cutting-edge/state-of-the-art

[filipe]

I had never paid much attention about pastry shops in London, but I'm willing to spend some time about it , if worthed.

Can anyone tell me about some nice places to check?

[Culinista]

I wouldn't call it state-of the-art, at least not compared with Pierre Herme or Paco Torreblanca, but there is a very good little shop in Richmond, William Curley. His execution is beautiful, and the pastries show a strong modern French/Japanese influence. His wife and partner is Japanese, and they have nice little matcha financiers and yuzu chocolate. Their open rustic fruit tarts are particularly strong, but their signature dishes are a chocolate napoleon and things like an Earl Grey/mandarin mousse cake. Closed monday and tuesday, but open weekends.

[Tepee]

www.williamcurley.co.uk

[Charlie O]

I dropped in there on Sunday for the first time to pick up some chocolates. They were great - especially the caramel and sea salt ones.

[le rouge gorge]

Patisserie Valerie in Knightsbridge has my vote for #1...absolutely delectible...eat in or take away. It's always my first stop for breakfast goodies and late night treats.

[Jon Tseng]

For high end patisserie your options are basically limited to Sketch Parlour, William Curley, Maison du Choc on Picadilly, and the Japanese place next door and Laduee in Harrods.

The second tier of chainey places - Pat Val (now a burgeoning chain from the looks of it) and Paul are enjoyable but a cut below.

Yautacha sits in a bizarre no-mans-land between these categories. Ravishing looking pastry, wonderful sounding combinations but the merchandise doesn't actually taste very nice.

Also consider Macaron, a recently opened pastry joint in Clapham just next door to Moens. Tried it on the first day - pastry okay but not spectacular. Need to go back now they have settled in to check.

Summing up recent experiences I would rank them as follows:

1) Sketch (a couple of visits recently, still comfortably the best in London)

2) Laduree (very nice cakes, esp. the millefeuille although the Ispahan is a bit thuggish. Macarons not worth the price - especially when Sketches ones are 50% cheaper)

3) William Curley (technically excellent classic stuff. I still find however the pastry doesn't have the wow factor sketch has)

4) Maison du Choc? (recently had some very fine chocolate macarons. haven't had the cakes)

A final comment: All of the above get the asses royally kicked by the best of Paris. C'est la vie.

ta

J

[confiseur]

.....depressingly for me the above post hits it bang on the nail. There are very few top class British pastry chefs and the majority work in hotels,very rarely as in Williiam Curleys case does one branch out into opening their own business

[magnolia]

I agree with most of the above, Curley is right now the best retail patissier in London.

Some additional thoughts:

- Baker and Spice and la Fromagerie do excellent breakfast-type pastries, 'artisanal breads' &tc; not sure if La Fromagerie do their own, but I believe B&S do. B&S also do great strudels, scones and the like, possibly the best I've had in London. Definitely the best rugelach I've bought here.

- If there isn't a B&S near you, Maison Blanc do almost-proper croissants and the like, as does Pain Quotidien. All are probably on a par with Paul, one step up from PV;

- Richoux used to do decent ones but I haven't been there in a long while.

- PV's croissants are on a par with those of the pre-frozen "fresh" ones sold at Waitrose, S'bury's et all (i.e. all soggy dough and dripping with low quality butter, no flake) - and in general, all of their pastries tend to taste exactly the same, except different shapes. But PV does good apple cakes and tarts (the rest of their cakes taste like sawdust, their chocolate cakes have no chocolate flavour at all.

- At PV & Maison Blanc, the fruit fillings (for patisserie, breakfast pastraies, cakes) taste industrial, their lemon tart fillings for example, taste like cleaning fluid.

- The eclairs, mille feuille etc. at Maison Blanc are decent

- None of the above does a decent baguette.

- Minamoto Kitchoan (also in New York) is the Japanese place on Piccadilly, shocklngly, I've never actually bought anything from either place.

- If Wolseley did takeaway, that would be a good bet for breakfast pastries (though I admit I haven't been there since before their pastry chef decamped)

[Alexis]

wow - others agree. I was feeling like a whingeing ex-pat.

Good rugelach are hard to find (and I live in NW London--you'd think you'd be able to find some nice heimishe pastry). Sharon's is probably best for that sort of thing; they seem to have a Hungarian slant to their baking (they do kakosh, poppy seed cake, etc) while Carmelli's, Daniel's and Mr Baker are Israeli style and Grodzinskis is Litvak-English. All with nasty margarine, I'm afraid--and you don't want to know what's in Tomor.

[filipe]

Thnak you very much to you all

From all the above I just know Yauatcha and Ladurée (not the Harrod's one, but the originals). I agree that Yauatcha pastries are not particularly "sweet" and not superb on what taste concerns, but they're ok

Want to check Sketch and William Curley. By the way, any address for Sketch?

Thanks again

[Andy Fenn]

What about Pierre Marcolini? As well as having a knack for making chocolates, on my last visit to his 'boutique' in Kensington his cakes looked pretty incredible too.

http://www.pierremarcolini.co.uk/cb03_Pastries.php

Not strictly pastries, but worth a look? Has anybody tried them?

[filipe]

What about Pierre Marcolini? As well as having a knack for making chocolates, on my last visit to his 'boutique' in Kensington his cakes looked pretty incredible too.

http://www.pierremarcolini.co.uk/cb03_Pastries.php

Not strictly pastries, but worth a look? Has anybody tried them?

←

I've tried his chocolates in Paris, about one month ago, and they're great. Didn't knew he has a shop in the UK