Cakes & Bubbles by Albert Adrià — Restaurant in London

Where to start...... Firstly I would like to address the people browsing reviews and considering to visit Cake and Bubbles, if you never been here before don't expect conventional everyday flavours that you had in your friendly neighbourhood cafe or your local restaurant, you have to understand that some of the dishes are the Interpretations of Albert Adria and he's crew.

The famous Tickets Cheesecake that divided some of the people that left comments, if you expect a traditional Cheesecake please don't, it has a more complex flavour perhaps a touch matured but in all the good way, you won't find that fresh cream taste that some cold set Cheesecake has nonetheless it is delicious, rich and yammmm...

Visit with an open mind and don't anticipate with what do you expect but with an almost childish curiosity for something to be discovered.

My wife found it a bit too rich but I loved it to bits which is funny as shes got the sweet tooth 😄. I had the dessert assortment with cru champagne and I found it delightfully refreshing classic desserts /baklava/ some crowd pleaser /after eight/ reimagined made lighter thoroughly enjoyed it. Next time definetly gonna try the savory side too.

The Price..... You're in the middle of London on Regent Street🤷‍♂️ what do you expect, its not cheap by any stretch of imagination at least not by my imagination🙂 BUT ask yourselves the question possibly the best available ingredients for the purpose and countles people spent decades dedicated to their craft missing holidays, birthdays sacraficing relationships honing their skills just to reach that quality of service and achive the plates that being presented to you, what is the price on that??

On this occasion we paid £150 for the two of us and I don't feel robbed.

With my wife we just took a shoot in the dark as we were out for a date night no reservation and yet they went out their way to accomandate us wich we highly appreciate and on the way out not leaving anything to chance we decided to invite back family in october and made a reservation. .

Can't comment on the hotel as i dont believe I'll be able to afford it in the foreseeable future😀 which is fine, from what I've seen through a corridor it looks elegant and luxurious pretty sure you get what you pay for🤷‍♂️.

The staff on the floor is attentive and informative the food we tried from our perspective was excellent.

Thanks again Cakes and Bubbles And...

We had a good time at cake and bubbles. Looking to celebrate a graduation, we headed down for afternoon tea.

The sweet menu was very nice, particularly the first course. My favourite was the baklava parcel: such a brilliant balance of flavours.

The obviously signature rose dish was obviously designed mainly for instagram rather than the palette, and while it did taste nice, it wasn’t much more of an experience than a rose cream. The roses we kept do look lovely on my kitchen table though!

The cheesecake was lovely though there was far too much of it for such a rich pudding at the end of a menu such as that, with no savoury to balance out the sweetness: this, I think, is the joy of a good afternoon tea: delicate finger sandwiches which balance out all the delicious sweet and creamy flavours of cakes or scones.

This was obviously not what the chef was going for, though, so we ordered a few savoury options to eat first, and I think this is where cake and bubbles was really let down. These were expensive dishes -£20 for a club sandwich, for example - and they weren’t much better than what you could get at M+S for a tenth of the price. Cake and bubbles, of course, specialises in sweet options, but they need to get their savoury options up to scratch. The spicy Asian salad was a particular disappointment as it was little more than a packet of chopped veg with a creamy sesame dressing, which was indeed eerily reminiscent of a salad one might purchase for a long train journey. Another lowlight was a strange pistachio concoction which was served as a drink, separated, with strange lumps floating in it.

We did have a good time, though - lovely waiters, ambience, and the sweet menu was exquisite and professional. I would say that the restaurant needs to work slightly on not prioritising optics over substance, though, and understanding what it is people look for in an afternoon tea - because though they didn’t call it that, that’s what it is, and what people expect. Pastry chefs, though...

What a delightful discovery of this very elegant cafe I came across while exploring the nooks and corners of Piccadilly Circus. It’s part of the equally stylish Cafe Royal Hotel.

As far as food goes, I’m not usually taken in by good looks as it’s all about the food and hospitality for me in equal measure. Nevertheless I gave into my senses and my curiosity always up for trying something new. As a large number of patrons appeared to be middle eastern tourists, I was initially apprehensive. However I felt reassured when I discovered it was indeed European - Spanish. I have tried some of the Middle eastern owned cafes with pretty pink flower and gold decor’ but the cakes and pastries are rather disappointing. The next thing that led me to sit in ( as opposed to take out) was the hot chocolate. I sampled a tiny bit and knew I had to experience it in full. Apparently it was concocted especially by the chef himself.

Verdict: I loved the hot chocolate. This was thick like real chocolate but not nauseatingly sweet. It had a hint of sweetness, but one could taste the cocoa, there was certainly cream but it blended perfectly with the rest of the ingredients. It really felt like the chef really understood the importance of flavor coming through working in harmony, because there was a tiny hint of salt. And so I boldly ordered something from the savory menu. It was the truffle and cheese sandwich. It was again so wonderfully made without one ingredient overpowering the other - all in harmony again for taste buds to savor. It was also a great choice to contrast and compliment with my hot chocolate. I had a rather lovely view too from where I was sat. I must add the hospitality of the staff in general, especially Sofia whom I think was the manager was exemplary in that I felt very warmly welcomed and ensured all was well with my food from time to time. A place I shall be visiting again upon my next trip...