Bagel Factory

Give yourself a treat and go have a yummy Bagel at the Bagel Factory!
There are quite many bagel shops in London, but the Great American Bagel Factory has several good caracteristics that can make you good crazy!
For the creative persons: Pick pick pick, you can customize your own bagel. Red pepper, guacamole, chicken and cream cheese, that’s how I like mine! The choice of ingredients is large. So all you have to do is choose what you want to put in your bagel, which sauce you want and especially which type of bread bagel do you want! (cheese, wholemeat, natural, onions…)
For the lazier ones: it’s ok, sometimes you don’t have time or don’t want it to get too complicated. Just choose from the different bagels already made up. But you still get to choose the type of bread bagel you want.
What’s not to be missed: for an untypical American Bagel you can try the Little italy Bagel with chicken, tomatoes and pesto is really good.
Budget: Count around £3.50 for a bagel non customized. A bit more expensive if you want to do it yourself.
That little something: The fact that they have some HOT bagel. Not in the spicy hot way, but in the warm fuzzy way!
What needs to be work on: The concept is nice, but the place is really small, and the seatings not very welcoming. When you order your bagel, you don’t really want to sit down there.

Hands down the absolute worst lunchtime experience of my life.
I don’t have many. Maybe I’m lucky, maybe it is down to my spectacular judgement. I don’t know. On the day I visited Bagel Factory I can only assume the head cold I was developing caused some sort of major malfunction.
I ordered some sort of bacon and guacamole thing on a seeded bun. The server was more than surly. Then she cut the bagel on the wonk (seriously on the wonk. As in, I got a doorstep for one half and a paper thin other half, which disintegrated at one side). Once it was toasted she scraped a pitiful amount of guac onto one side (the ubiquitous round white tub was now empty and ‘no you can’t have any more’). The bacon ended up all on one side of the bagel. Then the bagel was stale.
That plus crisps cost me over a fiver. I sat on the bus for an hour wondering how everything could have gone so wrong. shudder

Finding myself heading out of town from Paddington much too early on a recent Saturday morning, serious carbs were required so I turned to my old friend the bagel for sustenance. Uninspired by the menu I enquired after a good vegetarian option and was recommended the tasty sounding egg, mushroom, cheese and tomato. I chose my favourite bagel — toasted poppy seed — and eagerly awaited my snack.
Confusingly you have to go and wait round the corner of the little bagel shack even though there are only two people working inside it, and even then the food came out at random times and the man calling the numbers was really indistinct so everyone had to say «Pardon» each time as they squinted their ears trying to hear. Still, my bagel came out pretty quick and was very nice, if a little on the bland side. It would have benefitted greatly from a bit of salt and some ketchup, so I’ll ask for that next time.

Is it just me or do lots of people take great pleasure in choosing something to eat at a train station for the journey ahead? I used to commute to Oxford every day, and would always make sure to leave enough time in the morning to choose between the plethora of little booths — always a coffee, then maybe a muffin, a cake, a croissant, or most likely a bagel. Bagels became my morning snack of choice — cheap, low fat and plenty of options. Cheese and marmite on a seeded bagel became my favourite, but equally I like a butter and jam, or one of the more fancy options like a Portabello mushroom with red pepper and spinach. And there is no better place for Bagels than Bagel Factory. You can choose from a selection of bagels and fillings, and all are freshly made to order. The service is amazing, an efficient chain of people — slicer, butterer, toaster, filler, cashier — that deal with the morning rush with seemingly effortless speed. I want one now just thinking about it!

Sometimes you just don’t want a regular sandwich, but want something good and quick. I am a big fan of the Bagel Factory, it is one of the few places in London that offers free refills (on coffee). They serve the classic American bagel straight out of New York, with any toppings you want. Bagels are great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, with no end of bread choices or topping combinations. Pop in for a New York style treat.