Outsider Tart

Just left a brunch date with my daughter at outsider tart. This was my second time at the establishment but I left unhappy this time. I enjoyed the blueberry pancakes both times which are delicious BUT this review speaks more towards the service.
The waiter was extremely rude. I told him that I wanted to share a plate for the long haul order of pancakes (which includes 4) and asked if we could have an extra plate (because I was Sharing with my daughter). This guy actually said well, then you might as well order the short order (which is also 2). Now the problem here is why would I order 2 separate short orders of 2 pancakes for 8.50 each, when I could order the long hual order, 4 pancakes for 12.50?!? Now if we were two adults maybe I would have understood a little more, but seriously she is 12.
When I voiced this to him, I could immediately see a change in his attitude. Like he was annoyed that I wanted to save the extra £4. So then I said, we will be sharing the long hual order, but could you bring us an extra plate? He said he would ask the manager. He then came back and said the manager would charge us £2 extra for an EXTRA PLATE. I could not believe it. I wanted to get up and leave but I just said, forget it we’ll share one plate. I then proceeded to ask what drinks they served as there were no drinks on the brunch menu. We ordered 2 small OJs.
Now we did not see the waiter again after that. The friendly manager brought us the food, syrup, and checked on us. When the bill came, I could not believe it was £22. The pancakes were £12.50 so how could 2. SMALL orange juices and I do mean SMALL equal £9?!? I felt we were overcharged for something because we decided to share but all I know is I left feeling extremely mistreated.

Just been for brunch here this morning — if the rating was based on the food alone it would be a 4 and 5 for the cakes!
We got a brownie baked cheesecake and a slice of one of the many brownie variants they offer. (I chose peanut butter) Both were fabulous!
However we ate food in the restaurant side as well and this was a bit of a let down. Meal was nice but a bit too cheesy (I had the BEC sandwich) half the meals arrived 5 minutes before the others and so some were waiting for others to start. It was already on the steep side and we were then charged a non optional 20% service charge on top of our bill. (There were only 4 of us) I personally think that’s unacceptable and for that reason alone I would not eat here again.

I bought their cookbook long ago and when I moved to London I discovered their coffee shop. The cakes and brownies are great, taste like home baked (not like the baked goods at many chain coffee places). The place is quiet and you can enjoy a nice afternoon treat at the heart of Chiswick or you can just buy some cookies or cake to take away.

The staff is friendly and attentive. The place is warm and feels like a homely comforting lodge where you can wind down and relax. The bakery is generous in proportions and home baked so expect quality to be personal and at its best.

Stumbled in here looking for wifi after getting my haircut at Blobar next door. The place was pretty empty as it was a week day and I made myself comfortable at a corner table. The staff were very friendly and let me take my time as I was doing some work and was in no rush to order. The interior décor was very fun and I enjoyed all the American products displayed on the shelves. Although I wasn’t super hungry and had really only stopped in for a coffee the smells coming from the kitchen were too good to pass up. I eventually ordered the vegetarian chili which came with an order of cornbread. It was extremely tasty and warm and would be the perfect meal for a rainy day. The cornbread was incredible and as hard as I tried to not devour the entire thing i couldn’t help but finish every last bite. I need to go back soon and try some of their baked goods which all looked amazing.

LOVE their sweet treats and traybakes. Had brunch once which was awesome. Find myself in here for their treats quite alot! They also sell at some food markets. Go and enjoy!

I have not made it out to the Chiswick location of Outsider Tart, but I am a frequent buyer of their brownie bars that are sold in markets on the South Bank and in King’s Cross.
I have infinite love for several of the amazing treats offered by this stand. Over the years, I have enjoyed the snickers, cheesecake and cookie/​brownie bars. My favorite (BY FAR) is the billionaire’s bar – a layer of shortbread, one of caramel and one of brownie.
This place is truly divine and I have been known to stock up on two or three bars to keep in the freezer so that I can get a fix of billionaire bar no matter what time of week it is.
I have had to mark it down for two primary silly-​ish reasons:
A) The outside pieces of the brownie are so significantly worse than the inside ones with no edges. This is mostly a recommendation to request an inside piece – at least at a market stand when they’ve been sitting for a while… this has never stopped me from devouring every baked good i’ve ever gotten from there.
B) 2.75 is too expensive for a brownie… i pay it anyway with a smile on my face
I will have to check out the main location and let you know how it goes. :D

Just the kind of food for a post-​workout brunch. This is my kind of eating… load it up and pile it high. The «one-​eyed monster» is a sweet/​savoury flat cake layered with chilli, cheese and a runny egg. Delish. The cornbread with jam was a bit dry and overdone but had a nice flavour and texture. It was fairly quiet despite being a bank holiday weekend but I’m sure it could pack out pretty quickly at peak times. This might be my new regular Sunday brunch hangout.

It wasn’t busy at all, maybe because of the day and the time.
The food wasn’t great, I ordered a quesadilla, I wasn’t expecting to be a proper mexican quesadilla but it wasn’t even nice.
It looks like a nice place from outside, it’s a nice place inside but what I ordered wasn’t the best.

