Welcome Immigrants

 Bechamel Croissants and all sorts of great pastries at the tiny Aux Pains de Papy bakery cafe in Grays Inn Road, London.  Production is done right in front of you.  You may not be able to get great pastries together with good coffee (and sit down) in regulation-bound France ...... so they have come over here.

N4 Find

 Boulangerie Bon Martin in Finsbury Park N4

Two Magpies

 The Two Magpies Bakery in Southwold combines unpretentious food and signage with great home-baking.

Pop Up at Fortnums

 Fortnum & Mason have a pop up British Bakery cafe on their first floor.

Mark Hix's shortbread, garibaldi biscuits and more are on until 10th February.

 The Torta Di Ricotta cake with warm chocolate sauce is proving a winner.

 It sounds as if a fortnightly trip to Fortnums will be required until April.

Baked Yesterday and Yummy

Full marks to the Pink Pig Farm shop and cafe in Scunthorpe for making clear that there is a distinction between Baked Today and Baked Yesterday (but still yummy to take away and at half price).

Easy Home Bake

Have you noticed the range of Brownie and Cookie dough products in your supermarket?  If my kids can bake them when getting home from school, perhaps more cafe owners should be using their bake-off ovens a little more.

Jamie's Muffallettas

Jamie's Bakery at Gatwick North Terminal

 Piles of bread and dough emphasise the product

Muffalettas are sandwiches made of bread similar to focaccia

Pride of Plymouth

I am a huge fan of the Town Mill Bakery in Lyme Regis and they now have an off shoot - the Royal William Bakery - in the Royal William Yard, Plymouth.  Fabulous freshly-baked items in unpretentious surroundings.

How it works plus the wooden 'plates'

Bakery equipment and production is all on show

Bench seating is planks mounted on steel girders

Napkins=paper roll; butter in a big bowl; home-made peanut butter

Seriously German About Bread

Bakehaus' bakery cafe in Hammersmith has some interesting ideas including out front production.

Self-serve hot drinks and quality tea

Some new pastries that may be common in Germany but aren't usually seen over here

Fame in Falmouth

We visited the excellent Stones bakery in Falmouth, having visited a year ago, and they are just about to add a cafe section.  Good strawberry tarts plus they asked if I was the Great Cafes blogger - fame at last.

See http://greatcafes.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/fortunate-falmouth.html

The Latest Bakery Cafe

Did you see that Starbucks has bought San Francisco-based La Boulange Bakery -  http://laboulangebakery.com/

A logical step and one that could have influence on their 17,000 stores worldwide.  I believe that bakery cafes are the way forward - will others follow?

Cinnabon

The most delicious and calorific cinnamon roll you are ever likely to come across.  Famous in the USA since 1985 and over here at Piccadilly Circus, Cambridge and Lakeside.  A tribute to baked fresh on the premises.

Bakery Cafes

Dobbies garden centres are really serious about their baking and cakes.

Under the Arches - More Cafes; Less Eels

E5 Bakehouse under the arches in Hackney - passionate about sourdough.

http://e5bakehouse.com/

Next door is the Happy Kitchen Canteen, Bakery & Pantry

http://www.happykitchen.org.uk/

A short distance away in Broadway Market, one of the few remaining eel and pie houses

Eccles Heaven

The bakery at St John Bar & Restaurant in Smithfield is out front and on show.  The message is clear - if you have real bakers and chefs, put them and their equipment on show.  'Homemade food' menu descriptions and signage are then wonderfully redundant.

They still do the best Eccles cakes - £2.50 worth of heaven.  See http://greatcafes.blogspot.com/2011/05/best-eccles-cake-ever.html

Staff Appeal

Staff uniforms are important because the staff are so visual - right there in front of the customer and moving about all the time.

Paul is clever with their all-white bakers outfits.  Let's not kid ourselves they do any baking but they look the part and add hugely to the suggestion of a bakery cafe.

The Return of the Doily

The Times (23.3.11) says Granny clutter is all the rage and that sales of doilies are booming. I have spent most of my catering career trying to get rid of these unnecessary and old-fashioned accoutrements but fashion has come full circle - Doilies are back!

I have been recommending tea cosies and brown betty tea pots for a while - Conran led their reintroduction at the wonderful Albion Caff - and I suppose doilies are just another retro item that will conjure up memories of yesteryear.

Cup cakes, home baking, tea cosies and now doilies - Great for the explosive growth of bakery cafes. Good for Granny.