5 Best Places for French Food in London according to Manon Lagrève

Toklas Restaurant chips, panisse and salad

Great British Bake Off Star Manon Lagrève shares cake with me and Emma Pudge at Toklas Bakery and gives us her top tips for French food in London.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts! (It’s Episode 14 – please subscribe! It’s the small plus or follow button☺️)

Or watch on YouTube!

First, the London restaurant and cake recommendations mentioned by Emma Pudge in this week’s episode:

Emma is currently loving Sessions Arts Club (as well as Toklas, and others, which I’m sure she’ll share on a future podcast).

The 20 Best slices of Cake in London.

The 14 Places to get Basque Cheesecake in London.

And now:

The 5 Best Places for French Food in London

Manon recommends seeking out set lunch deals and shares these as places you’ll get great French food in London:

Trinity is Michelin-starred and the most expensive of the list, but Manon points out that you don’t need to spend a lot to have excellent French food. Though if you can afford it, Trinity should be on your list!

Listen to the full chat on The Next Delicious Thing podcast, here:

Do you have a favourite place for French food in London? Let me know in the comments below or send me an email!

Read the transcript of our chat here:

Jennifer Earle  00:00

I’m back again, so soon! As promised, here is my chat with Emma Pudge and Manon Lagreve. And I just want to say again, I’m very sorry about the sound. I will not record in a restaurant where there are other people again or anywhere without figuring out some kind of better technology. You live and you learn.  If you’re interested in just reading, then the YouTube episode will have the captions or you can read the transcript if you go to thenextdeliciousthing.com and search for Manon Lagreve, Toklas or Emma Pudge. You’ll find this chat in its entirety.  You’ll also find a list of all the things that Emma recommends and Manon recommends. If you stuck with yesterday’s sound, this is worse. There was one other table in the restaurant and I was sure they were about to leave, but they did not. I didn’t realise how bad the sound was until I got home. Manon and Emma shared so many fascinating things. I really wanted to publish it anyway. But yeah, please forgive the sound. And you can always just head straight to thenextdeliciousthing.com for the things that they recommend.  If you’re not familiar with Manon and Emma: Emma is a social media queen. She takes photos for restaurants, which is how we ended up in Toklas. And is a brilliant connector. She is @emmahitsthespot on Instagram. Manon you might recognise when you hear her voice from the Great British Bake Off in 2018. She is fabulous to watch on Instagram, and she shares lots of recipes as well. And she has a gorgeous daughter who you might hear in the background. Manon, do you have a book coming out? Yes?

Manon Lagreve  01:45

Yes. So you know I’ve been doing recipes. Very much like French baking since 2018 After Bake Off. And then finally I’m working on my book. So yeah, I can’t tell you too much about it yet. But, it’ll be out in spring 2023. It is going to be  beautiful, some simple recipes for non bakers. Because my baking is all about you don’t have to be a baker to bake in France, you make a cake. 

Jennifer Earle  02:08

Isn’t yogurt cake one of the most famous things that all French children learn? 

Manon Lagreve  02:15

Yeah, that’s my first cake. And that’s probably gonna be her first cake. So my daughter’s first cake. 

Jennifer Earle  02:27

So why did you particularly want us to come and eat here? 

Emma Pudge  02:32

So I think that Toklas is one of the most exciting up and coming bakery and restaurant kind of partnerships. And I think it’s really interesting that the founders are from an art background, and that they’re really treating food as art, which I think is a kind of interesting thing we’re seeing across restaurants in general at the moment. Of course, we’ve also another great love of mine at the moment is Sessions Arts Club, which is an amazing painter and Chef collaboration. And yet we also at the same time have these really minimalist restaurants that believe that their food is art and will not put any art on the walls. And I think what they’re doing here is a really interesting blend of the two, right bang in the centre of London on the Strand. I think it has the potential to become a really iconic kind of food cultural hub that people should get to know about whilst you can still get a table. 

Jennifer Earle  03:23

The founders founded Frieze magazine more than 30 years ago, and also the Frieze Art Festival and they stepped away from it in 2016. But are still part owners. Apparently they met a university at which is really cool that they’ve known each other for so long. They originally had a plan to set up a restaurant. And then when some family friends lost money in a restaurant, yeah … they decided not to. But then they were given the opportunity when Frieze moved their offices into this building. This space was available and they’re like, What do you want to do with it? And they said “let’s do that restaurant”. So, here we are! 

Emma Pudge  04:02

I think the other thing that really drew me to Toklas is that I I really try and form relationships with chefs at different restaurants as I’m enjoying what they do, and Head Baker, Janine Edwards, is someone who I’ve known for a number of years. You would have heard from her already, but essentially I fell in love with Viennoiserie she was doing at Robin Gill’s restaurant in Embassy Gardens, Derby’s. She baked for me throughout lockdown. In that weird stage of lockdown where restaurants became delis and grocers. And then she was Head Baker at Rye by the Water, which again is one of the bakeries I recommend most. I actually bought Manon some pastries when I realised that Manon had moved into my area,.

Manon Lagreve  04:02

They were delicious. 

Emma Pudge  04:44

And I think that speaks to something I try and do in general, which is to shine a spotlight on the people making the food who aren’t necessarily the name owners of the restaurant. And I think if you discover someone who’s very talented, follow them as they move on to their next adventure. I know Janine enjoyed where she was working and they are places I still think you need to visit. But it’s really exciting to see how she’s tempted to take over this very different spot. 

Jennifer Earle  05:12

I love that it’s a restaurant that cares so much about bread and baked products. So they have a bakery attached, and also makes it accessible to everybody, as well. So everybody can come and have something without missing anything, and it may not be able to sit and enjoy a whole meal. 

Emma Pudge  05:29

And I think that’s really interesting from the art perspective as well, because art has this real tradition of being inaccessible. And finding that kind of like beauty in the small things. I also think that Toklas is exceptionally well priced as a bakery. You can get like savoury slices, like under two pounds, which is still made with like top quality ingredients, that Pump Street Chocolate chocolate cookie, I think is £1.75 or something like that. 

Jennifer Earle  06:00

£1.50, yeah. 

Manon Lagreve  06:02

Which in London like…. 

Jennifer Earle  06:03

It’s really good. 

Emma Pudge  06:04

It’s really good. And I think that’s so important, particularly when a lot of the time though restaurants that do most interesting things of food are not accessible to people who are even working within food, because as we know, this industry is not always the best paid. And yeah, I think what they’re doing here is really kind of inverting this area and doing something really exciting. 

