London Borough of Islington

In an example of truly modern marketing, I was sent a Twitter invitation to the opening of a new bakery in Finsbury Park, so last week I rounded up my foodie housemates and trotted to the Exeter Street Bakery for an evening of cocktails, beer and pizza.

The crowd in Finsbury Park was about as diverse as you could expect in the increasingly gentrified area around the station, with stylish older men in loafers rubbing shoulders – quite literally – with the young nubile hipster crowd in their ASOS crop tops.

It was packed in the best way. The DJ, complimentary prosecco cocktails and endless tasty pizza was a great combination for a lively atmosphere with a friendly neighbourhood vibe. We had such a good time that we returned that weekend for breakfast, at the eye-wateringly early time of 8am.

We were met by the warm industrial building on a corner behind Finsbury Park station and grabbed a table for four on one of the soft benches – and I mean super soft – with a solid beech table in front of us. Not satisfied by staring the delicious looking menu in front of us, we wandered around the counters identifying the fabulous selection of loose leaf teas, pastries (I’ll be back to try one of the hefty almond croissants) and delicious freshly baked breads on offer.

In the end I went with the delicious Freshly Baked Granola and yogurt. In my opinion this could have had more crunch than chew, but it certainly packed flavour. The granola was a rich and fruity affair containing lots of raisins, dried fruits and seeds, with quartered strawberries, raspberries and whole juicy blueberries scattered around the top.

The granola held its own and contained suitably large chunks of ‘granole’ – is there a proper word for one piece of granola? – in the mountain of thick yogurt. As a honey fiend, I would have liked to taste the honey a bit more, or had a drizzle apparent on top of the lovely fruits, but that’s a personal preference. The serving was more than generous with a good yogurt-to-granola ratio and I finished it easily.

My friends selected the more meaty options from the menu: pancetta with tomatoes on toast, boiled egg and soldiers – served as soldiers – and the house special, meatball burger. Oddly it was the egg and soldiers that took longest to arrive but from the sounds of the ‘mmmm’s’ surrounding me, these were all good choices. The pancetta was nice and crispy and the pork meatball burger was rich, tender, juicy and mooreish. Exeter Street Bakery serves the kind of delicious food that you promise yourself you will make at home but never get around to. And even if you did, it wouldn’t be as good.

In addition to the hearty breakfast menu there was an excellent selection of loose leaf teas on offer. I went with classic English Breakfast tea – it was 8am on a Saturday after all – with soya milk. It was served in a tall glass infuser, which was a pleasantly surprising change from a traditional teapot and plenty for two large cups.

In the evening the Eastern Street Bakery, which has another branch in High Street Kensington, serves food, beers and cocktails. The fare on offer includes freshly baked sourdough pizzas made fresh with your own personal selection of toppings. If the quality was the same as we tried on the preview evening – a delicious and somewhat spicy affair (try the chorizo), I would say that this is definitely worth trying one night after work with a bunch of friends.