Bank Holiday - Brick Lane Bakery

We made our first trip here very late on the Friday evening and made our second two days later, for dinner. Yes, the food at the Brick Lane Bakery is THAT good! An unassuming place in East London, this bakery apparently churns out about 7000 beigels a night. The spelling is indeed beigal. It has been argued that it is the correct, traditional way of spelling and hey...who am I to argue?

Whilst the beigels are excellent, warm and chewy, whenever you happen to drop by for a whole meal or just to pick something up, it the salt beef in a beigal that takes it to a whole new level. For a measly £3.00, you can get yourself a beigel filled to about 2 inches high with beautifully tender meat and if you so wish, lashings of hot English mustard (a gherkin on the side is sold separately for 20p). My past experiences of salt beef has sadly been limited - the outrageously expensive stuff at Selfridges (good but outrageous all the same) and some poor limp bit of meat a cafe near my office tried to pass of as salt beef, sigh. But I can tell this is good stuff, not just from what my brain is yelling out to me, but by the amount of the stuff the bakery sells. Nadia and I stood there for quite some time on both visits and the meat just kept coming out of the kitchen. There are other filling on offer (smoked salmon £1.50, smoked salmon and cream cheese £2, etc) but seriously....who wants them when there's salt beef to be had!

For dessert (there's always room for dessert!) we shared a chocolate fudge slice and a cheese cake, both for 50p each. Oh why can't prices be that low everywhere? The fudge slice was chewy, fudge-y and most definitely very yummy. It doesn't actually look it in the picture but trust me, it is. The cheesecake slice was crumbly and not overly sweet, which actually gave it that extra 'umph'. I liked this place so much that I'll even give it top marks for the tea (40p for a small, 50p for a large). Brewed nice and strong, just the way I like it. When it's this strong, it's got to be white with 2 1/2 sugars, please :)

The Brick Lane Bakery does offer an array of baked goods - the breads lined the walls by the counter (challa, white loaves to name a few). I bought half a dozen beigels home for £1.20 but the more you buy the cheaper it gets. There were a few boards up around the bakery listing the prices of the and numerous pastries. beigels - it goes up to 15 dozen - I wonder how many people buy 180 beigels??? Service is quick and given with that Cockney charm but not always that efficient. Make it clear what you want, especially if you're ordering several different items. Though quick, they sometimes miss something out. Another great thing about this place? It's open 24 hours!

Brick Lane Beigel Bake
159 Brick Lane, London E1 6SB