Jennifer Earle  06:29

I love that they and they did really want it to be accessible to people who work in food and be the kind of p;ace like, let’s just go to like the River Cafe (NB: this one is NOT cheap, but it is a hospitality favourite) and Rochelle Canteen and other places.  The head chef is Martin Lyons and he worked with Ollie at Dabous, and also at Spring. And Moro, as well. So the whole idea of the food here is supposed to be like Mediterranean light and fresh fish and vegetable heavy. There’s no red meat on the menu. 

Manon Lagreve  07:05

Which I mean, I’m so sorry that so many people that I know go to a good restaurant and always have a steak and I find this, sorry, that it’s so boring. You know, like, especially if you go to a restaurant, you know that it’s not their speciality, why get a steak? 

Jennifer Earle  07:19

Yes, exactly! Like ice cream. I just can’t bring myself to order ice cream at a restaurant. 

Emma Pudge  07:24

I was the one who said I have ordered an ice cream here at Toklas before, which we don’t have today. But they make their own ice creams and sorbets, particularly delicious is the mandarin. It’s exquisite.  The citrus here is a real strength of the restaurant, they work really closely with a citrus foundation, and they get it as fresh as it comes. And to come here and even just get a glass of orange juice is a real delight. On my first visit, I left the bakery with a load of baked goods, and a satsuma and it was the best Satsuma I’ve ever tasted.

Jennifer Earle  08:04

Janine was saying that they tried 80 different varieties when they went to the producers that they work with.

Emma Pudge  08:09

And they came back and they actually laid it all out on the table. And they had like pomelos and all the different citrus. And I think I think the level of specifications to what they’re using is is they’re very intentional with all of their ingredients and I really like the way that you can see that continuity throughout all of their bakes. Like citrus is is a really strong influence but they use it in so many different ways. 

Manon Lagreve  08:37

Hmm . I’m really excited to try. Is that apricot on top? 

Emma Pudge  08:42

Loquats.

Manon Lagreve  08:44

Oh wow. 

Emma Pudge  08:44

Is that how you say it?

Jennifer Earle  08:46

Yes.

Emma Pudge  08:47

So what are we going to try?

Jennifer Earle  08:48

Okay, so shall we taste? 

Manon Lagreve  08:50

Ok, shall we say what it is?

Jennifer Earle  08:51

So this is Loquat tart and this is where they’ve used the heritage grains in the pastry – the same that they use in the bakery.So, Loquat is a stone fruit and then we have the chocolate cake.

Emma Pudge  08:51

Yeah, so they named as simply as as chocolate cake and it is pretty much what it says on the tin It’s inspired by the classic River Cafe chocolate Nemesis so it’s it’s super rich, but super, like almost, with a sort of mousse or truffle-like consistency. 

Manon Lagreve  09:09

So the frangipane looks like it’s got other… what does it have …walnuts? Looks like almonds… Nice and rich. 

Jennifer Earle  09:55

That is very buttery.

Manon Lagreve  10:02

Yeah, very rich. It’s so good. Let me try with that “Lumquat” is that what you said? 

Jennifer Earle  10:08

Loquat

Manon Lagreve  10:09

Loquat. Where are they from? 

Jennifer Earle  10:14

So this is native to China. It’s also known as a Japanese plum, or a Japanese medlar. Orange, orange small stonefruit.

Manon Lagreve  10:29

It’s quite jammy, isn’t yet? 

Emma Pudge  10:33

 I know what I really like about this frangipane it is exceptionally moist.

Jennifer Earle  10:37

It’s really got quite a lot of texture. It’s exceptionally moist. So, the nuts aren’t ground down.

Emma Pudge  10:41

And I was going to say,  I’ve eaten, I’d say these two desserts are really kind of interesting reflection to my favourite desserts in London that have been kind of replicated across loads of menus, but can be so different from place to place. I think kind of a chocolate Nemesis style cake. And an almond tart are two of the desserts that I see most often and I think that I think there’s scope for an entire book on the best almond tart and renditions on the chocolate nemesis.

Jennifer Earle  11:10

Perhaps do another Eater article?

Manon Lagreve  11:12

Exactly. 

Emma Pudge  11:12

Oh, I have actually pitched that as an idea. If anyone else would like to commission me. Please. Emma has written one about cheesecake and cake slices as well. So we’ll link to those. 

Jennifer Earle  11:26

At thenextdeliciousthing.com.

Emma Pudge  11:26

Yeah. 

Manon Lagreve  11:29

Okay, shall we try this? 

Jennifer Earle  11:32

It smells orangey. 

Manon Lagreve  11:34

Oh, yeah? It is kind of like a mousse.  

Jennifer Earle  11:42

It’s definitely orangey. It’s really very moussey. I’d be surprised like, callling that chocolate cake, like you say, makes me … I probably wouldn’t order it in a place that isn’t as nice as this because I saw chocolate cake I’d just be like”meh”.

Emma Pudge  11:59

I do think there is this kind of … like nostalgia and desserts and lots of places are giving things very unadorned names, but they’re not always the most helpful. They’re not always the most descriptive.

Jennifer Earle  12:13

At least so say chocolate cake. I mean so many restaurants you go and it just says “chocolate, pistachio” and you’re like “what is that?”

Emma Pudge  12:13

I need more than the ingredients.

Jennifer Earle  12:21

I don’t want the components. I’d like to know what are we eating? 

Manon Lagreve  12:24

Well, you see I don’t know if it’s the French in me… It is so delicious, but I’m not a chocolate and orange type of girl. I find it perfect and it is so delicious. But for me, without the orange. 

Jennifer Earle  12:35

Yeah, same. So I’m I ate so many Terry’s Chocolate Oranges when I was growing up, but now I’m not a fan of orange. 

Manon Lagreve  12:38

As far as it goes it is so so delicious. 

Jennifer Earle  12:46

I can see why they”ve used orange because it looks like you know, their citrus is there thing.

Emma Pudge  12:49

Are we allowed to discuss other places? 

Jennifer Earle  12:53

Of course, this is The Next Delicious Thing I would like to know where you would recommend people to go to particularly like for French food in London?

Manon Lagreve  13:01

For French food. Okay, so there is Trinity which is in Clapham, which is like incredible, amazing kind of if you want a Michelin star dinner, it’s incredible. And then in Bermondsey, there’s Casse Croute which is like super fun, typical French food. Then you can go around Angel, there’s loads of places as well. In one especially I had an amazing confit canard, you know, confit duck, you know, it is a classic, but for me, it’s one of my favourite things that reminds me of home. But yeah, I would say go for them.  Blanchette is really nice as well. You know, I would say don’t go to that kind of like… Trinity’s in a specific one. But I feel like you don’t have to spend too much money for it. Like go for lunch as well. I feel like French restaurant always have a great kind of lunch deal. Or even there’s Frenchie in Covent Garden, which is delicious, have an amazing lunch deal. Because yet people in farms, they work and they go to a restaurant every single day and you have an hour and a half to eat. In Paris I had an hour and a half and everyone went to restaurants .

