Boulangerie Bon Matin — Restaurant in London

This is a medium sized coffee house and bakery halfway up Stroud Green road. There are a few competing places in the immediate vicinity with an excellent coffee shop across the road and a more traditional cafe on the same street.

To stand out Boulangerie Bon Martin has focused on its roots as a bakery. The window display is full of cakes, croissants and bread, all of which looks delicious. Inside the cafe is long and slim with a cake counter taking up much of the space. In the back is a brick walled area used for additional seating, hung with works by local artists which are all for sale.

The breakfast/brunch menu is relatively simple and focuses mainly on eggs various ways. The lunch menu adds paninis and although few people would go to a cake shop for a meal they do have a few main courses on the menu almost as an afterthought. Although salmon and tuna pop up on the menu a few times, and one of the aforementioned main courses was a roasted chicken leg, the menu is mostly meat free with common classics like eggs benedict missing in favour of salmon-based eggs royale.

The food is good and well balanced, and if you get the opportunity for brunch make sure you order something from the bakery. It is the unique selling point of the place after all. I had rye bread toast with my eggs and it was some of the best I'd had.

The place gets busy for brunch on a weekend and although we squeezed into a table for two there were many larger tables which were reserved - an unusual choice for brunch. So make sure you call ahead if you are set on eating here.

Food and presentation are both five stars for me, it knows what it is and does it well. There are plenty of local alternatives which means it has found a niche and stuck to it. The only downside was that the service was slow and the staff weren't friendly, not even cracking a smile for the tip. That sort of thing colours your memory of a...

We had an awful experience with a member of staff, she firstly greeted us with an incredibly cold and rude attitude, and then we were handed the wrong smoothie because she handed it to us and just said "smoothie" so how are we supposed to know they got it wrong? So my friend sipped it and realised it wasn't the one she ordered and very politely asked if it was the correct one. The same member of staff very rudely snapped at my friend and said it's obviously not the correct smoothie because the colour is different (as if we are supposed to know that??) especially when it's your job to hand out an incorrect order. She did not even apologise, and kept rolling her eyes at us - this attitude was absolutely rude, childish and uncalled for.

Instead of letting us keep the smoothie because it's obviously going in the bin anyway, the lady demands to have it back and put it on the counter and kept glaring at us.

I get she could be having a bad day but it's immature to take this out on your paying customers - especially when it was HER mistake in the first place, yet she blamed the mistake on my friend making her feel bad. She was so condescending and petty for wasting that drink and we definitely won't be returning ever again. If a higher member of staff acts this way, it really sets an example for what the other members of staff are learning.

I didn't catch the lady's name but she was in a white shirt and glasses, seemingly some sort of manager which sets an embarrassing example for this store.

Shame as the food seemed alright, but the experience begins with the atmosphere and it was miserable in here. Won't...

First things first, these are the best cakes in town.

That said, I feel like this company should change their approach to customer experience - when buying take away cakes.

Today it's my partner's birthday. He loves a good cake (specially berry ones), so I thought it what a great opportunity to try this expensive cakes - to see how much value for money they represent.

And that's where the good vibes end.

When visited this particular branch today, I bought 4 different mini cakes. When I asked the shop assistant to make it "birthday friendly", she kind of didn't see that coming. She said they don't have anything, at all, to make it look pretty (@ £3.60 a portion. For reference, a doughnut's £2.50 a piece).

When I insisted, based on the strong assumption a boulangerie in London would be prepared for that, she said that "we've asked for it (I guess to the management), since you're not the first to ask - but we don't have anything".

Oh come on! Are you really saying that at £3.60 a mini cake you do not have any spare money to bright up your customer's day? It was truly shocking.

What's more, I left the shop with a plain white box and being held by myself - since a carrier bag was not provided either.

Bon Matin, your mini cakes are out of this world.

Bon Matin, your understanding of your customer needs has to be re-assessed.

Why would you make such lovely food to waste it with such poor final delivery?

PS - I'm hoping not to get any patronising covid-19 related answers from the owner, as those I've seen on previous non-5-star customer feedback reviews.

Oh, and you reader better try their...