Review: Paul – St Paul’s

I’ve had to withstand the temptation of walking by the Paul café/bakery by St Paul’s every day for 2 months or more. The window is always filled with the most delicious looking pastries and cakes, which draw my eyes hypnotically towards them. By the end of last term I caved in and went for breakfast with two friends.

First of all, I forgot that, although it’s a chain, it’s a chain in London, so of course the prices are ridiculous. This isn’t terrible if the food is amazing.

But it wasn’t. To describe it, I’ll be brief and use the age-old adage, borrowed courtesy of Mr. Shakespeare – “all that glitters isn’t gold“.

It may look delicious but somehow they managed to ruin a pain au chocolat (£1.90). How do you ruin a pain au chocolat? I have no idea. The pastry just tasted…weird…in a bad way. I shared it with two friends who also wrinkled their noses.

I also had a croque monsieur. It was tasty enough, but they definitely don’t use particularly high quality ham or even bread. I can’t remember how much I paid for this – but let’s just say it was stupid. According to their online menu, this treasure – AKA a “posh” ham-and-cheese toastie – now costs a bargain £6.50.

Now every time I walk past a Paul, I inwardly cry at all the amazing things that are just over-priced replicas of French pastries 😦 Anyone know a REAL French bakery in London that they could recommend?

Author: Phoebe Amoroso

Phoebe Amoroso is a Tokyo-based reporter, multimedia journalist and storyteller. Hailing from the UK, she moved to Japan in 2014 and has since been shouting about the country to all who will listen. She divides her time between covering breaking news and producing feature stories for TV; writing about everything from business and tech to food and travel; and guiding hungry visitors who want to sample the best of Japanese cuisine. When not working and/or eating, she can often be found running up a mountain or cycling by the sea. View all posts by Phoebe Amoroso