Emma Pudge  14:14

They have actually introduced a set lunch here as well, and a pre dinner a pre-theatre, early evening meal as well.. And it’s a great location. So anything going on at Somerset House, in the West End and you’re in prime position.

Jennifer Earle  14:36

And if you have a favourite croissant? I’m going to be doing an episode on croissants because I know French croissants are quite different from what you find generally.

Manon Lagreve  14:44

Yes. Favourite croissant…I don’t know for me, it’s mostly about memories. So I’ll probably tell you is like the croissant of my hometown. And there were two bakeries and we always knew where this one was from and it’s just … you know 4000 people and there were four bakeries. 

Jennifer Earle  15:03

Wow. 

Manon Lagreve  15:04

Four boulangeries because people buy their bread and croissants every day.

Jennifer Earle  15:08

That’s amazing. I need to go and live in France. I just need to learn a bit more French.  You need to taste the cookie. 

Manon Lagreve  15:19

So which one? Is it this one? 

Jennifer Earle  15:21

Yeah so tahini and this one is chocolate. It’s on a blog post that I did. Just the best chocolate biscuits, which is different from cookies.  One of my favourites. 

Manon Lagreve  15:33

Does it have honey? 

Emma Pudge  15:35

Yes it’s got honey. Toklas have actually recently started home delivery on their baked goods and you can get these delivered either one or half dozen cookies which is very tempting. The delivery radius is really wide. 

Jennifer Earle  15:52

It’s all London postcodes right? So this is the croissant, and a laminated brioche, the tahini cookie. So before Manon and Fleur have to go.

Manon Lagreve  16:03

She loves croissants already.

Jennifer Earle  16:10

Maya always asks, “Are we going to a bakery today?” That’s what she asks every morning. “Are we going to a bakery or are we going to nursery?”  “Today we’re going to nursery, tomorrow we’ll go to a bakery.”

Manon Lagreve  16:22

So crunchy.

Emma Pudge  16:23

I really like the density of it Yes. Like yeah, look how much I’m putting out I know. 

Manon Lagreve  16:28

I mean the middle is always best bit. No, please have it. I’m not saying that for me to have it. I’m gonna have a bit of crunchy

Emma Pudge  16:31

Yes. Do you want to share some middle?

Manon Lagreve  16:40

And look at the lamination. Amazing. 

Jennifer Earle  16:42

I love the kind of … like this where you can peel off every layer.

Emma Pudge  16:50

I have for a long time said I think that Janine makes the finest croissants.

16:56

I mean, the look absolutely perfect. As far as croissants go. 

Jennifer Earle  17:04

I love the balance of salt and sugar in this one. Sometimes they’re like really salty  and other times very sweet. 

Manon Lagreve  17:13

Well, I guess I think, you know, French baking salty, like savoury, to balance sweet is kind of the nature of most French baking. I always bake with salted butter.

Jennifer Earle  17:25

Really? Do you find a difference in the amount of salt salt in the bucket here versus France?

Manon Lagreve  17:33

Yes. Well, you get like President butter. But also because I’m from Brittany and in Brittany our butters are very salty.

Emma Pudge  17:41

What butter are you buying at home? 

Manon Lagreve  17:43

At home we just buy … I mean, we’re lucky again, like we live next to Elevate which is a massive kind of bakery / cremerie so we buy from there. I don’t think it’s available in here. 

Emma Pudge  17:56

What are you buying here in the UK? 

Manon Lagreve  17:58

I buy President. Mostly President. 

Emma Pudge  18:00

I love Ampersand Dairy.

Jennifer Earle  18:02

That’s not easily available. But cultured butter, it’s amazing.  

Emma Pudge  18:07

I think the Estate Dairy’s very good, very, very good. Places making their own butter as well, which is always really nice to see. 

Manon Lagreve  18:16

True. I mean, when if you go to a restaurant, if there’s good bread and butter, you know that you’re gonna have good meal. That’s always my rule. 

Jennifer Earle  18:22

It’s funny. That’s another one of those things… like” bread and butter?”.  If it’s a good restaurant,I do want the bread and butter. But otherwise I’m here for…

Manon Lagreve  18:29

Exactly. All right. Then I think we’re going to say bye, bye. Au revoir. Merci beaucoup por la croissant. Thank you so much.

Jennifer Earle  18:46

I’m going to link to both of these guys in the show notes and follow them both. 

Manon Lagreve  18:52

Yeah, thank you for tasting. It was so delicious. Totally recommend the tart. It’s a winner.

Jennifer Earle  19:24

Thanks so much for listening. That was a kind of an abrupt end. We had planned to come back and talk some more but hopefully you found what we shared interesting and I do have some great conversations coming up for future episodes. So make sure that you are subscribed. Tell a friend and I will chat to you again next week. Take care and I wish you a very happy eating.

Jennifer Earle  00:00

I’m back again, so soon! As promised, here is my chat with Emma Pudge and Manon Lagreve. And I just want to say again, I’m very sorry about the sound. I will not record in a restaurant where there are other people again or anywhere without figuring out some kind of better technology. You live and you learn.  If you’re interested in just reading, then the YouTube episode will have the captions or you can read the transcript if you go to thenextdeliciousthing.com and search for Manon Lagreve, Toklas or Emma Pudge. You’ll find this chat in its entirety.  You’ll also find a list of all the things that Emma recommends and Manon recommends. If you stuck with yesterday’s sound, this is worse. There was one other table in the restaurant and I was sure they were about to leave, but they did not. I didn’t realise how bad the sound was until I got home. Manon and Emma shared so many fascinating things. I really wanted to publish it anyway. But yeah, please forgive the sound. And you can always just head straight to thenextdeliciousthing.com for the things that they recommend.  If you’re not familiar with Manon and Emma: Emma is a social media queen. She takes photos for restaurants, which is how we ended up in Toklas. And is a brilliant connector. She is @emmahitsthespot on Instagram. Manon you might recognise when you hear her voice from the Great British Bake Off in 2018. She is fabulous to watch on Instagram, and she shares lots of recipes as well. And she has a gorgeous daughter who you might hear in the background. Manon, do you have a book coming out? Yes?

