Islington just got a new angel.
Anna Higham spent her career as the revered head pastry chef at the Michelin Starred Lyle’s and then at the legendary River Cafe before deciding it was time to roll her own dough – and she’s rolled right into N1 with Quince Bakery.
It sits on a quiet road next to the canal that’s only a hop & a skip away from Pophams, aka one of the best bakeries in London. aka the competition. To run the place, Anna’s teamed up with Paris Barghchi, who is a former cheesemonger at Neal’s Yard Dairy, and a restaurant manager at Tillingham Wines – and together their shared focus in this little gem is squarely on British baking traditions.
What does that mean?
Well, for one, no croissants.
It’s one of those moves in which they seem to violate one of the most basic and sacred commandments of bakeries themselves, while also speaking to a brash confidence that they can deliver something even better. And believe it or not, they’ve pulled it off.
Everything on the shelves is made from stoneground flour (from a mill in Somerset) and on any given day you can expect them to be piled high with reams of sourdough, county loaves, rye boules, and much more, as well as Guinness soda bread baked mid-morning so that there are always warm loaves throughout the day.
In the pastry display the goods are mostly seasonal, meaning strawberry hand pies and apricot custard buns in the summer; quince and rice pudding tarts in the autumn; and winter apples & forced rhubarb pastries in the winter, as well as year-round goodness like brown butter buns; oat cookies; wholegrain palmiers; and gluten-free cakes filled with the likes of chocolate buckwheat & olive oil ricotta.
Apart from the pastries, the shop also has a decent selection of pantry goods, too (all manner of cheeses, wines, olive oils, honey, jams, etc.) and you can get a hot cup of Allpress coffee to help glug it all down. But the best bit? There are going to be regular supper clubs, with the first one quite impressively bagging Diana Henry.
One thing’s for sure – this place is on the rise.
NOTE: Quince Bakery is open now. You can find out more at the website right here.
Quince Bakery | 267 New N Rd, London N1 7AA
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