Brick Lane

Brick Lane has progressed since we lived here 12 years ago - well, given its proximity to the City it's incredible it hadn't gentrified earlier.  Now it and areas of Bethnal Green are extensions of Shoreditch.  There's an area of interesting mix between the Bengali community and the hipsters.
Great cafés though.  You can get flat whites in any of them which I believe is a Melbourne Effect.  There's an appreciation of the barista's art by default as opposed to Paris where (in non-Melbourne cafés) it's just a formula with no sense that there's any work to do.
A favourite is Kalaila.  Great staff and a relaxed feeling to their large seating area behind the counter.  If I ate carbs, I'm sure their cakes would be great.  The flat white is fine.