Manon Lagreve  01:45

Yes. So you know I’ve been doing recipes. Very much like French baking since 2018 After Bake Off. And then finally I’m working on my book. So yeah, I can’t tell you too much about it yet. But, it’ll be out in spring 2023. It is going to be  beautiful, some simple recipes for non bakers. Because my baking is all about you don’t have to be a baker to bake in France, you make a cake. 

Jennifer Earle  02:08

Isn’t yogurt cake one of the most famous things that all French children learn? 

Manon Lagreve  02:15

Yeah, that’s my first cake. And that’s probably gonna be her first cake. So my daughter’s first cake. 

Jennifer Earle  02:27

So why did you particularly want us to come and eat here? 

Emma Pudge  02:32

So I think that Toklas is one of the most exciting up and coming bakery and restaurant kind of partnerships. And I think it’s really interesting that the founders are from an art background, and that they’re really treating food as art, which I think is a kind of interesting thing we’re seeing across restaurants in general at the moment. Of course, we’ve also another great love of mine at the moment is Sessions Arts Club, which is an amazing painter and Chef collaboration. And yet we also at the same time have these really minimalist restaurants that believe that their food is art and will not put any art on the walls. And I think what they’re doing here is a really interesting blend of the two, right bang in the centre of London on the Strand. I think it has the potential to become a really iconic kind of food cultural hub that people should get to know about whilst you can still get a table. 

Jennifer Earle  03:23

The founders founded Frieze magazine more than 30 years ago, and also the Frieze Art Festival and they stepped away from it in 2016. But are still part owners. Apparently they met a university at which is really cool that they’ve known each other for so long. They originally had a plan to set up a restaurant. And then when some family friends lost money in a restaurant, yeah … they decided not to. But then they were given the opportunity when Frieze moved their offices into this building. This space was available and they’re like, What do you want to do with it? And they said “let’s do that restaurant”. So, here we are! 

Emma Pudge  04:02

I think the other thing that really drew me to Toklas is that I I really try and form relationships with chefs at different restaurants as I’m enjoying what they do, and Head Baker, Janine Edwards, is someone who I’ve known for a number of years. You would have heard from her already, but essentially I fell in love with Viennoiserie she was doing at Robin Gill’s restaurant in Embassy Gardens, Derby’s. She baked for me throughout lockdown. In that weird stage of lockdown where restaurants became delis and grocers. And then she was Head Baker at Rye by the Water, which again is one of the bakeries I recommend most. I actually bought Manon some pastries when I realised that Manon had moved into my area,.

Manon Lagreve  04:02

They were delicious. 

Emma Pudge  04:44

And I think that speaks to something I try and do in general, which is to shine a spotlight on the people making the food who aren’t necessarily the name owners of the restaurant. And I think if you discover someone who’s very talented, follow them as they move on to their next adventure. I know Janine enjoyed where she was working and they are places I still think you need to visit. But it’s really exciting to see how she’s tempted to take over this very different spot. 

Jennifer Earle  05:12

I love that it’s a restaurant that cares so much about bread and baked products. So they have a bakery attached, and also makes it accessible to everybody, as well. So everybody can come and have something without missing anything, and it may not be able to sit and enjoy a whole meal. 

Emma Pudge  05:29

And I think that’s really interesting from the art perspective as well, because art has this real tradition of being inaccessible. And finding that kind of like beauty in the small things. I also think that Toklas is exceptionally well priced as a bakery. You can get like savoury slices, like under two pounds, which is still made with like top quality ingredients, that Pump Street Chocolate chocolate cookie, I think is £1.75 or something like that. 

Jennifer Earle  06:00

£1.50, yeah. 

Manon Lagreve  06:02

Which in London like…. 

Jennifer Earle  06:03

It’s really good. 

Emma Pudge  06:04

It’s really good. And I think that’s so important, particularly when a lot of the time though restaurants that do most interesting things of food are not accessible to people who are even working within food, because as we know, this industry is not always the best paid. And yeah, I think what they’re doing here is really kind of inverting this area and doing something really exciting. 

Jennifer Earle  06:29

I love that they and they did really want it to be accessible to people who work in food and be the kind of p;ace like, let’s just go to like the River Cafe (NB: this one is NOT cheap, but it is a hospitality favourite) and Rochelle Canteen and other places.  The head chef is Martin Lyons and he worked with Ollie at Dabous, and also at Spring. And Moro, as well. So the whole idea of the food here is supposed to be like Mediterranean light and fresh fish and vegetable heavy. There’s no red meat on the menu. 

Manon Lagreve  07:05

Which I mean, I’m so sorry that so many people that I know go to a good restaurant and always have a steak and I find this, sorry, that it’s so boring. You know, like, especially if you go to a restaurant, you know that it’s not their speciality, why get a steak? 

Jennifer Earle  07:19

Yes, exactly! Like ice cream. I just can’t bring myself to order ice cream at a restaurant. 

Emma Pudge  07:24

I was the one who said I have ordered an ice cream here at Toklas before, which we don’t have today. But they make their own ice creams and sorbets, particularly delicious is the mandarin. It’s exquisite.  The citrus here is a real strength of the restaurant, they work really closely with a citrus foundation, and they get it as fresh as it comes. And to come here and even just get a glass of orange juice is a real delight. On my first visit, I left the bakery with a load of baked goods, and a satsuma and it was the best Satsuma I’ve ever tasted.

Jennifer Earle  08:04

Janine was saying that they tried 80 different varieties when they went to the producers that they work with.

Emma Pudge  08:09

And they came back and they actually laid it all out on the table. And they had like pomelos and all the different citrus. And I think I think the level of specifications to what they’re using is is they’re very intentional with all of their ingredients and I really like the way that you can see that continuity throughout all of their bakes. Like citrus is is a really strong influence but they use it in so many different ways. 

Manon Lagreve  08:37

Hmm . I’m really excited to try. Is that apricot on top? 

Emma Pudge  08:42

Loquats.

Manon Lagreve  08:44

Oh wow. 

Emma Pudge  08:44

Is that how you say it?

Jennifer Earle  08:46

Yes.

Emma Pudge  08:47

So what are we going to try?

Jennifer Earle  08:48

Okay, so shall we taste? 

Manon Lagreve  08:50

Ok, shall we say what it is?

Jennifer Earle  08:51

So this is Loquat tart and this is where they’ve used the heritage grains in the pastry – the same that they use in the bakery.So, Loquat is a stone fruit and then we have the chocolate cake.

Emma Pudge  08:51

Yeah, so they named as simply as as chocolate cake and it is pretty much what it says on the tin It’s inspired by the classic River Cafe chocolate Nemesis so it’s it’s super rich, but super, like almost, with a sort of mousse or truffle-like consistency. 

