The number of people who will have strolled down the Cut in Waterloo unaware of their proximity to the Bus Cafe is uncountable. It is among the most nondescript locations in town, hidden behind imposing steel gates on a tributary of a road, the sort nobody notices unless there’s a fire. And so it’s odd that the cafe is minutes from the Old Vic theatre and just a hop skip and jump from Flat Iron steakhouse, Wahaca, Rosa’s Thai, and the tapas joint Meson Don Felipe, itself a place deserving of greater acclaim.
To find the dinky red sign is disarming. There, hand-painted on worn black railings is gold and white lettering that sings quietly of wartime, with an old TFL-style arrow to boot. Blink and you miss it. Even those who make it through the entrance might question themselves: beyond the gates is a car park and bus garage and a building that looks a little like an underfunded village hall. The car wash for buses is gently impressive.
