Layla Bakery — Restaurant in London

I visited Layla today, after my friend, Rami, made it clear enough to me that he didn’t want anything else from our friendship except for us to try the food at Layla. So I went with him despite my tight schedule today.

For drinks, Rami had Mocha with oat milk and I had Sweet Chai with oat milk. They only do oat milk for non-dairy alternatives, and that’s fine with me. Progress takes time, and I’m sure in the future they’ll have lactose-free milk or healthier alternatives.

I don’t know about Rami’s Mocha because that friend of mine didn’t even offer his to me, not even for a sip. But let’s talk about the Sweet Chai. The chai, the foam, the cinnamon dusting, they were all done to perfection. Did I tell you I had a tight schedule? Layla’s Sweet Chai stopped the clock. You can feel the world stop spinning and everything’s just frozen, and it’s just you and the chai. Rarely has a drink made me feel like I’m the main character, but Layla’s did that for me. That Sweet Chai could potentially cure depression and would end Citalopram. Pharmaceutical companies are literally shaking right now. I would have got a second chai, but Rami seemed rushed to end his outing with me, despite me being the one with the tight schedule.

You see, I don’t believe anyone should be reduced to one expertise or one calling in life, but to Jade(the barista who made my drink), if you’re reading this, your touch is the backbone of Layla. There were other things Jade told me, but I can’t remember any of them because I zoned out (ugh I have ADHD).

The pastries. We tried three on this visit: the pistachio chocolate croissant, cinnamon bun, and the meringue lemon tart.

Rami loved the pistachio chocolate croissant. I didn’t. I personally find it repulsive to have that Dubai theme everywhere. I love my pure brown chocolate alone, and the only green I love is matcha. Would I come again to Layla for this croissant? No. Would Rami? Obviously, I can’t speak for him, but judging from how quick it took him to clear the plate — hmm, looks to me Layla will continue to be a profitable business.

The cinnamon bun. Hmm, I wouldn’t say it’s the best one I’ve had, but now that I’m thinking about it, I think I’ve been getting it wrong. It’s not possible to rank or label food as the best. It’s good when it’s good, and it’s amazing when the food transports you to a different world, a world of taste. This cinnamon bun didn’t transport me to a different world. That being said, it has its own identity, and you can tell that it’s Layla just by looking at it. Another thing I will say about this bun is the texture of the bread, which reflects Layla’s genuine love for proper bakery, not mere capitalist attitude. Would I pay £5 for the cinnamon bun? No. But will I finish it if it’s served to me? Definitely yes. Well, to be honest, Rami paid for the bun this visit because he is one of those annoying lovely friends who wouldn’t miss the chance to call me poor in every way he can, but I’d still cross seven oceans to his wedding. Clearly, he’s not getting married anytime soon if he keeps paying for my food.

Now, the meringue lemon tart. I paid for this (the only thing I paid for this visit), and it was a good purchase. Rami clearly has to learn from me on making a good, well-informed purchase, but this is not about him. I’d had my eyes on this tart when I walked in, but Rami was weirdly being rigid today and limited the choices to two pastries. So, after we tried the two pastries, I assertively decided to get the lemon tart. The soft creamy meringue, the lemon sauce, the crispy base, all transported me to a different world. For a minute, I didn’t even see Rami, who was sitting opposite me, it was just a completely different world of me and the tart. But of course, like any other civil human, I halved the tart into two and shared it with Rami, but his ego only allowed him to finish a quarter of it. As a sustainability advocate, I despise food waste, so I finished the rest. Rami’s...

This ought to be a lesson in the influence of social media and great marketing rather than a bakery! You cannot walk by Layla bakery without noticing the queues or the huge nice looking croissants and other pastries that people enjoy sitting outside the bakery, so as a local you ought to pass by and try it once in a while. But the taste of everything is stunning! Will leave you absolutely amazed that this place has queues waiting to have these less than an average bin worthy "things". The coffee is by far the worst in the area, and that includes McDonald's on Notting hill gate and the free Waitrose coffee and Greggs, not to mention other tens of independent or commercial coffee shops that spread from Notting hill gate to kensal rise. Layla absolutely wins it in the worst coffee category of all of Notting hill! Surpassed only by an instant coffee cup you down in the morning when you are late to work. As for the bakes, they do excel in size and looks, but they will definitely please your nearest bin as that's where they belong after a couple of bites, you are better off having the stale bagged croissants in Sainsbury's than these silly amateur made bakes! I have tried Layla bakery multiple times having different items each time just to be sure as the queues of gentrified non locals force you to doubt your own culinary buds. And every time i had the same impression: low grade ingredients made by amateurs to look good, especially for people who never had a proper croissant and coffee in their life. The only explanation i got for the queues is the heroics of social media, these bakers should be teaching marketing and not baking or...

Quite disappointed, really. By 10:30am (today when open from 8am-5pm), they had run out of their blueberry pastry. It's actually crazy that they don't make enough. I don't know if she lied so I wouldn't stick around waiting for it (therefore easing the pressure off them) - she was not particularly friendly - but regardless, it's terrible. The queue was long but I expected them to keep making the same pastries throughout the day. Frankly, it's a bizarre thing to do. They should keep making them or tell those of us in the very long queue that 'we no longer have x pastry if that's what you're waiting for'. The queue must have taken about 45mins to 1 hour so you can imagine it's especially disappointing to have queued up all that time and then to not get what you want so you have to settle for something you really could have just got at another cafe with a shorter queue. The hazelnut pastry I got was nice (the iced tea was tiny for the price and bland) but it's really not why I joined the queue and I wouldn't have joined it or stayed in the queue if I'd have known that would happen. They need a much better way of doing things. Management need to...