I somehow once thought that this was one of those special discoveries you make that nobody else knows about. How wrong was I!
No matter, every visit here is still one of pure joy. I need to stop ordering the chocolate bomb, but I can't. Again, no matter... Perfect for a date and showing off to anyone who hasn't yet had the pleasure of Miason Bertaux.
‘London’s oldest (and best) patisserie’ claim Maison Bertuax, the Covent Garden institution of cream filled pastries and dainty tarts. A bold claim but with a shop front that’s straight out of a Roald Dahl creation and a dream like interior, I think that the boast stands up.
At the shallow end of Greek Street it glows with a sense of adventure that stems from far more than the fine array of cakes inside. It attracts the dandiest as well as the most rigid of pedestrians with its colourful approach to café culture shielding the outside with its swathes of hot pink netting beneath its Breton striped awning. Everything about it is self absorbed, which makes it fine to visit alone, or maybe with just one other. It’s intimate and huddled with both its floors crammed with furniture that thrusts you into the shoulders of strangers. The neutral tones on the walls are decorated with knick-knacks and photographs and it also doubles as the Gallery Maison-Bertaux, exhibiting works by Noel Fielding, among others.
The cakes themselves are only a small part of the attraction of this one-off but they’re not to be forgotten. The ultra sickly chocolate bomb gets you every time, while there are also plenty of fruitier tarts and cupcakes to delve into and all of them should be accompanied by a pot of tea or two. This is café chic that will inspire the most cynical.