Bread Ahead (London, UNITED KINGDOM) ★★★☆☆

It’s been almost a decade since I last stepped on British soil. London is always on my top 20 list of travel destinations but as a foodie, I can hardly get excited about its dining scene. It has always been good but nowhere near great (think Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong). This is more of a chance for mom and little one to cross yet another city off their list.

For their first visit to London, I’ve arranged for an aparthotel near Piccadilly Circus for all of us. It’s right across the street from Trafalgar Square and National Gallery, and walking distance to most attractions. That will really reduce our traveling time (to different attractions) and hopefully, less whining from my little one.



Like most of our trips to Europe, little nugget didn’t sleep well on his first night. He woke up in the dark and ended up dragging everybody up before dawn to play with him. So, I thought we might as well head out early to explore the city.

We had an early lunch engagement at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay so we only had about an hour to walk around Regent Street and Soho. Just when we were strolling around the narrow streets of Soho, we couldn’t help but notice Bread Ahead, a sharp little bakery cafe at Kingly Court that offers a fine selection of bakery goods. I, for one, decided to go in and take a closer look.




The smell of freshly baked donuts! These came in different flavors including coffee, chocolate, hazelnut, salted caramel and raspberry.



Smoked salmon brioche (£4.90) - Jelloman wanted smoked salmon for breakfast and she got her wish. Not bad.



Hazelnut donut (£4.30) - Very deep hazelnut flavors from the custard filling but too bad the donut wasn’t nearly pillowy or spongy enough like most freshly made donuts (This reminded me of my delicious donuts from Cafe Knotted in Seoul!).



Salted caramel donut (£4.30) - The salted caramel filling was much sharper and powerful than the hazelnut one. Not bad but again I would love it more if the dough was more like a sponge.



From my brief observation, their cinnamon deluxe (£4.20) would easily become my personal favorite in a hurry but for breakfast, that would be a tad too sweet to start my day with. Yeah, I probably would need to brush my teeth immediately and get my mouthwash ready too. So as much as I wanted to, I decided I was better off with my donuts.



Any customer at Bread Ahead Soho gets to be the king of Kingly Court for a minute! Who's next in line to the throne?



Now, it’s time to see if we would run into Gordon!




Food Rating: 6/10
Price: £££
Address: 21 Beak Street, Soho, London, United Kingdom
Closest Tube Station: Piccadilly Circus
Website: www.breadahead.com
Opening Hours: 9:00am - 6:30pm (Mon - Wed), 9:00am - 7:00pm (Thu - Fri), 9:30am - 8:00pm (Sat), 9:30am - 7:00pm (Sun)