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Please note, Bread Ahead Seven Dials has now closed. Time Out Food editors, November 2017.
Bread Ahead is bona-fide baking royalty: not only is founder and head chef Justin Gellaty ex-St John, he also did the sourdough for Kate and Wills’ wedding.
The secret to its success lies in keeping things simple. Famous for dishing out the best doughnuts in town from its original Borough Market stall, the vibe at this, Bread Ahead’s second permanent branch, is of a proper, no-frills British bakery: just a few bench seats looking out on to Seven Dials, gleaming countertops, and lots of shiny extractor fans funnelling steam from the in-house kitchen downstairs.
The way they bake in that kitchen is old school. Dubbed ‘pillows of joy’ by the owners (forgive them, they actually are), each batch of signature ‘deep-fill’ doughnuts is fermented for 24 hours to achieve peak springiness, before being piped by hand, and dunked into a rather retro fryer. The lemon curd number – fresh and sweet, with real pieces of zest – is wonderful, but the prize for sheer decadence has to go to the Velvet Chocolate: dotted with cocoa nibs and literally bursting with silky, moussey cream, this is one of the best £2.50s you’ll ever spend. Seriously.
There’s more than just sweet stuff on offer. Of an array of savoury pimped-out breads, the cheese and ham croissant was a highlight. Filled with béchamel sauce and thin-cut ham, these babies are sprinkled with cheddar and baked twice to create a flaky, cheesy, melt-in-the mouth masterpiece.
It’s not all perfect – a slice of focaccia was underwhelming and tad dry, and the service was a bit slapdash – but the care that goes into crafting each bake is undeniable. Get down ASAP for a slice of the action.