Cakes, pastries, desserts and baking delights are steadily getting more popular among not only tourists but a sizeable chunk of the City’s office going populace.
More people have breakfast at a café close to their office in London. Add to these numbers the multitudes of tourists, shoppers and people with a yen for fresh food, and the case for cafes with fresh bakery items is well stated. The popularity of fresh from the oven bakery stuff seems to drive the marketing strategies of a number of leading outlets and chains in London.
PRINCI
An upmarket, largely bakery, yet canteen inspired atmosphere
Princi is no stranger to the Soho scene- it is a Milanese bakery with an upmarket canteen feel. In a quirky twist, the walls in the seating area are lined with fountains and there is always a race to grab the chairs at the tables of marble stone. Princi serves a variety of cakes to savory items such as pizza, salads, hot counter items (i.e. meatballs, pasta) and artisanal breads. They have also recently opened an area serving wood-fired oven pizza. Launched by Alan Yau in 2008, this first outlet of a Milanese bakery chain might not be a restaurant in the strict sense but it is a popular all-day option. The food is varied enough to keep diners coming back for more: as well as cakes, pastries and breads.
Nobody really minds the self service set up which can be tough at times, though the smiling staff does its best to make it easy. Soho does not really boast the high gourmet scene but Claudio Silvestrin, architect to Italy’s most famous stylist, Alan Yau, and Rocco Princi, the renowned baker, came up with this very popular place which has guests waiting patiently at almost any given time.
The items include filled cannoncini (crème patissiere filled little pastry horns), crostata di fragole (strawberry tart), Selva Nera (a kind of Black forest Gateau), beautiful egg glazed sandwich rolls filled with prosciutto, cheese and tomatoes as well as a large option of sourdough loaves, mini baguettes, seeded rolls, brioches and croissants.
The nose-in-the-air ambience is passé and Londoners (and visitors) love the slightly bohemian atmosphere.
HUMMINGBIRD
Where cupcakes and more go marketing savvy.
Rising steadily in the London City’s popular foodie charts is the Hummingbird Bakery, the one place for authentic American cupcakes and desserts. Their Wardour Street branch is about a ten-minute walk from Oxford Circus, the popular shopping area and travelers don’t want to give it a miss. But it’s not just a retail place. There are specialty cakes and desserts for occasions too. The cakes can be custom designed with the attention only a dedicated chef can offer. The company claims to use very high grade organic eggs and other ingredients. They are also open to discussing the ingredients according to different (and often fussy) dietary requirements, but that is for advance orders. They have a range called ‘made without’, which essentially is a gluten free range but they do not declare it in legalese since the bakery does use the gluten and traces can enter the preparations.
Their blog serves the enthusiast baker well, especially the amateur variety. Right from bakery equipment tips to ingredient quality, it tells about all. Not using the prescribed baking tray can alter look, feel and even taste of the final product. The Hummingbird cookbook is quite popular and has its fans waiting for the latest editions. A mobile unit takes the cakes to the outdoors to many places across England. Actually, the cakes are baked right at the venuenow how more fresh can it get? No wonder the bakery, after its debut in 2004 opened 4 more across London.
Tarek Malouf, the founder and MD of The Hummingbird Bakery has said that due to the popularity of their cookbook, customers now ask how they can enjoy the same authentic taste at home with their own baking. The company now plans to market branded products and ingredients in groceries with newer food brands but the queues at their stores aren’t thinning at all!
L’ETO CAFFÉ
Windows of yummy opportunity
Few can pass a L’Eto caffe window without pausing to admire the yummy display and get tempted to walk in. Though Soho isn’t exactly an office place, there are more office goers who drop by around this area than one would expect. So when L’Eto caffe opened in early 2011, no one was surprised. But the choice of the venue was perfect as anything happening at Soho or nearabouts turns news. And that’s what it did. Today, L’Eto’s caffes are at six other places in the city, their signature feature being a really attractive window display of yummy cakes.
The word “LETO” in Russian means “summer” but with the apostrophe after ‘L’, the name gives it a nice Franco-Italian feel as well. Artisan coffee is quite popular at L’ETO’s . Their resident chefs prepare everything on site, from coffees, cakes and even breakfast, salads, artisan sandwiches and main courses, with dishes available to eat in or to order as deliveries. The online delivery system is doing well and is attracting more and more buyers. The window display reminds one of the French Patisseries and is a significant factor in drawing in those just passing by. Though the person behind it was born in Siberia, there is little that is Russian about it. The association, however helps. A simple cake like Apple Layer cake, made by simply preparing a dough based on flour, semolina, cinnamon, baking powder and sugar, with five layers with grated apples is equally popular.
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PRET
Prêt opened in London in 1986. College friends, Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe, who set it up just because they liked fresh sandwiches with fresh ingredients, went on their job with gusto and today there are about 335 Prêt shops worldwide, most of them in UK. But it is the food here that takes the cake. And the best thing is the pleasant atmosphere and the amusing visuals and posters, even the napkins that define the outlets.
The founder duo of Prêt A Manger, with their social zeal, also set up a foundation which helps organizations working for the homeless. Despite the onset of new competition upstarts, the chain is self assured, backed by customers who swear by the brand.
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EAT
Eat, the real food company, opened in 1996 and like Prêt, it is also known more for its sandwiches and food rather than beverages or bakery stuff. Fans of EAT beg to differ and the numbers of tea and coffee drinkers and guzzlers of fresh handmade granola bars at their outlets will vouch for it. Compare it with Prêt and its fans will make a face. A coffee, a cuppa and a snack in between shopping soirees has never been more competitive.
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