Hello! Taking the fam to London for the first time in a couple of weeks. I have a few very specific questions. We are staying near the King’s Cross tube station.
Is there a nearby tasty bakery where we can pick up a quick coffee/cocoa and croissant or bun for breakfasts on the go?
Where is the closest well made fish & chips? And also, do Londoners say peanut or ground nut? We have a kid who is allergic, so we always have to ask about the fry oil.
I wanted to find an afternoon tea experience that wasn’t too stuffy. I.e. no dress coats required or ritzy hotel. Does anyone have experience with the Bakery B afternoon tea bus tour?
I may have some other questions, but this for now. Thanks!!
Your best bet for a pastry and coffee would be Le Pain Quotidien or Paul in St. Pancras station. Also some non chain options there.
The best fish and chips near you is The North Sea Restaurant, about 5 mins walk from Kings Cross. The term peanut oil is the most common here.
Curious, do these French chains have special English items?
In France, Paul is better than le Pain Quotidien, bear in mind both are serving industrial food.
“Aux pains de papy” is a few mins walk away and is a family boulangerie run by a French guy. Depending where you are it may be inconveniently across a busy road or may work really well.
Bakery B used to store their buses outside my climbing wall, but sorry I’ve never actually been inside one!
It wasn’t so much bizarre stuff, it was more nothing looked anywhere near as refined as in Europe. From memory there was very limited patisserie and they serve hamburgers etc. I guess the ingredients/infrastructure aren’t so much available there for producing industrial food of that type.
Having said that, I’ve only given it a passing glance - you can have a guess what priority visiting Paul has in my Malaysian holiday plans, so someone else will have to update you on taste. @klyeoh will no doubt come to the rescue.
That’s a big area. Are you able to be more specific? Definitely there are places inside Kings Cross station and St Pancras station but they can be a maze. In front of Kings Cross station there’s a farmers market Weds, Thurs, Fri noon till 7 where everyone is handmade and I’m pretty sure there’s coffee. Behind Kings Cross are a lot of trendy franchises and if you cross the canal bridge you come to Granary Square which has street food and some other trendy franchises. All along Euston Road you’ll see cafes and such. Plug in your post code and ‘best coffee’ ‘best bakery’ and you’ll likely get lots of answers.
Afternoon tea? I go for Groupon deals and also www.afternoontea.co.uk - but don’t bother with the one at Wellcome. Not so tasty. The hotels are mostly worthwhile though. I haven’t had it but love love love the spaces in the St Pancras Renaissance - https://www.stpancraslondon.com/en/restaurants-and-bars/afternoon-tea/ - so I would go there just for the fabulous space and it’s not a stuffy hotel at all - just lofty and wonderful and worth exploring all the spaces in there including the famous ‘Spice Girls staircase’. The best and most luxurious tea I’ve had so far in London was at the Dorchester, though - sorry since it is a fancy hotel - but no dress code that I remember… And I’d definitely try the Langham too - not far from Kings Cross station. I haven’t been to that one but I have been to the one in Pasadena and it was amazing - http://www.langhamhotels.com/en/the-langham/london/dining/afternoon-tea-with-wedgwood/ and I see they have a really cute children’s offer too.
Don’t like Paul in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They have about the same menu in Kuala Lumpur as in Singapore, but the baked goods in Kuala Lumpur really didn’t measure up in terms of flavour or texture. Bakers in KL did not seem to possess the discipline to produce the pastries to the standards of precision and finesse which we can find in Taiwan, Japan or Hong Kong. Paul in Singapore is better as well.
These are pictures I took at Pauls in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, during my last visit towards the end of 2018:
