If you are a foodie, then this London Bakery Crawl should be at the top of your Foodie Bucket List. This walk, through Bloomsbury and Covent Garden will take you to six of the best bakeries in London for Viral Beignets and Insta-worthy pastries! This is a particularly good walk to take children on as it is quite short and you can bribe them with food!
To help with navigating, you may want to use an app to help plan your journey around London.
Fortitude Bakehouse
I started here as it is the furthest away. Located at 35 Colonnade, it is a couple of minutes from Russell Square tube station.
Fortitude Bakehouse is known for its viral Beignets released every morning at 11am. Only one flavour is available each day so you get what you are given. We did indeed buy the Beignet (on our day it was Black Forest) but what I actually fell in love with was their Cinnamon Bun. I would go back just for that alone – never mind the queues!
Tucked away down a cobbled street, expect a queue and the Beignets to sell out within two hours. There are other pastries available if you do happen to miss out. There are benches outside, but instead of being bunched up there (and it is a road that cars do travel down) I would recommend walking 5 minutes to Russell Square where you can enjoy your pastries in the beautiful gardens.
Walk through Bloomsbury
Leaving Russell Square via the South West corner, head down Montague Street skirting around the outside of The British Museum. If you have time, you could lose a couple of hours in here exploring all the exhibits. Once passed the museum on Great Russell Street, turn left on Bloomsbury Street following the curve of the road to turn left onto Neal Street.
Alternatively, you could take a slightly longer route down Southampton Row. This main road is not pretty but it is the quickest way to Lincoln’s Inn Fields (turning left on Remnant Street) to visit either the Sir John Soane’s Museum or Hunterian Museum if you have time. Lincoln’s Inn Fields is also a great alternative to sit and eat your pastries from Fortitude Bakehouse.
If you decide to walk this way, then continue down Southampton Row and turn right and right again into Drury Lane. Walk almost to the end before turning left onto Short’s Gardens until you see our next bakery.
Ole and Steen
There are a few Ole and Steen bakeries dotted about London. It is a small bakery chain and is worthy of inclusion in this bakery crawl due to its popular Cinnamon Social Slice. This is one of my favourite pastries of all time. It is more of a café with plenty of seating so perfect for a lunch stop or coffee.
This branch of Ole and Steen is located on the corner of Neal Street and Short’s Gardens on the edge of the Seven Dials area of Covent Garden. There is plenty of shopping to do around here with independent clothing shops and quirky boutiques. I would recommend a visit to Neal’s Yard Dairy if you are a cheese fan. It is the most fantastic Cheese shop selling British cheeses.
When you are ready to move on turn left at the Seven Dials roundabout and head down Mercer Street. You will find our next bakery on the right hand side.
Arome Bakery
Situated at 9 Mercer Street, Arome Bakery is known for it’s French style pastries fused with Asian ingredients. The stand out though has to be its Honey Butter Toast. I arrived here with a queue all waiting for this toast. As soon as the first tray was out of the oven, they all disappeared, given out to everyone waiting. I was lucky however, as a second tray appeared very quickly. This toast is definitely worth the hype. Hot and fresh, crispy and gooey all at the same time, I loved it. I had to have a bite of the corner before sadly, putting it in my bag for later. We also bought an Apple Miso Pastry which tasted like a Toffee Apple so would recommend that too. There are only a couple of tables inside and a bench or two outside so not somewhere to linger.
Just to the left of the entrance is St. Martin’s Courtyard which you can walk through to head towards our next bakery. Turn left once in the courtyard and walk to the end. Cross over Long Acre and walk through Conduit Court to take that perfect photo for Instagram through the mirrored walkway. At the end of Conduit Court you will hit Floral Street with our next bakery on the corner.
Chestnut Bakery
This bakery has the largest seating capacity so I would recommend having a break here to grab a drink and eat your pastry inside. The best place to sit is upstairs, overlooking the pedestrianised Floral Street. It is table service but would advise choosing your pastry as you walk in so you know what you would like. I have been here a couple of times with different options available each time. I have enjoyed their cheesy croissants before and this time tried their bacon and maple syrup monkey bread. It was very tasty but think I’ll go back to the croissants next time. If their sticky cinnamon buns are there when you visit, then they are definitely worth the calories!
When you leave Chestnut Bakery, turn left down Floral Street and immediately turn right onto Rose Street. You will find our next bakery tucked away on the left hand side.
Bageriet Bakery
This tiny, Swedish bakery has become famous for its Scandi pastries including Cinnamon buns and Princess Cake. I bought two different types of Cinnamon bun as well as a Cardamon bun. I will definitely come back to try the fresh cream cakes though. It turns out I don’t like the flavour of Cardamon but the cinnamon buns were delicious. There is very limited seating so plan to take away whatever you buy.
When you’re ready, return the way you came back to Floral Street and turn right, then left onto Garrick Street. Follow the road to the next junction, turning right onto the pedestrianised New Row. This busy street has so many bars and shops it is a great place to hang out for a while.
WA Café
This Japanese Patisserie is at Number 5 New Row. Known for its beautiful, delicate bakes, it is quite serene when you walk inside with a few tables and chairs around the sides. I was all sugared out by this point so bought some curry bread (delicious!). The cake decorations were so precise you almost don’t want to touch them to eat. I will be returning here again to buy a cake or two.
This is where this London Bakery Crawl comes to an end. If you want a bonus bakery however, you can just pop next door to Santa Nata, a Portuguese bakery with stunning looking custard tarts in the window. One for my next bakery crawl …