Manon Lagreve  09:09

So the frangipane looks like it’s got other… what does it have …walnuts? Looks like almonds… Nice and rich. 

Jennifer Earle  09:55

That is very buttery.

Manon Lagreve  10:02

Yeah, very rich. It’s so good. Let me try with that “Lumquat” is that what you said? 

Jennifer Earle  10:08

Loquat

Manon Lagreve  10:09

Loquat. Where are they from? 

Jennifer Earle  10:14

So this is native to China. It’s also known as a Japanese plum, or a Japanese medlar. Orange, orange small stonefruit.

Manon Lagreve  10:29

It’s quite jammy, isn’t yet? 

Emma Pudge  10:33

 I know what I really like about this frangipane it is exceptionally moist.

Jennifer Earle  10:37

It’s really got quite a lot of texture. It’s exceptionally moist. So, the nuts aren’t ground down.

Emma Pudge  10:41

And I was going to say,  I’ve eaten, I’d say these two desserts are really kind of interesting reflection to my favourite desserts in London that have been kind of replicated across loads of menus, but can be so different from place to place. I think kind of a chocolate Nemesis style cake. And an almond tart are two of the desserts that I see most often and I think that I think there’s scope for an entire book on the best almond tart and renditions on the chocolate nemesis.

Jennifer Earle  11:10

Perhaps do another Eater article?

Manon Lagreve  11:12

Exactly. 

Emma Pudge  11:12

Oh, I have actually pitched that as an idea. If anyone else would like to commission me. Please. Emma has written one about cheesecake and cake slices as well. So we’ll link to those. 

Jennifer Earle  11:26

At thenextdeliciousthing.com.

Emma Pudge  11:26

Yeah. 

Manon Lagreve  11:29

Okay, shall we try this? 

Jennifer Earle  11:32

It smells orangey. 

Manon Lagreve  11:34

Oh, yeah? It is kind of like a mousse.  

Jennifer Earle  11:42

It’s definitely orangey. It’s really very moussey. I’d be surprised like, callling that chocolate cake, like you say, makes me … I probably wouldn’t order it in a place that isn’t as nice as this because I saw chocolate cake I’d just be like”meh”.

Emma Pudge  11:59

I do think there is this kind of … like nostalgia and desserts and lots of places are giving things very unadorned names, but they’re not always the most helpful. They’re not always the most descriptive.

Jennifer Earle  12:13

At least so say chocolate cake. I mean so many restaurants you go and it just says “chocolate, pistachio” and you’re like “what is that?”

Emma Pudge  12:13

I need more than the ingredients.

Jennifer Earle  12:21

I don’t want the components. I’d like to know what are we eating? 

Manon Lagreve  12:24

Well, you see I don’t know if it’s the French in me… It is so delicious, but I’m not a chocolate and orange type of girl. I find it perfect and it is so delicious. But for me, without the orange. 

Jennifer Earle  12:35

Yeah, same. So I’m I ate so many Terry’s Chocolate Oranges when I was growing up, but now I’m not a fan of orange. 

Manon Lagreve  12:38

As far as it goes it is so so delicious. 

Jennifer Earle  12:46

I can see why they”ve used orange because it looks like you know, their citrus is there thing.

Emma Pudge  12:49

Are we allowed to discuss other places? 

Jennifer Earle  12:53

Of course, this is The Next Delicious Thing I would like to know where you would recommend people to go to particularly like for French food in London?

Manon Lagreve  13:01

For French food. Okay, so there is Trinity which is in Clapham, which is like incredible, amazing kind of if you want a Michelin star dinner, it’s incredible. And then in Bermondsey, there’s Casse Croute which is like super fun, typical French food. Then you can go around Angel, there’s loads of places as well. In one especially I had an amazing confit canard, you know, confit duck, you know, it is a classic, but for me, it’s one of my favourite things that reminds me of home. But yeah, I would say go for them.  Blanchette is really nice as well. You know, I would say don’t go to that kind of like… Trinity’s in a specific one. But I feel like you don’t have to spend too much money for it. Like go for lunch as well. I feel like French restaurant always have a great kind of lunch deal. Or even there’s Frenchie in Covent Garden, which is delicious, have an amazing lunch deal. Because yet people in farms, they work and they go to a restaurant every single day and you have an hour and a half to eat. In Paris I had an hour and a half and everyone went to restaurants .

Emma Pudge  14:14

They have actually introduced a set lunch here as well, and a pre dinner a pre-theatre, early evening meal as well.. And it’s a great location. So anything going on at Somerset House, in the West End and you’re in prime position.

Jennifer Earle  14:36

And if you have a favourite croissant? I’m going to be doing an episode on croissants because I know French croissants are quite different from what you find generally.

Manon Lagreve  14:44

Yes. Favourite croissant…I don’t know for me, it’s mostly about memories. So I’ll probably tell you is like the croissant of my hometown. And there were two bakeries and we always knew where this one was from and it’s just … you know 4000 people and there were four bakeries. 

Jennifer Earle  15:03

Wow. 

Manon Lagreve  15:04

Four boulangeries because people buy their bread and croissants every day.

Jennifer Earle  15:08

That’s amazing. I need to go and live in France. I just need to learn a bit more French.  You need to taste the cookie. 

Manon Lagreve  15:19

So which one? Is it this one? 

Jennifer Earle  15:21

Yeah so tahini and this one is chocolate. It’s on a blog post that I did. Just the best chocolate biscuits, which is different from cookies.  One of my favourites. 

Manon Lagreve  15:33

Does it have honey? 

Emma Pudge  15:35

Yes it’s got honey. Toklas have actually recently started home delivery on their baked goods and you can get these delivered either one or half dozen cookies which is very tempting. The delivery radius is really wide. 

Jennifer Earle  15:52

It’s all London postcodes right? So this is the croissant, and a laminated brioche, the tahini cookie. So before Manon and Fleur have to go.

Manon Lagreve  16:03

She loves croissants already.

Jennifer Earle  16:10

Maya always asks, “Are we going to a bakery today?” That’s what she asks every morning. “Are we going to a bakery or are we going to nursery?”  “Today we’re going to nursery, tomorrow we’ll go to a bakery.”

Manon Lagreve  16:22

So crunchy.

Emma Pudge  16:23

I really like the density of it Yes. Like yeah, look how much I’m putting out I know. 

Manon Lagreve  16:28

I mean the middle is always best bit. No, please have it. I’m not saying that for me to have it. I’m gonna have a bit of crunchy

Emma Pudge  16:31

Yes. Do you want to share some middle?

