OUR PATCH SEPTEMBER 2016
A cabinet of
temptation.
Inside the King
Street palace
of pastries
BONJOUR W6 BUT ADIEU
Competition for bargain
lunch deals is fierce in
King Street… which makes
this classy French bakery
even more remarkable,
writes Tim Harrison
L
overs of classy pastries and
artisan bread couldn’t believe
their luck when an established
Parisian bakery upped sticks
and moved from Paris to King
Street two years ago.
Opposite the Methodist church spire
in King Street, and just a camembert’s
lob from Ravenscourt Park tube,
8/9
Patisserie Sainte-Anne is the one with
the Barbie pink frontage that could
have been drawn in crayon by a child.
lt is now the go-to destination for the
freshest, tastiest, cheapest lunches in
Hammersmith.
For £6 you not only get a toasted
baguette (jambon et fromage highly
recommended), made with the bakery’s
own delightfully flavoursome crusty
bread, or a thick slice of quiche, or
soup of the day, plus a dessert (if you
can resist the eclairs, the fig and apple
tarte is exquisite) and also a can of San
Pellegrino fruit juice or water.
The bargain lunch is only eclipsed
for value by the £3.40 breakfast – a
half baguette with homemade jam and
butter, or pain au chocolat, or croissant,
plus coffee – another inflation-buster.
Dotted around the display case are
vivid macarons, pizza slices, chocolates,
eclairs and stunning gateaux.
Sainte-Anne is run by FrancoJapanese couple Alain and Keiko
Marache, who recently celebrated 30
years of wedded bliss with a weekend in
Brighton.
Their work philosophy is defiantly
chalked and gilt-framed on the wall. “In
France, by law, only a shop that makes
its own dough, shapes it and cooks it
on the premises can call itself a bakery,”
it says, pointedly.
Alain is a fourth-generation baker;
photos of his father’s patisserie in
France and his uncle’s bakery hang
on the wall. And the fifth generation
is hard on their heels – the couple’s
29-year-old pastry chef son.