Konditor & Cook and Cake Window Shopping

   Yesterday was my ideal lazy day off: being able to wake up late and eat breakfast rolled up in my duvet on the sofa, taking the dog for a nice long walk and catching up with a friend over tea and cake.

   I get excited at the prospect of new cake places to visit, and even though Konditor & Cook is not new to my radar, I've yet to actually visit one of their shops. So yesterday, Nicola and I decided to venture through the rain, awkward TV crews and coach fulls of tourists on Shaftesbury Avenue to visit the Curzon shop.

   Nicola chose a Raspberry Chequer Cupcake which was a raspberry and vanilla chequered sponge topped with raspberry icing. I went for one of their bestsellers, a slice of Curly Wurly cake, dark chocolate sponge with vanilla bean frosting - no wonder this is a best seller, it was definitely one of the best chocolate cakes I've had in a long time...I was almost tempted to order another slice.

   Another recommendation, the best hot chocolate ever! I'm sorry but I just don't like the French style hot chocolate that can be found in places like Paul, or even the milky ones from all those coffee shop chains. Konditor & Cook's, however, is the perfect balance of chocolate and creamy goodness. Its dangerous knowing that there's another shop just 5 minutes walk from my office!

   Afterwards we did a little cake window shopping, so I thought I'd share some of the beautiful displays that we found.

Ladurée Covent Garden, Chinatown, Balthazar Boulangerie & Covent Garden Market.

Balthazar Boulangerie, Russel St.

Balthazar's Russel Street window display.

       Late last year a friend and I flew out to New York with a list of sight seeing to fill 7 days. By sight seeing I mean Sprinkle's cupcake ATM, Dylan's Candy Bar, Bosie Tea Parlour.....get the gist? At the top of this list was Balthazar's Boulangerie. I'd heard great things about their macarons and was so excited to finally try them out for myself.

     Unfortunately, Hurricane Sandy hit during our first few days in the City and those 7 days were the most surreal I've ever encountered. Our days were spent walking around for hours on end in the wind and rain observing the aftermath. I would feel bad if I said Hurricane Sandy ruined our holiday, so many lost their lives, homes and were subjected to complete devastation, we were fortunate enough to have been staying within the evacuation zone and were completely safe the whole time.

     As you can imagine, when I first heard that Balthazar was to open in London I was excited that I'd finally be able to get my sweet tooth around one of their macarons. And that's exactly what I did today. So thank you Mr. McNally for sending your sweet treats across the Atlantic for us to enjoy, you did not disappoint!

Balthazar's Russel Street bread and lunch selection.

     Unlike all the rumours I've heard, I didn't have to queue and was served immediately by a very helpful member of staff. Two different breads were recommended to me; a rosemary salted focaccia and a potato-onion roll. 

Potato-Onion Roll.

Rosemary Focaccia. 

     Both entirely different but equally as good. I tried a small hunk of each, before photographing and can safely say that the focaccia with a little bit of balsamic oil is the perfect flavour combination. The roll has a hint of caramelised onions and baked potato but however good it tastes, I'm not sure what to eat with it. Any suggestions?

     And finally on to my favourite part...the macaron. I would like to think of myself as a macaron connoisseur (I did take three trips to Paris in 2012 alone) so what I am about to say is based on my professional macaron munching opinion:

      This is the best macaron you will ever eat. I challenge anyone to prove otherwise!

     Similar to Pierre Hermé's Ispahan, this macaron au framboise sandwiches fresh lemon cream with white chocolate, fresh raspberries and a secret raspberry centre. Heavenly.

  
     The Restaurant and Boulangerie can be found peeping out of Russel Street on the corner of Wellington Street. I just hope that the wholesale boulangerie in Waterloo arches is open to the public soon, then I can stop by on my route to work.

And here's some pictures from NYC!