Manon Lagreve  16:40

And look at the lamination. Amazing. 

Jennifer Earle  16:42

I love the kind of … like this where you can peel off every layer.

Emma Pudge  16:50

I have for a long time said I think that Janine makes the finest croissants.

16:56

I mean, the look absolutely perfect. As far as croissants go. 

Jennifer Earle  17:04

I love the balance of salt and sugar in this one. Sometimes they’re like really salty  and other times very sweet. 

Manon Lagreve  17:13

Well, I guess I think, you know, French baking salty, like savoury, to balance sweet is kind of the nature of most French baking. I always bake with salted butter.

Jennifer Earle  17:25

Really? Do you find a difference in the amount of salt salt in the bucket here versus France?

Manon Lagreve  17:33

Yes. Well, you get like President butter. But also because I’m from Brittany and in Brittany our butters are very salty.

Emma Pudge  17:41

What butter are you buying at home? 

Manon Lagreve  17:43

At home we just buy … I mean, we’re lucky again, like we live next to Elevate which is a massive kind of bakery / cremerie so we buy from there. I don’t think it’s available in here. 

Emma Pudge  17:56

What are you buying here in the UK? 

Manon Lagreve  17:58

I buy President. Mostly President. 

Emma Pudge  18:00

I love Ampersand Dairy.

Jennifer Earle  18:02

That’s not easily available. But cultured butter, it’s amazing.  

Emma Pudge  18:07

I think the Estate Dairy’s very good, very, very good. Places making their own butter as well, which is always really nice to see. 

Manon Lagreve  18:16

True. I mean, when if you go to a restaurant, if there’s good bread and butter, you know that you’re gonna have good meal. That’s always my rule. 

Jennifer Earle  18:22

It’s funny. That’s another one of those things… like” bread and butter?”.  If it’s a good restaurant,I do want the bread and butter. But otherwise I’m here for…

Manon Lagreve  18:29

Exactly. All right. Then I think we’re going to say bye, bye. Au revoir. Merci beaucoup por la croissant. Thank you so much.

Jennifer Earle  18:46

I’m going to link to both of these guys in the show notes and follow them both. 

Manon Lagreve  18:52

Yeah, thank you for tasting. It was so delicious. Totally recommend the tart. It’s a winner.

Jennifer Earle  19:24

Thanks so much for listening. That was a kind of an abrupt end. We had planned to come back and talk some more but hopefully you found what we shared interesting and I do have some great conversations coming up for future episodes. So make sure that you are subscribed. Tell a friend and I will chat to you again next week. Take care and I wish you a very happy eating.

Jennifer Earle  00:00

I’m back again, so soon! As promised, here is my chat with Emma Pudge and Manon Lagreve. And I just want to say again, I’m very sorry about the sound. I will not record in a restaurant where there are other people again or anywhere without figuring out some kind of better technology. You live and you learn.  If you’re interested in just reading, then the YouTube episode will have the captions or you can read the transcript if you go to thenextdeliciousthing.com and search for Manon Lagreve, Toklas or Emma Pudge. You’ll find this chat in its entirety.  You’ll also find a list of all the things that Emma recommends and Manon recommends. If you stuck with yesterday’s sound, this is worse. There was one other table in the restaurant and I was sure they were about to leave, but they did not. I didn’t realise how bad the sound was until I got home. Manon and Emma shared so many fascinating things. I really wanted to publish it anyway. But yeah, please forgive the sound. And you can always just head straight to thenextdeliciousthing.com for the things that they recommend.  If you’re not familiar with Manon and Emma: Emma is a social media queen. She takes photos for restaurants, which is how we ended up in Toklas. And is a brilliant connector. She is @emmahitsthespot on Instagram. Manon you might recognise when you hear her voice from the Great British Bake Off in 2018. She is fabulous to watch on Instagram, and she shares lots of recipes as well. And she has a gorgeous daughter who you might hear in the background. Manon, do you have a book coming out? Yes?

Manon Lagreve  01:45

Yes. So you know I’ve been doing recipes. Very much like French baking since 2018 After Bake Off. And then finally I’m working on my book. So yeah, I can’t tell you too much about it yet. But, it’ll be out in spring 2023. It is going to be  beautiful, some simple recipes for non bakers. Because my baking is all about you don’t have to be a baker to bake in France, you make a cake. 

Jennifer Earle  02:08

Isn’t yogurt cake one of the most famous things that all French children learn? 

Manon Lagreve  02:15

Yeah, that’s my first cake. And that’s probably gonna be her first cake. So my daughter’s first cake. 

Jennifer Earle  02:27

So why did you particularly want us to come and eat here? 

Emma Pudge  02:32

So I think that Toklas is one of the most exciting up and coming bakery and restaurant kind of partnerships. And I think it’s really interesting that the founders are from an art background, and that they’re really treating food as art, which I think is a kind of interesting thing we’re seeing across restaurants in general at the moment. Of course, we’ve also another great love of mine at the moment is Sessions Arts Club, which is an amazing painter and Chef collaboration. And yet we also at the same time have these really minimalist restaurants that believe that their food is art and will not put any art on the walls. And I think what they’re doing here is a really interesting blend of the two, right bang in the centre of London on the Strand. I think it has the potential to become a really iconic kind of food cultural hub that people should get to know about whilst you can still get a table. 

Jennifer Earle  03:23

The founders founded Frieze magazine more than 30 years ago, and also the Frieze Art Festival and they stepped away from it in 2016. But are still part owners. Apparently they met a university at which is really cool that they’ve known each other for so long. They originally had a plan to set up a restaurant. And then when some family friends lost money in a restaurant, yeah … they decided not to. But then they were given the opportunity when Frieze moved their offices into this building. This space was available and they’re like, What do you want to do with it? And they said “let’s do that restaurant”. So, here we are! 

Emma Pudge  04:02

I think the other thing that really drew me to Toklas is that I I really try and form relationships with chefs at different restaurants as I’m enjoying what they do, and Head Baker, Janine Edwards, is someone who I’ve known for a number of years. You would have heard from her already, but essentially I fell in love with Viennoiserie she was doing at Robin Gill’s restaurant in Embassy Gardens, Derby’s. She baked for me throughout lockdown. In that weird stage of lockdown where restaurants became delis and grocers. And then she was Head Baker at Rye by the Water, which again is one of the bakeries I recommend most. I actually bought Manon some pastries when I realised that Manon had moved into my area,.

Manon Lagreve  04:02

They were delicious. 

