If there’s one thing the French really know how to do, it’s how to open a good bakery – we could get fat just looking in the window of a boulangerie. So one fine weekend we made a trip to the recently opened Halva, an independent bakery and cafe on Fulham Road, to sample some of their good stuff. The cafe is light and airy, with a scattering of marble tables for those that want to sit in and a glass cabinet of fancies which grabs your eye immediately.
Everything from the croissants to the cakes are prepared fresh daily by the in-house pastry chef. We scanned the goods on offer – fresh baguettes stacked on shelves, cupcakes and tarts lined up next to each other, and a countertop loaded with patisseries – before taking our pick. Starting savoury, we munched down on a delicious brioche bun filled with mozzarella & pesto. Then came the sweet in the form of a cinnamon bun and miniature chocolate scones (sadly without cream as they’d run out – much to our devastation) and the most beautiful of macarons which disappeared in a flash.
We filled up quicker than we’d expected leaving no room to try their insane selection of patisseries. But then, that’s probably a good thing… So if you want a hell-ALVA SWEET fix it’s obviously HALVA.