barge homes, with gardens growing on their roofs, bicycles propped in sterns, and aerials for the perennial TVs. It’s rather like a caravan park for barges.

Strategically placed by the footbridge over the canal is a small ‘caff’. We might call it a greasy spoon, or in the US it might be a diner.  Cheap and cheerful eats for the hungry canal resident or passing walker or cyclist.

The sign on the door declaring home made potato and leek soup was enticing on this cold, windy, wet spring day. The young man inside, with tats and broad cockney accent, assured us the soup was definitely home made… No packet mixes here!

The soup slopped over the edge of the bowl as he placed it, with a fresh wholemeal baguette, on our table. As I took the first slurp, I was won over.  The best potato and leak soup I’ve ever had, richly flavoured with a generous quantity of leaks.

It turned out that Dave, the young tattooed man, was the cook.

What a find, tucked beside the canal in inner London!