Emma Pudge  04:44

And I think that speaks to something I try and do in general, which is to shine a spotlight on the people making the food who aren’t necessarily the name owners of the restaurant. And I think if you discover someone who’s very talented, follow them as they move on to their next adventure. I know Janine enjoyed where she was working and they are places I still think you need to visit. But it’s really exciting to see how she’s tempted to take over this very different spot. 

Jennifer Earle  05:12

I love that it’s a restaurant that cares so much about bread and baked products. So they have a bakery attached, and also makes it accessible to everybody, as well. So everybody can come and have something without missing anything, and it may not be able to sit and enjoy a whole meal. 

Emma Pudge  05:29

And I think that’s really interesting from the art perspective as well, because art has this real tradition of being inaccessible. And finding that kind of like beauty in the small things. I also think that Toklas is exceptionally well priced as a bakery. You can get like savoury slices, like under two pounds, which is still made with like top quality ingredients, that Pump Street Chocolate chocolate cookie, I think is £1.75 or something like that. 

Jennifer Earle  06:00

£1.50, yeah. 

Manon Lagreve  06:02

Which in London like…. 

Jennifer Earle  06:03

It’s really good. 

Emma Pudge  06:04

It’s really good. And I think that’s so important, particularly when a lot of the time though restaurants that do most interesting things of food are not accessible to people who are even working within food, because as we know, this industry is not always the best paid. And yeah, I think what they’re doing here is really kind of inverting this area and doing something really exciting. 

Jennifer Earle  06:29

I love that they and they did really want it to be accessible to people who work in food and be the kind of p;ace like, let’s just go to like the River Cafe (NB: this one is NOT cheap, but it is a hospitality favourite) and Rochelle Canteen and other places.  The head chef is Martin Lyons and he worked with Ollie at Dabous, and also at Spring. And Moro, as well. So the whole idea of the food here is supposed to be like Mediterranean light and fresh fish and vegetable heavy. There’s no red meat on the menu. 

Manon Lagreve  07:05

Which I mean, I’m so sorry that so many people that I know go to a good restaurant and always have a steak and I find this, sorry, that it’s so boring. You know, like, especially if you go to a restaurant, you know that it’s not their speciality, why get a steak? 

Jennifer Earle  07:19

Yes, exactly! Like ice cream. I just can’t bring myself to order ice cream at a restaurant. 

Emma Pudge  07:24

I was the one who said I have ordered an ice cream here at Toklas before, which we don’t have today. But they make their own ice creams and sorbets, particularly delicious is the mandarin. It’s exquisite.  The citrus here is a real strength of the restaurant, they work really closely with a citrus foundation, and they get it as fresh as it comes. And to come here and even just get a glass of orange juice is a real delight. On my first visit, I left the bakery with a load of baked goods, and a satsuma and it was the best Satsuma I’ve ever tasted.

Jennifer Earle  08:04

Janine was saying that they tried 80 different varieties when they went to the producers that they work with.

Emma Pudge  08:09

And they came back and they actually laid it all out on the table. And they had like pomelos and all the different citrus. And I think I think the level of specifications to what they’re using is is they’re very intentional with all of their ingredients and I really like the way that you can see that continuity throughout all of their bakes. Like citrus is is a really strong influence but they use it in so many different ways. 

Manon Lagreve  08:37

Hmm . I’m really excited to try. Is that apricot on top? 

Emma Pudge  08:42

Loquats.

Manon Lagreve  08:44

Oh wow. 

Emma Pudge  08:44

Is that how you say it?

Jennifer Earle  08:46

Yes.

Emma Pudge  08:47

So what are we going to try?

Jennifer Earle  08:48

Okay, so shall we taste? 

Manon Lagreve  08:50

Ok, shall we say what it is?

Jennifer Earle  08:51

So this is Loquat tart and this is where they’ve used the heritage grains in the pastry – the same that they use in the bakery.So, Loquat is a stone fruit and then we have the chocolate cake.

Emma Pudge  08:51

Yeah, so they named as simply as as chocolate cake and it is pretty much what it says on the tin It’s inspired by the classic River Cafe chocolate Nemesis so it’s it’s super rich, but super, like almost, with a sort of mousse or truffle-like consistency. 

Manon Lagreve  09:09

So the frangipane looks like it’s got other… what does it have …walnuts? Looks like almonds… Nice and rich. 

Jennifer Earle  09:55

That is very buttery.

Manon Lagreve  10:02

Yeah, very rich. It’s so good. Let me try with that “Lumquat” is that what you said? 

Jennifer Earle  10:08

Loquat

Manon Lagreve  10:09

Loquat. Where are they from? 

Jennifer Earle  10:14

So this is native to China. It’s also known as a Japanese plum, or a Japanese medlar. Orange, orange small stonefruit.

Manon Lagreve  10:29

It’s quite jammy, isn’t yet? 

Emma Pudge  10:33

 I know what I really like about this frangipane it is exceptionally moist.

Jennifer Earle  10:37

It’s really got quite a lot of texture. It’s exceptionally moist. So, the nuts aren’t ground down.

Emma Pudge  10:41

And I was going to say,  I’ve eaten, I’d say these two desserts are really kind of interesting reflection to my favourite desserts in London that have been kind of replicated across loads of menus, but can be so different from place to place. I think kind of a chocolate Nemesis style cake. And an almond tart are two of the desserts that I see most often and I think that I think there’s scope for an entire book on the best almond tart and renditions on the chocolate nemesis.

Jennifer Earle  11:10

Perhaps do another Eater article?

Manon Lagreve  11:12

Exactly. 

Emma Pudge  11:12

Oh, I have actually pitched that as an idea. If anyone else would like to commission me. Please. Emma has written one about cheesecake and cake slices as well. So we’ll link to those. 

Jennifer Earle  11:26

At thenextdeliciousthing.com.

Emma Pudge  11:26

Yeah. 

Manon Lagreve  11:29

Okay, shall we try this? 

Jennifer Earle  11:32

It smells orangey. 

Manon Lagreve  11:34

Oh, yeah? It is kind of like a mousse.  

Jennifer Earle  11:42

It’s definitely orangey. It’s really very moussey. I’d be surprised like, callling that chocolate cake, like you say, makes me … I probably wouldn’t order it in a place that isn’t as nice as this because I saw chocolate cake I’d just be like”meh”.

Emma Pudge  11:59

I do think there is this kind of … like nostalgia and desserts and lots of places are giving things very unadorned names, but they’re not always the most helpful. They’re not always the most descriptive.

Jennifer Earle  12:13

At least so say chocolate cake. I mean so many restaurants you go and it just says “chocolate, pistachio” and you’re like “what is that?”

