A true British bake off: World-famous bakeries want a piece of London
The Great British Bake Off makes its return Wednesday, 24 August, but world-renowned bakeries have already begun their own battle, hoping to take a bite out of London’s bakery market
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Your support makes all the difference.Whether or not the Great British Bake Off’s immense popularity has anything to do with it, some of the world’s most famous bakeries are looking to make their debuts in London. Here’s a small taste of what’s baking in the city’s busy pastry scene.
Ole & Steen
For years they’ve been revered throughout Denmark as bakers of extraordinary quality and innovation. Now, Ole Kristoffersen and Steen Skallebæk have decided to open their first restaurant outside of Denmark in the heart of London at the St James's Market development (which also includes Japanese brasserie, Anzu; Veneta, a Venetian-themed eatery from the Salt Yard Group; and Nordic-inspired restaurant, Aquavit).
The duo’s Lagkagehuset bakeries are hugely successful across Denmark with over 50 locations including several in Copenhagen. Ole & Steen’s London restaurant, which opens in winter 2016, offers a new concept and be their UK flagship as well as their first international outpost.
The London restaurant offers all-day dining, including artisan breads freshly baked on the premises, cakes, pastries, Scandinavian flatbreads, soups, stews, salads and "luxury" sandwiches. The menu also includes single estate coffee and a small but carefully crafted wine and beer list. Ole & Steen’s restaurant, which opens in winter 2016, is set to offer a new concept and be their UK flagship.
Dean & Deluca
Renowned for creating the world’s best epicurean treats for cooking, dining and in-home entertaining, the Dean & Deluca gourmet market is opening its first London location. The company's first European branch of their upscale grocery store (part of wider expansion plans) is taking over famous London butcher Allens of Mayfair (which had been on Mount Street since 1880). This speciality food store is known for being purveyors of quality fine foods, coffees, delectable baked goods, kitchenware and gifts – as well as their celebrity clientele.
The original Dean & Deluca opened for business in September 1977 in New York's SoHo and has added additional locations in New York City, Washington D.C., Charlotte, North Carolina, Leawood, Kansas and Napa Valley, California. In addition, several international locations have opened from Japan to South Korea and The Middle East.
Dean & DeLuca’s has also been referenced in popular culture – and featured in the 2001 American film Hannibal, with Lecter (played by Anthony Hopkins) filmed tucking into a Dean & DeLuca travel pack (containing foie gras). Also, Italian seasoning salt from Dean & DeLuca is also referred to by serial killer Patrick Bateman in the 1991 novel (and film) American Psycho.
As with the other global openings, perhaps we can expect a “Market Table,” where you can enjoy an authentic dining experience with the design imagining the old atmosphere of a fictional restaurant, as if it might have existed in 1973 New York – when the first Dean & Deluca opened – and also a “Market Store,” which includes a bakery and grocery sections. Expect an opening sometime early next year.
Dominique Ansel Bakery
Europe is about to get its first taste of the Cronut. Dominique Ansel, the pastry chef and owner of his eponymous bakery in New York City, has announced that he's expanding across the pond, opening a location of Dominique Ansel Bakery in London's Belgravia – late this summer.
The space features an open-kitchen style bakery on the ground and pastry kitchen on the second floor, with seating at high-top tables and banquettes. There is also a courtyard with a retractable roof and a vertical garden – growing fresh herbs to use in baking.
Most known for popularizing the Cronut, a croissant and doughnut hybrid, which took New York by storm and has since become a global phenomenon – the bakeries produce different flavours each month – past flavors include Rose Vanilla, Blackberry Lime, Fig Mascarpone and Apple Creme Fraiche.
The "Willy Wonka of NYC" is slowly expanding internationally – having opened an outpost in Tokyo and a second NYC branch – which features an eight-course dessert tasting menu. Expect the London outpost to feature unique creations using British produce and seasonal ingredients.
Eataly
Italian upmarket food chain Eataly is rumoured to have plans to open its first London food hall (slated to open late 2017) in a joint venture with Selfridges. Eataly, the international Italian food emporium that blurs the line between supermarket and restaurant offers much more than just an on-site bakery. Each outpost comprises a mixture of market-style shopping, counter dining and traditional restaurants. Expect to find everything from an upmarket grocery store, a microbrewery, several restaurants (super star chef Massimo Bottura even has a restaurant inside Eataly Istanbul), a Nutella bar and even a cooking school.
The original Eataly opened in 2007 when Italian businessman Oscar Farinetti converted a closed vermouth factory, in Turin – which The New York Times described as megastore that "combines elements of a bustling European open market, a Whole-Foods-style supermarket, a high-end food court and a New Age learning center".
The first American Eataly opened in 2010 near New York's Madison Square Park – and a second has recently been unveiled in the World Trade Center complex – which marks Eataly’s 30th location. The company is also braced for further expansion as it prepares to expand to a number of other cities in the U.S. and beyond: a Toronto and Los Angeles are on the horizon for 2017, and Hong Kong, Moscow, Munich, and Paris are all said to be in the works – the London outpost is expected to open towards the end of 2017.
For more urban news, go to urbanologie.com
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