Exeter Street Bakery

graeme · August 2014

Would give it a wide berth for the time being if anyone considering it for a quick coffee and a bun. Till staff are unable to operate the till or cut focaccia, probably two key elements of running a bakery. Also, it's more of a full-on cafe than a dedicated bakery. You may get better service if you take a table. We queued for about 7 minutes, the queue didn't move as the lady at the till struggled to serve a customer. 2 other people left too. <div><br></div><div>Looks nice enough but meh. They should probably have done some explicit soft-launch, or given notice that they don't know what they are doing yet, rather than be charging full prices with poor service on opening weekend. </div><div><br></div><div>Good luck to them, but give it a few weeks I think. </div>

mountpelephant · August 2014

Looks open. Looks good. Another Italian eatery added to the stroud green area. Finest made Italian bread is available in Kensington and now Finsbury Park.

Peter Crumb · August 2014

And the gentrification continues. How much was it for some focaccia?

quince · August 2014

Another coffee place? Tremendous. I also had hoped that it might emerge as a proper bakery, decent bread being one of the few things it's hard to come by around here. Still, at least the incipient hipster encroachment is not yet upon us -<a href="http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/the-great-british-gentrified-pub-crawl?fb_action_ids=10152224631727312&fb_action_types=og.comments" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://www.vice.com/en_uk/<wbr>read/the-great-british-<wbr>gentrified-pub-crawl?fb_<wbr>action_ids=10152224631727312&<wbr>fb_action_types=og.comments</a> - but can it be far off?

krappyrubsnif · August 2014

That is a really s*it article

gardener-joe · August 2014

...

Papa · August 2014

I lost the will to live with that Vice article. Some of the stuff they do is good and funny but a lot could do with some more judicious editing - both at the ideas and writing stage.<div><br></div><div>Back to Exeter Street though. What are the prices like. The Kensington one is expensive if you want to have food in. You need two squares of pizza to really have enough and that sets you back more than £5 - add a coffee and you've just blow £8 on two smallish squares of Margerita / Napoletana and a drink.</div><div><br></div><div>They do very tasty pizza and focaccia though and the Stroud Green one looks nice <span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 1.7em;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 1.7em;">(if slightly on-trend) </span><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 1.7em;">in the pic I saw <a href="

https://twitter.com/KateJonesLondon/status/499105623779602432

">posted by Kate Jones on twitter</a></span></div>

JamieJamie · August 2014

I bought a brown loaf from them and it was really tasty, turning my morning toast and jam into a breakfast of champions. It cost £3.20 ... expensive but <span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 1.7em;">don't mind spending more for good bread, it takes time to make it properly. </span><span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 1.7em;">Service was slow, hoping it speeds up as they get up and running. </span><div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div>

Jonathan · August 2014

Just visited. It's a nice space. The coffee was decent. They brought a nice big jug of tap water for us. The food and wine looks nice and interesting. Price was OK for coffee (standard £1.80 or so fo double espresso) but I think from reading @PapaL';s report of the other branch the pricing for food is the same as there (ie not cheap). Service was v good from some people and not as good from others: suspect they have recruited a new team and some are learning faster than others. All in all much nicer than when that whole area was a mix of derelict land and unfriendly fencing. At least there are people about!

Ali · August 2014

What used to be there was a building in which the first talking movie was shown in London

Jonathan · August 2014

Yes - that was where Sainsbury's is now, I think? It was a great shame that it got so run down. Must have been great in its pomp and with a bit more care could have survived to be a lovely building in whatever use today.

krappyrubsnif · August 2014

No the first talkie was in the cinema near the gates of Finsbury Park in the very building where Lidl is now. There's a thread on that somewhere.

Sutent · August 2014

I just been On Rowan arts Islington cinema walk with a historian. Krappy you are correct. Where the ldl is now was first sound cinema. A glorious building according to the photos

krappyrubsnif · August 2014

I'm always right. Cough. Well, that's what I tell Mrs K.

kreuzkav · August 2014

The cinema near the gates existed into the 60s.

