Top 10: London’s Best Banana BreadBy Alicia Grimshaw
Do you want to find the best banana bread in London? Well, you’re in luck. We’ve teamed up with our friends at Billington’s to discover London’s best banana bread, as part of Billington’s Cake Week. Follow them on Twitter here to see more sweet goodness. In the name of journalism, we ate our way around London’s banana bread offerings (tough job, we know) to find London’s best bites – get involved:
1. For the Banana Bread Sandwich: Daisy Green
Order: Banana bread sandwich served with mascarpone and fresh berries (£6.50)
The Lowdown: Daisy Green is an Instagrammer’s dream. Think fun, kitsch decor, comfy chairs and delicious Aussie-inspired food. Come here for weekend brunch – there’s The Big Aussie, with eggs, bacon and avocado, and some of the best coffee you’ll find in London. They’ve branched out, and now have multiple locations across the city – downstairs at their Marble Arch branch is our happy place.
The Bread: Their banana bread is world famous –-and you can try it in an amazing banana bread sandwich with berries and mascarpone cheese, which is simply divine. Don’t leave here without ordering a mocha, their coffee has to be tasted to be believed.
Where: Locations here
2. For the Full Works: Frizzante Cafe
Order: Canadian Brunch – toasted homemade banana bread, grilled back bacon, free range scrambled eggs and 100% pure maple syrup (£8.50)
The Lowdown: Frizzante Cafe offers a slice of rural Italy in East London. They’re big fans of sourcing the best produce from small suppliers, using locally roasted coffee, community vegetable schemes and independent fresh fish suppliers. It’s not just the food that’s damn tasty – you always receive service with a smile at Frizzante.
The Bread: Banana bread, bacon, maple syrup and scrambled eggs seem like an odd combination, but we’ll tell you this friends, it’s not. The eggs are creamy, the banana bread isn’t overly doughy and the maple syrups brings this plate of food together. We’re seriously considering ditching our British fry up for this beauty.
Where: 1a Goldsmiths Row, London E2 8QA
3. For the Toasted Bread: Brickwood
Order: Grilled Banana and walnut bread with espresso butter (£4)
The Lowdown: Oh Brickwood, how we love your exposed brick walls and rustic wooden tables – this is a coffee shop done very, very well. Pair good coffee with heavenly brunch dishes and you’ve got yourself a winning formula. Like every breakfast menu they offer the classic granola, but the chaps at Brickwood also bake a gluten and dairy-free orange and almond cake, perfect to munch on the morning commute.
The Bread: Where to start, where to start. Well, we’ll start by telling you that the banana bread is served toasted (winner). Add on the punchy espresso butter and watch it melt, before you dig in. The walnuts adds a sweet, nuttiness to the slice and we can’t get enough of it.
Where: 16, Clapham Common South Side, Lambeth, SW4 7AB and 11 Hildreth Street, Balham, SW12 9RQ.
4. For the Classic Banana Bread: Kaffeine
Order: Banana bread (£2.50)
The Lowdown: If you know your beans, you’ll know about Kaffeine. Since opening in 2009, this Aussie joint has been whipping up coffee made with skill and love ever since. They’re without doubt, the trailblazers of the London coffee scene. Alongside their beverages, they also serve a selection of deli-style sandwiches, cakes and pastries.
The Bread: You have to hand it to the team down at Kaffeine, they’ve kept their food offering simple, with their toasted banana bread a nod to that ethos. The banana bread is served toasted with butter. Job done. Simple, but oh so delicious.
Where: 66 Great Titchfield St, London W1W 7QJ
Photo Credit: sophsdishes
5. For Bread at Breakfast: Brew Cafe
Order: Toasted banana bread with with hung honeyed yoghurt and pistachios (£5.90)
The Lowdown: This small cafe offers creative breakfasts, plus modern Mediterranean lunches and evening meals. If you’re looking for value for money, you can’t get much better than Brew Cafe. Come for homey vibes and a lovely neighbourhood feel.
The Bread: Hung yogurt is a thicker and creamier version of its Greek cousin, and when it’s topped with honey and pistachios, you can’t go wrong. The banana bread is warmed slightly, and the perfect base for the yogurt. We’d go so far as to say – it’s a plate of happiness.
