A sleek, bustling central London bakery delivers genuinely excellent pastries at surprisingly reasonable prices. The famous tiramisu croissant is worth the hype, but the real standouts are two unexpected choices: a pistachio frangipane brioche and a smoked beef sausage pastry.
T ypically if I see a posh, sleek bakery in the middle of central London with a line out the door, I make a note to avoid it. I expect entirely mediocre pastries for minimum £7 or £8 that simply aren’t worth the queue. But Fred Bakery surprised me.
Yes, it did check all of these boxes: posh, sleek, and busy. The interiors are reminiscent of a midcentury boutique hotel, with polished marble tiles and heavy wood accents. Though the front room feels crowded, there’s a calmer seating area downstairs to welcome you for that classic, chat-with-coffee-and-a-pastry vibe. You’re immediately greeted by a stunning array of beautiful pastries in their vast glass cases, suddenly feeling very overwhelmed by which one to choose. And you’ll be surprised to find quite reasonable prices attached, starting at £3.50 for a plain croissant.
Of course I ordered an array: their famous tiramisu croissant, a chocolate brownie cruffin, pistachio frangipane brioche, smoked beef sausage and cheese pastry, and a smoked salmon roll alongside an iced matcha and an iced latte.
Highlights:
- Best bite: Pistachio frangipane brioche — impossibly soft, fluffy, and finished with toasted pistachios.
- Another standout: Smoked beef sausage and cheese pastry — flaky, savoury, creamy, and perfectly balanced.
- Worth the £8: Tiramisu croissant with mascarpone custard, soaked sponge, and coffee liqueur.
- Solid staple: Smoked salmon bun — simple, well-balanced, and reasonably priced at £5.
- Skip: Brownie cruffin — raw croissant dough and an overly rich filling made for a disappointing combination.
- Drinks: Bitter, watery coffee and an overly sweet vanilla matcha were the weak points.
- The verdict: Worth visiting if you’re nearby, but probably not worth crossing London for.
Let’s start off with the best—the pistachio frangipane brioche. This was a sleeper; it wasn’t one of the pastries recommended to us, as their most famous are the tiramisu, brownie cruffin, and the pain Suisse au chocolat (as I’m not a chocolate fanatic, I skipped this one). The bread was impossibly soft and fluffy, with a slight doughy quality to it in the best way. It was wonderfully complemented by the whole toasted pistachios on top, adding a crunch and a hint of bitterness to the bite.
My other top choice actually turned out to be the smoked beef sausage pastry, another surprise. The pastry was incredibly flaky, there was a creamy, mild layer of cheese topped with the salty, savoury sausage and a couple sundried tomatoes. Each element lent itself to a perfectly balanced bite.
The tiramisu croissant, a big seller, was indeed as good as promised. It’s filled with a luscious mascarpone custard and a soaked sponge, with that subtle bite from coffee liqueur. All enclosed in a flaky croissant, even at a high price, this pastry is worth the £8.
The smoked salmon bun was fairly standard, nothing groundbreaking but definitely a solid staple choice. The ratios between the soft bread, cream cheese, salmon, dill, and capers were exactly what I wanted them to be, and all for £5.
While the chocolate brownie cruffin came highly recommended by the baker, it was sadly a bit of a let-down. The brownie inside was good, but the croissant dough directly surrounding it was raw, giving it a play-dough quality. It was also filled with a hazelnut chocolate mousse, which was definitely yummy but did overpower the croissant, in my opinion. I think this was a classic case of trying to do too much.
The drinks were equally disappointing—not bad, but not something I’d get again. The coffee was bitter and watery, while the vanilla matcha was overwhelmingly sweet and didn’t taste of matcha. It’s clear that their focus is on their pastries, and the drinks are just an add-on that could either use some more attention or could just be cut altogether.
Overall, I’d say Fred Bakery is definitely worth a visit if you’re anywhere nearby, but maybe not worth travelling an hour across London for.