Jonathan · August 2014

Wasn't it some sort of cinema building where Sainsbury's is now? I can certainly remember something with a bit of faded grandeur ...

gardener-joe · August 2014

...

krappyrubsnif · August 2014

Scala: Before they tore it down to build Sainsburys, you could just about make out a doorway of faded grandeur. Had been a semi derelict clothing factory or workshop for years - looked as if it might have been bombed. The rake of the cinema seating apparently followed the natural lie of the land downhill. Wonder if there are any pictures.

ADGS · August 2014

Never mind derelict land and unfriendly fencing, I think I'd take pretty much anything bar a crack house or a football club over a faux-artisan bakery. We already have Crouch End and Upper Street within reach, we don't need the gentrification balance tipping any further here thanks all the same.

Ali · August 2014

Stand corrected !<div><br></div><div>Is the "Lidil" cinema the theater that is in the photo in WLM or is hat the one that is now Rowans or weere they connected?</div>

Arkady · August 2014

Ali, they were both part of the same complex. The 'Lidl' entrance had various guises, including:<div><br></div><div><img src="http://photos.cinematreasures.org/production/photos/29295/1319112467/large.jpg?1319112467"><br></div><div><br></div><div>and</div><div><br></div><div><img src="http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/b5/84/75/b58475fb2fc68c8eaaf9250bdd1195ba.jpg"><br></div><div><br></div><div>Now replaced with this wondrous piece of modern design:</div><div><br></div><div><img src="http://www.spv-uk.co.uk/var/lidlfins7.jpg"><br></div>

skev303 · August 2014

Saw them un-boxing Croissants this morning so probably not made on site? <div><br></div><div> </div>

Arkady · August 2014

Skev, your avatar is broken. Need a hand fixing it?

miss annie · August 2014

Just stuck my head in to have a look. Overrun with children and buggies, looks like every other new coffee place in London, really really expensive. I regularly shell out £2.60 for the best salted caramel brownie in London (maybe the wolrd), ESBs look a a bit dry and are half the size for £3. Anyone who raves about this place is easily pleased!

krappyrubsnif · August 2014

It's a place for people with more money than sense coming back from their shitty jobs out of the tube, prepared to pay stupid money for something that appears to put them back in touch with the human race. Let them. Ignore it.

Peter Crumb · August 2014

I do a lot of bread baking. My housemate paid £3.10 for something he'd hoped would be excellent, he was disappointed. Trying it, I'd say the best bread you can buy commercially on Stroud Green Road is in Lidl: been very impressed with their stuff.

markpack · August 2014

@Miss Annie Oooh, where are the brownies from?

Jones · August 2014

I'm seriously unimpressed so far. Breakfast pastries were bready rather than flaky and buttery, coffee was fine but as expensive as anything you'd get in central London, pizza is £3.80 a slice (no prices actually on it so I had a nasty surprise at the till), and none of the many many staff seem to have a clue. Luckily for our wallets, they left our third slice of pizza in the oven til it was burnt to a crisp, then couldn't remember who had ordered it. It took ages to pay because they couldn't operate the till. And they weren't even particularly pleasant or welcoming. If I'm going to be horribly overcharged I at least want the food and service to be good. If this place does well, I will be very disappointed in Finsbury Park. I just hope it doesn't damage the deli at 80 because their stuff is almost worth the ridiculous prices, and the people seem to be pretty nice.

Fin · August 2014

<p>I popped in on Saturday and have to say I quite enjoyed it. </p><p>Their meatball sandwich is excellent as was the lemon polenta cake. Coffee very good too. We did buy some bread to take away though which wasn't great, neither was the service (teething problems?) although they were certainly friendly enough. Looks like it could be quite a nice evening and pre-theatre venue too.</p><p><br></p>

Arkady · August 2014

I still haven't been in. Do they do bread with olives in? I love bread with olives in.

Sutent · August 2014

The turkish bakery on green lanes do bread with olives. Baked in store it is truly wonderful and very cheap too.

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