Oh my jesus. This place is FANTASTIC.
I visited Outsider Tart yesterday with a group of 15 or so fellow Instagrammers. We called well ahead to reserve a table and got our Sunday brunch on.
The restaurant is run by an American, and it sells all kinds of unhealthy Americans snacks. .. the kind I’ve been missing dearly since I moved to London. They have those twisty spiral cheetos, Snyder’s of Hanover pretzels, and Lucky Charms!
In addition to their American treats, this place is a proper bakery. Brownies, cookies, and cupcakes are lined up and piled up in a sugary display of awesome. Over in the dining area they serve what I now think is the best brunch in London.
I ordered the blueberry pancakes, which came stacked 3 – 4 high and were perfectly light and fluffy. There were real blueberries baked inside (as opposed to random specks of blue), and it was all topped with a generous dollop of butter. My only tiny gripe was that it came with the syrup on top already. I usually like to put the syrup on myself, but it wasn’t a big deal.
I also ordered a side of bacon. The bacon came American-​style, meaning it was delicious and crispy — the best bacon I’ve had in London. Other people at the table ordered all sorts of scrumptious dishes ranges from fancy sandwiches to French toast. Everything looked amazing and it was clear it was all cook with care.
My only real problem with Outsider Tart is that it is so gosh darn far away from Central London. The closest tube station is Turnham Green, which is 45 minutes away from Bank on a good day.
If you plan on making the trek out here, however, it’s well worth it. Book a table in advance though.

I take it back! I obviously chose the wrong cakes last time. The sneakers cake — I wouldn’t recommend! The Lemon poppy seed cake, however, was lovely! I’ll definitely come back again. Just be careful to ask what it is you’re looking at. That should avoid making mistakes. What I mean is, the sneakers cake isn’t really a cake. It’s more like a brick, to be honest. But I guess some people like to work their jaw? They have some really nice cakes and the portions are, like, woah!

This is one of my favourite places in all of London.
We used to trek into Chiswick on a weekend to go around to a farmers market, where the Davids (the two owners of Outsider Tart) sold the most amazing cupcakes. Bearing in mind this was 7 or 8 years ago, back when cupcakes weren’t that great — so it was a welcome addition to my tummy to find cakes by Outsider Tart! I found OT as I, as a transplanted American, was desperate for a red velvet cake for my wedding. This was nearly an impossible task at the time, and I had really only come across it at Hummingbird (but it just wasn’t to my taste). David saved the day and produced just the cake I wanted — red velvet, simple — and they even delivered it to my wedding venue in deepest darkest Kent.
Times have changed now that there’s a proper storefront. A variety of tasty sweets are on offer, normally in the form of a tray bake (but there are a few cupcakes and cookies, too!) They’re widely thought to be the originator of the whoopie pie in London — but they didn’t have any today when I went!
The staff are always really helpful and happy to run through what all the things are on the long counter top (and they never seem annoyed when you can’t decide and go back and forth!) I like all the US food for sale around as well, but after so long in London, I know where to get all my American food for a better price — but that’s 15 years of experience talking. For convenience, the offering can’t be beat.
I’m also rather partial to the savoury food, which you can eat in the attached restaurant Blue Plate. Generally good Southern-​style diner food with a London-​esque feel to it — you don’t leave hungry, that’s for sure!
My only criticisms are that the items in the bakery aren’t labelled, and it’s not anyone who seems to work in the restaurant bit, so I always feel a bit lost when trying to see if they’re serving food and where’s the menu and suchlike– but I can be a bit timid in general, so that’s probably more down to me than anything else.
If you can’t make it to the shop, you can usually find a few things from Outsider Tart at the Real Food Market at Southbank, too!

I called these guys to place a last-​minute delivery order– Louie was stellar and he went out of the way to get the owner’s approval to accommodate our order. Excellent service, and a huge thank you to all.

Try not to smile in a place like this. I dare you. Here, I’ll even wait, walk in, look around, try not to be happy. And go.
You fail. It’s impossible not to smile.
It may be because of the delicious desserts, all lined up in scrumptious fashion, all unlabeled, all amazing. Don’t know what one is? Ask, they’ll be happy to go through each and every thing they’ve made. I recommend the dark chocolate brownie with cookie dough on top. Blew. My. Mind.
Or maybe it’s the range of American products lining the walls, from Captain Crunch to Jiffy Peanut Butter. If you are an ex-​pat like myself and missing a taste or two of home, this is the spot to be.
Or maybe it’s the funky art in their adjoining room. This space is actually way bigger than it looks on first glance and there’s enough room to sit for all. Get a dessert to go or sit down and enjoy.
Or maybe it’s the fact that they don’t mind if you order a giant glass of milk with your brownie, which is enough to make you feel like a kid all over again. Go ahead, try it, it is awesome.
Whatever it is, this spot is amazing, makes some of the best desserts in London and makes you happy. How could it not have five stars?

Fabulous comfort food served by the wonderful David’s (both). Delicious, reasonably priced perfect portions. Then you get cakes, fabulous cake. The best cheesecake in London.
The Saturday State nights are brilliant, every weekend is a new State and it’s so worthwhile. Make the trip.

