rose bakery, dover street market

rose bakery, dover street market

rose bakery looks like a polished industrial unit with its grey-silver surfaces. the tableware is grey-green and is very sturdy, as are the cast iron teapots. cakes in hues of yellow progressing to orange and chocolate are seated on the long length of counter. the carrot cake is impressive. it is shaped like an angular cup cake with a crown of frosting. the space is fragranced by a spiced crumble warming itself in the oven behind the counter.

i was introduced to rose bakery by t, the brains behind the london review cake shop. it’s hidden away on the fourth floor of dover street market, the independent and swanky outpost of tokyo based designer rei kawakubo. on my first visit there t and i had large bowls of chickpea and spinach soup. there is no other way to describe the soup than by saying it had received ‘mayfair’ treatment. rose bakery’s version of spinach and chickpea soup is sophisticated. it  had been pureed to the point that it still retained texture. it was a substantial soup with roasted flavours and was decorated with a flourish of fruity olive oil and a hint of parsley. it was exceptionally good.

date scones

o and i returned a couple of weeks later for afternoon tea. it was the week that he had become british and so we decided to go the traditional route and have scones and tea. although not the traditional kind (wholemeal and date) they were excellent because they had all the characteristics of a classic scone. endearingly irregular, they had a golden brown top and were easy to break open into half with out using a knife. most importantly they had that lingering aftertaste of soda that comes a combination of leavening agents. they were accompanied by a pat of butter and two kinds of jam. i had a yellow-orange fresh fig jam and o a blue-purple morello cherry. the jams were more fruity than sweet which was perfect. i just wish that the butter had been clotted cream. to me scones are never complete without that dense, almost yellow cream.

dover street market

come to rose bakery if you happen to be around mayfair and want a cup of tea and something sweet. you are unlikely to be disappointed. i for one am planning a return for the carrot cake.