Poilane

I love Poilane for breakfast in Paris – the jambon tartines there are delicious, and the café crème is served in giant bowls.
This one is right around the corner, so I want to love it, but I can’t, though I’ve tried it multiple times. It is a charming space, but the espresso/​coffee is awful and the tartines and pastries taste nothing like Paris, either bland or overspiced. I really have no idea why anyone eats here.

Very good bakery and place for breakfast. They have more or less coffee, croissants, some cakes, orange juice and open one-​sided sandwiches that look pretty simple and small for their 8 – 10 pound tag. It’s all good quality here for sure, nice décor etc, but it’s just overpriced. Mind you are near Sloane Square.

As a fan of the original Poilane bakery in Paris, I had to come here. It was very close to my flat during my vacation in London. I think it is their attempt to do what Le Pain Quotidien and Paul have done by opening up cafes. This one left me a little flat. Service was spotty, menu was average and food was pretty good. It’s a bakery at heart so I want bread! Some portions were small and some were big. The hubs loved his egg-​baked-​ham-​cheese thing.

Delicious brioche, as well as tasty scones served with rich clotted cream. Some nice topping choices for the brioche like honey and lemon curd. We ordered a salad too and the greens were so fresh. We also enjoyed the tomato mozzarella tartine. If we lived here, I would definitely stop in regularly for a treat.

Just around the corner from Sloane Square, this trendy café serves up some lovely salads, cakes, tea and coffees. Trendy crowd, sometimes pretentious, staff aren’t always happy. But the interior design is so lovely and location so great that I would still go back.

Beautiful restaurant serving excellent tartines. Their soups are always delicious and very healthy.
My favorite place to eat in the area (though Colbert is a close second).

I remember reading once that Poilane would overnight courier their bread from France to a North American department store for sale the next day. IT’S JUST THAT GOOD and they were unwilling to have any one else bake their secret stuff.
Urban legend? I don’t know. And, well, delightfully irrelevant since there are two Poilanes in Londontown!
Its reputation preceded it as my visiting Mum bumped into a woman from Australia last week who said that she returns «Down Undah» with a bag full of Poilane bread every time she makes it to London. Hardcore. I likey.
So off to the Sloane Square area I went, with the idea of both buying some carby schtuffs and also partaking in their open faced made-​to-​order sandwiches (available from 8:30, this is the only London location of their «café»).
Annnnnd…I’m sold. I had an open faced sandwich with some kind of cured meat and sundried tomato that came with a side salad. I had fresh squeezed watermelon juice (refreshing!). I took home brioche (THE BEST I’VE EVER HAD CAPSCAPSCAPS) and an apple pastry-​thinger-​mabobber. All delicious.
Did I mention the bread, though? Amazing sourdough. They weigh the full loaves (i.e.: you pay by weight, not by loaf). I bought a 2.2 kilogram loaf, I’m that committed to their bread. Wanna come over for a sammich?
I’m also, let the record show, a big fan of the design of the place. There’s a tree with circular bar-​type seating around it (inside!). There’s a (small) back patio. There is lecture-​style seating (you know what I’m talking about: a solo chair with a little collapsible desk) for solo snacks… so much better using the desk for croissants instead of notebooks!
Unilocal note: the Australian woman was on to something.
Also: it’s just tucked away behind the craziness of Sloane Square: must have walked past it many a time… a (carby) gem!

Could these best the best croissants in London? I think they very well might be!
Of course that is to be expected coming from the iconic Parisian bakery. Poilane is known world wide for its outstanding sourdough bread but here at their small café conveniently tucked behind Peter Jones and right off Kings Road, one can enjoy a light lunch or a quick bite to eat. The menu boasts a selection of open face sandwiches on their renowned bread or pain au chocolate with a coffee for breakfast. There is a in house shop as well should you just want to pick up a loaf of bread, but I dare you to leave with just that as there are pastries too!