Where: Locations here
6. For a Salted Banana Bread: Lantana
Order: Toasted banana bread with mascarpone, banana custard and salted chocolate crumb (£6)
The Story: Aussie owned, this quaint cafe is somewhere you would find abroad, not down a side street just off Goodge Street. For a relaxed weekend brunch, you can’t beat Lantana Cafe – with locations in Fitzrovia, Shoredicth and Camden, this cafe serves up some wickedly good brunch dishes.
The Bread: Their banana bread is the stuff of legends; the toasted banana bread with mascarpone, banana custard and salted chocolate crumb is one of the most delicious, decadent things you’ll ever try. And yes, banana bread for breakfast is perfectly acceptable.
Where: Locations here
7. For the Nutty Banana Bread: Salon
Order: Warm banana bread with hazelnut ganache (£3.50)
The Story: Come here for inventive and wonderful breakfast dishes – the granola, rhubarb, yogurt, blood orange is sensational. If you like eggs, you can’t miss their scrambled eggs and ‘nduja on toast, trust mus Salon, where ex-Brunswick House Café head chef Nicholas Balfe is cooking, is a small restaurant, seating about 26, above the British deli Cannon & Cannon on Brixton’s Market Row. For inventive, seasonal food, it simply cannot be beaten.
The Bread: Anywhere that sells banana bread as a brunch dish, gets our vote. The hazelnut ganache is basically a homemade Nutella – it’s totally chocolatey and rich. The banana bread is super moist and if we’re really honest, one slice is not enough.
Where: 18 Market Row, Coldharbour Ln, London SW9 8LD
Photo Credit: La Fashion Folie
8. For the Fruity Banana Bread: Ginger and White
Order: Toasted banana bread with vanilla cream cheese, toasted almonds and poached fruit
The Lowdown: Fuse the Australian and New Zealand cafe scene together with humble food from British ‘caffs’ and you get Ginger and White. Serving well-loved classic breakfast dishes of beans on toast and bacon baps using ingredients sourced from local farmers markets. You can certainly taste the difference – this is good, honest food made well and given the love it so rightly deserves.
The Bread: Poached fruit and banana bread is a match made in foodie heaven. The sweetness of the fruit cuts through the slightly savoury cream cheese. The banana bread gives us all the nostalgic feels – homemade and wholesome.
Where: 2 England’s Ln, London NW3 4TG
Photo Credit: el_fran92
9. For the Sweet Banana Bread: Nude Espresso
Order: Toasted banana bread and honeycomb butter (£6)
The Lowdown: Nude Espresso not only roasts the finest coffee beans around, but they also have two cafes in the capital. Combine New Zealand ingenuity with a large dash of East End playfulness, and you end up with Nude Espresso. Their caffeine creations draws crowds from near and far, and their freshly baked brownies, flapjacks, muffins and cookies make the perfect coffee companion.
The Bread: Honeycomb butter? Yes, you heard correctly. The butter is silky, and incredibly sweet. The banana bread packs a banana-y punch. Served toasted, the honeycombe butter seeps into the cake-y bread for the ultimate afternoon pick me up.
Where: 26 Hanbury St, London E1 6QR
Photo Credit: Steakandteeth.com
10. For the Gluten-Free Banana Bread: Clean and Lean Cafe
Order: Almond butter and banana bread
The Story: Clean and Lean Cafe in Notting Hill is frequented by the gym bunny and yummy mummy crowd – don’t let the sea of lycra deter you. The cafe is all about feeding your body with tip top food, making your insides feel great. They’re on a mission to create unprocessed, dishes that are still vibrant and tasty.
The Bread: The bread is free from gluten, dairy, refined sugar and is suitable for vegans. We’ll tell you this – it’s not free from flavour. Thanks to the use of coconut oil and coconut milk, the bread is moist and squishy. We’re not about this clean eating malarky, and we certainly ain’t lean – but we do enjoy a good ol’ slice of this bread.
Where: 222 – 224 Westbourne Grove, London, W11 2RH
Want to make a delicious breakfast at home? Try Billington’s apple doughnut muffins!
METHOD
- Preheat the oven to 190°C (170°C fan, gas mark 6).
- Mix the dry ingredients together and cut in the butter. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles a crumble mix.
- Whisk the egg, milk, vanilla extract and grated apple together in a separate bowl.
- Mix the wet ingredients with the dry until just incorporated.
- Pour the batter into a lightly greased mini muffin tin and bake at 190°C for 10-15 minutes until slightly golden.
- Once baked, dip the muffins in melted butter then roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Sponsored post in association with Billington’s as part of Billington’s Cake Week