Best. Bakery. EVER.
I’m not kidding, this shop is like a little slice of heaven, wrapped up in cuddles and icing.
Run by two of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, it’s filled to the rafters with cakes, whoopie pies, brownies, cookies, cupcakes and anything else you could ever want to keep that sweet tooth at bay.
We ordered two milk, white and dark chocolate brownies, with a hint of cinnamon and one with walnuts in, and they were HUGE. At least four times what you’d expect to get and excellent value for money. It was the perfect mix of cakey fudgey goodness, with chunks of chocolate and a cinnamon aftertaste reminding you of Christmas morning. Perfection.
We also gave in and bought a couple of slices of mint chocolate cake with fudge topping, and like the brownie, the portion size was MASSIVE, with plenty of mint and fudge topping countering the stodginess of the chocolate cake. It took me a couple of hours to eat this because I kept having sugar rushes, but I couldn’t leave a single crumb, it was that good.
The shop itself is adorable. Wooden shelves, cake pans lining the table with freshly baked goodies on display and a variety of American treats if you’re missing that box of fruit loops or bag of Goldfish crackers. You instantly feel at home and despite the lack of any queuing system (I’m British, I had to mention it) they serve you quickly and give you advice if you’re not sure what to get.
It’s impossible to leave Outsider Tart feeling anything other than happy and fulfilled. Despite the trek to Chiswick from South East London, I’ll still be going back to try some of their savory dishes as soon as I can.

I hope Outsider Tart is here for the long run!
Technically this review is for Blue Plate, the savoury side of this lovely establishment. My husband and I come here often for their pulled pork sandwich and other american comfort foods.
The shop is filled with tempting American goodies like Reese’s cereal and Stubb’s BBQ sauce. Every Saturday night they have a special menu dedicated to local food from each of the 50 states. Long story kind of short, this is one of the best spots in West London.

I stumbled upon this bakery/​restaurant/​barkery last night while strolling down the High Road. What I wasn’t expecting to see was a large selection of American food items including but not limited to: Pam non-​stick spray, Aunt Jemima pancake mix and syrup, Log Cabin syrup, chocolate chips, and REAL Cheerios (you know, the ones in the yellow box).
We purchased a couple items to go:
1) Red velvet cupcake. I was not a fan of the frosting but my husband loved it.
2) «Blondie bar» (or at least we think). I was a huge fan of this treat. YUM!
3) Beef dog biscuits. Dexter seemed to love it.
They also just started «American night» on Saturday nights where they select a state and build the Saturday dinner menu around the foods from that state. They are working through the states in alphabetical order and on August 10^th, they are on Connecticut. The owner posts the menu on the blog section of the Outsider Tart website every Wednesday.
We shall return for dinner given the high reviews. So far, I’m a fan!

OMG, this place is good. I was looking forward to dinner here after reading all these amazing reviews of their cakes and bakes and Outsider Tart didn’t disappoint. With so many delicious options on the menu, it was hard to make a choice for what to get, but luckily could pick off other people’s plates to sample the variety.
First off, the portions are American style (read: huge), and most likely you will want to eat it all. I had the meat pie as my main (and was properly warned by David before hand that this would be a lot for one person) and it was delicious. The lamb, pork, beef and potato filling hit the spot and the side of sweet potato mash was creamy and flavourful. I also got to try a heap of the mac n’ cheese… the best I’ve had in London so far (not that I’ve tried many here though). Deliciously creamy and as our waiter pointed out… you just want to face dive it. I tried a bite of the pulled pork sandwich as well, smothered in bbq sauce as it should be. I think that’ll be my next choice on my next trek out to Outsider Tart.
And no meal is complete without dessert. With so many options, we decided to get a bunch of different desserts to share. The snickers brownie, banana caramel pudding and banana crème pie are all a must have.

I’m a fan of Outsider Tart, but rather unexpectedly due more to the prices of their products than outstanding quality. They’ve got a good range of cakes and cookies, from brownies to oat-​based treats, to cupcakes and several different versions of their brownie (e.g. classic, Cappuccino etc). However, the quality fell shorter than the mark than I would have expected. This is after all a specialist cake shop in prime affluent and yummy mummy territory, Chiswick, the High Road of which is dotted with several different bakeries. Yet I found the brownies to be some way short of the best examples to be had in food markets and the like: comparatively dry and seemingly not using the very finest ingredients as premium brownie makers go for.
Just as well then that the prices were fair. Some places try to get away with charging £3.50 for a brownie takeaway. Not so here, where they come in at a far more reasonable £2.50. I found service meanwhile to be a little slow but helpful and patient when it arrived. The cakes however could do with nearby descriptions of what they are to save everyone some time: there weren’t many when I was there, necessitating several questions from me to the person behind the counter as to what each was.
The clientèle are the typical well-​dressed and groomed Chiswick young professionals and families, many enjoying a hot drink with their cake.
All in all, a pleasant place selling decent cakes in unusual flavours at good prices.