Emma Pudge  12:13

I need more than the ingredients.

Jennifer Earle  12:21

I don’t want the components. I’d like to know what are we eating? 

Manon Lagreve  12:24

Well, you see I don’t know if it’s the French in me… It is so delicious, but I’m not a chocolate and orange type of girl. I find it perfect and it is so delicious. But for me, without the orange. 

Jennifer Earle  12:35

Yeah, same. So I’m I ate so many Terry’s Chocolate Oranges when I was growing up, but now I’m not a fan of orange. 

Manon Lagreve  12:38

As far as it goes it is so so delicious. 

Jennifer Earle  12:46

I can see why they”ve used orange because it looks like you know, their citrus is there thing.

Emma Pudge  12:49

Are we allowed to discuss other places? 

Jennifer Earle  12:53

Of course, this is The Next Delicious Thing I would like to know where you would recommend people to go to particularly like for French food in London?

Manon Lagreve  13:01

For French food. Okay, so there is Trinity which is in Clapham, which is like incredible, amazing kind of if you want a Michelin star dinner, it’s incredible. And then in Bermondsey, there’s Casse Croute which is like super fun, typical French food. Then you can go around Angel, there’s loads of places as well. In one especially I had an amazing confit canard, you know, confit duck, you know, it is a classic, but for me, it’s one of my favourite things that reminds me of home. But yeah, I would say go for them.  Blanchette is really nice as well. You know, I would say don’t go to that kind of like… Trinity’s in a specific one. But I feel like you don’t have to spend too much money for it. Like go for lunch as well. I feel like French restaurant always have a great kind of lunch deal. Or even there’s Frenchie in Covent Garden, which is delicious, have an amazing lunch deal. Because yet people in farms, they work and they go to a restaurant every single day and you have an hour and a half to eat. In Paris I had an hour and a half and everyone went to restaurants .

Emma Pudge  14:14

They have actually introduced a set lunch here as well, and a pre dinner a pre-theatre, early evening meal as well.. And it’s a great location. So anything going on at Somerset House, in the West End and you’re in prime position.

Jennifer Earle  14:36

And if you have a favourite croissant? I’m going to be doing an episode on croissants because I know French croissants are quite different from what you find generally.

Manon Lagreve  14:44

Yes. Favourite croissant…I don’t know for me, it’s mostly about memories. So I’ll probably tell you is like the croissant of my hometown. And there were two bakeries and we always knew where this one was from and it’s just … you know 4000 people and there were four bakeries. 

Jennifer Earle  15:03

Wow. 

Manon Lagreve  15:04

Four boulangeries because people buy their bread and croissants every day.

Jennifer Earle  15:08

That’s amazing. I need to go and live in France. I just need to learn a bit more French.  You need to taste the cookie. 

Manon Lagreve  15:19

So which one? Is it this one? 

Jennifer Earle  15:21

Yeah so tahini and this one is chocolate. It’s on a blog post that I did. Just the best chocolate biscuits, which is different from cookies.  One of my favourites. 

Manon Lagreve  15:33

Does it have honey? 

Emma Pudge  15:35

Yes it’s got honey. Toklas have actually recently started home delivery on their baked goods and you can get these delivered either one or half dozen cookies which is very tempting. The delivery radius is really wide. 

Jennifer Earle  15:52

It’s all London postcodes right? So this is the croissant, and a laminated brioche, the tahini cookie. So before Manon and Fleur have to go.

Manon Lagreve  16:03

She loves croissants already.

Jennifer Earle  16:10

Maya always asks, “Are we going to a bakery today?” That’s what she asks every morning. “Are we going to a bakery or are we going to nursery?”  “Today we’re going to nursery, tomorrow we’ll go to a bakery.”

Manon Lagreve  16:22

So crunchy.

Emma Pudge  16:23

I really like the density of it Yes. Like yeah, look how much I’m putting out I know. 

Manon Lagreve  16:28

I mean the middle is always best bit. No, please have it. I’m not saying that for me to have it. I’m gonna have a bit of crunchy

Emma Pudge  16:31

Yes. Do you want to share some middle?

Manon Lagreve  16:40

And look at the lamination. Amazing. 

Jennifer Earle  16:42

I love the kind of … like this where you can peel off every layer.

Emma Pudge  16:50

I have for a long time said I think that Janine makes the finest croissants.

16:56

I mean, the look absolutely perfect. As far as croissants go. 

Jennifer Earle  17:04

I love the balance of salt and sugar in this one. Sometimes they’re like really salty  and other times very sweet. 

Manon Lagreve  17:13

Well, I guess I think, you know, French baking salty, like savoury, to balance sweet is kind of the nature of most French baking. I always bake with salted butter.

Jennifer Earle  17:25

Really? Do you find a difference in the amount of salt salt in the bucket here versus France?

Manon Lagreve  17:33

Yes. Well, you get like President butter. But also because I’m from Brittany and in Brittany our butters are very salty.

Emma Pudge  17:41

What butter are you buying at home? 

Manon Lagreve  17:43

At home we just buy … I mean, we’re lucky again, like we live next to Elevate which is a massive kind of bakery / cremerie so we buy from there. I don’t think it’s available in here. 

Emma Pudge  17:56

What are you buying here in the UK? 

Manon Lagreve  17:58

I buy President. Mostly President. 

Emma Pudge  18:00

I love Ampersand Dairy.

Jennifer Earle  18:02

That’s not easily available. But cultured butter, it’s amazing.  

Emma Pudge  18:07

I think the Estate Dairy’s very good, very, very good. Places making their own butter as well, which is always really nice to see. 

Manon Lagreve  18:16

True. I mean, when if you go to a restaurant, if there’s good bread and butter, you know that you’re gonna have good meal. That’s always my rule. 

Jennifer Earle  18:22

It’s funny. That’s another one of those things… like” bread and butter?”.  If it’s a good restaurant,I do want the bread and butter. But otherwise I’m here for…

Manon Lagreve  18:29

Exactly. All right. Then I think we’re going to say bye, bye. Au revoir. Merci beaucoup por la croissant. Thank you so much.

Jennifer Earle  18:46

I’m going to link to both of these guys in the show notes and follow them both. 

Manon Lagreve  18:52

Yeah, thank you for tasting. It was so delicious. Totally recommend the tart. It’s a winner.

Jennifer Earle  19:24

Thanks so much for listening. That was a kind of an abrupt end. We had planned to come back and talk some more but hopefully you found what we shared interesting and I do have some great conversations coming up for future episodes. So make sure that you are subscribed. Tell a friend and I will chat to you again next week. Take care and I wish you a very happy eating.

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