Belle Epoque

Their desserts are good and the service is not bad, albeit a bit indifferent from time to time but they honestly cannot make a baguette nor a croissant. In France you could say there's a difference between a boulangerie and a patisserie but this is London and they are trying to be both. Your croissant needs to be good even if it isn't great. This one is unfortunately not good.

Dive into their desserts though. Really pretty fantastic stuff.

I absolutely love this place. It is under consideration as a venue for my as-yet-fictional Gallic Gastronomy Jamz 2014 (patent pending.)

My usual routine brings me to Belle Epoque for one of their Chicken & Avocado baguettes. It is a thing of beauty - the bread is so fresh and the mustard gives it a little kick.

In the time it takes to knock up my usual hangover cure, I peruse the great array of French foodie products the cafe has to offer. Magnifique.

They are well on their way to becoming a Newington Green institution.

Belle Epoque Patisserie in Newington Green is a local delight. I often pop down on weekends to pick up an array of croissants, cakes, or breads. The varieties of croissants are always a bit warm, flaky and delicious, just as croissants should be. My favourite is the almond croissant which is dusted in with powdered sugar and perfect with coffee. To avoid disappointment on the weekend, skip sleeping in or you'll miss out, the almond croissants always seem to sell out the fastest.

Belle is a proper French cafe because in addition to having a variety of breads and croissants, they serve a diverse menu. If you are in a rush you can quickly grad a sandwich, mini pizza or salad for take away. If time permits, you can sit at one of the indoor or outdoor tables and take in a full meal. The cafe is full of dark hard wood floors and tables giving a warm feel. In addition the shelves are filled with numerous items for purchase. The goat cheese and spinach quiche, if eaten in, is served with a non-traditional salad. The salad I enjoyed had cubed beets, tomato, cucumber, snow peas and pear coleslaw. The salad was light, delicious and fresh! In my processed world, a fresh salad is a welcome joy. The quiche was equally wonderful. The blend of flavours made me saviour each bit and the perfectly golden crust added just the right contrast in texture.

I love coming to Belle Epoque! It's perfect for the morning if you just want a fresh croissant and fresh squeezed orange juice and equally perfect for the afternoon for a cappuccino and pastry or lunch.

Belle Epoque is a lovely French Cafe looking out on the expanse of Newington Green. The delicatessen and cafe make mouth watering cakes, quiches and tarts, and the bakery supplies to a number of local restaurants in Islington. On my last visit, I had a mushroom quiche which was perfectly made - soft and creamy with a crusty pie shell - and served with a variety of five salads. You can also get that to go, without the salads, for less than three quid.

The sandwiches are all made on fresh home-made bread, and the salad ingredients are also freshly sourced. As you might expect, this careful attention to the food and atmosphere makes for a finely refined cafe, which does get rather busy on the weekend. The walls are stocked with delicatessen products, from Balsamic Vinegar to homemade jam.

The cafe has free WiFi, which makes it a pleasant place to have an afternoon coffee accompanied by a mouth watering pastry. And you can pick up the hot selling croissants or an apple pie (which also comes in a smaller tart version) to go!

One of my favorite cafes in London! I come as often as I can and the small staff remembers my order. Such a homey feeling and their Americano is delicious!! Amazing French pastries, croissants, pain au chocolat and the macarons are my favorite. Great for lunch- recommend their chicken salad with avocado or a crepe. Nothing but praise for this cafe. If you're a writer I recommend it, beautiful sunny bay window overlooking newington green is inspiring :)

A small kid started playing with two of the bread balls in the baskets along the wall after crawling around on his hands and feet. A customer notified the staff about it and mentioned they should really not sell the bread but the server just ignored her. That is DISGUSTING. DO NOT BUY BREAD HERE. Their desserts are good but the service is slow and that interaction is disturbing.

This is the cutest café that is just down the road from my new house now. On my way to the bus stop the other day I popped in for a coffee. Firstly I was pleasantly surprised to see that they would serve me a filter coffee and secondly I was almost knocked to the floor with the creamy looking cakes on display. WOW!!!

Seriously I think that I could feel my arteries clogging just looking at them, pastries, breads, cakes, puffs and more waved at me from behind the the beautiful glass counter. It was like being a kiddie over again. Now with these fabulous feasts why would I not grade it higher? Well let me tell you, Alan J is right, the coffee is weak as my grandmas knees. Not bad in my mind as I don't like it too strong but if you are looking for a "hit" then this might not be for you. What is strange about this place is that it's French, even with French (snooty I might add) staff, so you'd think they would know a thing or two about coffee - apparently not.

Great cake though - oh did I say that already?

This Sunday I walked out of Belle Epoque swinging my bags by side and holding my chest up high. So proud was I with my purchases that I almost skipped my way home to accept my 'Best Girlfriend Ever' award for the French feast I was about to prepare. Warm baguette, quiche Lorraine, salmon and spinach tarts, fiddly French passion fruit cream thingy- a taste sensation guaranteed!

Or not.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the vast majority of Belle Epoque takeaway, it was good enough, but what it had promised to the eye it didn't quite deliver to the mouth. The baguette and the tart were both top notch but the quiche and dessert tasted oddly similar. By that I mean, the quiche was weirdly sweet and the pudding not sweet enough- had the quiche been topped with passion fruit seeds I would have been none the wiser as to which was which! And let me tell you about the texture of said quiche- not the light, fluffy filling I was hoping for but grossly resemblant of pannacotta. Bacony pannacotta- eurgh!

This said, Belle Epoque is still a lovely patisserie. The cafe side is a great place to hang out of a quiet afternoon with the papers and a coffee and the delicatessen side has a really beautiful selection of French goodies for your larder. Whilst after quiche-gate I'll be a little more careful with my purchases I'd still pop in to Belle Epoque for a quick caffeine fix or for some stinky (really stinky) French cheese. Not a favourite but a definite stand by.

I do like this lovely cafe. it's got a lovely location, and does do GREAT pastries. The one thing that I have a problem with is the coffee. I LOVE coffee. Particularly strong, tasty coffee. When I am at home, I almost mainline the stuff. On my last visit about 3 weeks ago, I went with one of my best girlfriends, and I ordered coffee. I should have seen a problem coming when they asked if I wanted regular or strong. I opted for strong. This was a mistake. The coffee was weak, thin, and had no flavour to speak of at all. We didn't eat, and this might have been a silly thing not to have done, but I wasn't hungry. I'm told they do make amazing cakes, and that on Saturdays they appear to be a bit like DFS, with discounts on their prices.

But sorry. In honesty, I would probably go to Starbucks (and this is me being seriously honest about the respect I hold coffee in). Or, of course, I would stay at home, and drink my Monsooned Malabar.....Ah, bliss!!!!

Alan

I'm in love with Belle Epoque's macarons.

Amazing flavours. Great variety. Reasonable price. And better than Laduree any day.