There's a new cupcakery in town!!

A second branch of Primrose Bakery has opened in Covent Garden at 42 Tavistock Street. It's not yet listed on their site but I popped by today and its definitely open and selling cupcakes!!!

It's a really cute little store, pretty much the same as the Primrose Hill branch, except the counter is bigger, therefore letting them display MUCH more cupcakes, and their yummy looking layer cakes, and I think the seating area is a little bigger!! I didn't have the camera to take pics but will be going back asap! It looks very much like the pic above of the first branch, just in case you're looking for it :)

I got 2 cupcakes - a vanilla and a chocolate and both were utterly gorgeous - I didn't eat both, one was for Manny!!! The base of my vanilla was really soft and the frosting was utterly delicious as usual, and as usual there were no complaints from Manny!

I was especially happy to find the newly opened Primrose today (it opened on Monday) as at lunchtime today I noticed a new bakery/deli, Fraiche, opened today just near my work and I popped in to check it out and was seduced by a cute looking cupcake - unfortunately it only looked cute - when I tried the frosting it had a fish taste, and unfortunately the second bite only confirmed it, it DID taste of fish, so it went straight into my bin!

Luckily bad service and sour faces do not curdle frosting

I was planning on going to Profile to grab some Outsider Tart cupcakes as I couldn't make it to Richmond or Chiswick for cupcake weekend but after one of my cats decided to throw up on their scratching post I had to go buy another one in Camden, the only place they sell the Fat Cat Big Mama which is their fav, so I decided to pop to Primrose Bakery.

I bought four cupcakes, vanilla, chocolate, mocha and lemon and coconut. As usual their cupcakes were really nice, although my vanilla base was a little dry, and the frosting was fabulous. However once again their service was utterly non-existent - the lady serving me boxed the cupcakes, thrust my change at me and then walked off to resume her conversation with the other lady behind the counter - I think both of them are the owners (one of them definitely is). No "do you need a bag?", "thanks for coming" or any other such frivolous customer service. Their cakes are nice but I will only be going back if I'm in the area and really am craving a cupcake and coffee.

Any excuse for a cupcake!!

or two!

It was my friend Kevin's 40th birthday on Saturday so I popped to Primrose Bakery to get him a cupcake and couldn't resist picking up a few for myself and Manny and a couple of little ones for my friends Grey and Dawn.

I also had a coffee and a melting moment biscuit in their little coffee area - however it wasn't the lovely relaxing cup of coffee I was hoping for, nor was it particularly welcoming, with staff chattering over my head, and seeming perturbed at their conversations being interupted to serve myself and others that came in. One of the owners was in there when I went in and when I said "hello" (as you do when you go into a shop...or is it just me?) - I got a grunt and a forced smile - mind you I didn't take it personally after seeing their pic in the Mail.

Therefore I think this might be my last visit to the shop, which is rather unfortunate as their cupcakes are really nice and I really love the little shop with its ultra cute little cafe bit but I don't like to visit places where you are made to feel like your interrupting their day - don't run a cafe if you plan to make people feel like they've invaded your front room is my personal opinion!

I particularly found it rather perturbing that when you buy a load of cakes they don't offer a bag- not a problem to me as I always carry bags with me but the woman in front of me who bought a whole cake and a big box of cupcakes, at the cost of over �40, and wasn't offered a bag before the girl just wandered off to continue her conversation seemed rather pi**ed off - not a way to get repeat business I'd say.

Like I said the cupcakes were absolutely gorgeous - the frosting's very nice and the cakes are always fresh tasting - so at least their attitude doesn't curdle the cupcakes. Alas it does put me off visiting! There are enough other places in London that make lovely cupcakes without the attitude.

If I worked in a cupcake shop...

I'd not only be the size of a house and have to be squeezed Winnie The Pooh style through the door, I'd also be HAPPY! Imagine being surrounded by cupcakes ALL DAY! Just looking at a cupcake makes me nearly as happy as eating one..not quite, but you know what I mean!

However when I've gone to the Primrose Bakery, on both occasions its seemed like a chore to serve me, and others that are there too. I understand that I'm not quite of the ilk of their other customers, like the reputed fans Kate Moss and Sadie Frost (well I do look like I eat AND digest the cupcakes I buy rather than chew them and sick them up!) but still, I'm spending money in your store...would it kill you to be pleasant, and perhaps pass the time of day with me?!

When I first walked into their little cafe/bakery I swear I was like a kid in a candy store - the place is totally cute and full of nice little nik naks...and CAKE...but still the people working there seem harassed and perturbed. I know they're busy but seriously I'd LOVE to have the opportunity to open my own bakery and work there! I'm ALWAYS really polite to people in shops as I know how irritating it is for people to be rude to shop assistants from my time as one, and more so when it's somewhere fab like this, but I get the same kind of response from the people here as I get in Tescos! When I asked her which flavours they had on Wednesday I was thankful looks can't kill! Usually people in cupcake places are more than happy to chat with you...

For example, when we went to Bea's she came out to personally ask us did we enjoy our cakes, in Berlin's Cupcake the lady who runs it was adorable and so friendly Manny left some of his heart with her (he was quite smitten bless him!), and Crumbs and Doilies couldn't be nicer if they tried, and the same goes for all the other cupcake places I've visited, and there's been a lot!!, ....so I'm not sure what the problem with PB is..it's certainly not their cakes, which are FABULOUS...maybe we're just not "Primrose Hill" material!

Anyways here's a pic of some cupcakes I bought there earlier this week from the gruff lady there. They were really nice, but alas what sticks in my memory is their (lack of) customer service.

Primrose Bakery....the first, but not last, visit!

Saturday saw us venture up North to Primrose Hill/Camden to visit Primrose Bakery. I'd had one of their cupcakes some time ago in Selfridges but was keen to visit and check out their full range and I was certainly NOT disappointed!

After a bit of a detour (we got lost as I was navigating and was rather distracted by some gorgeous pink houses!) we found the bakery and from the outside it was utterly adorable with its little cute logo on the window. As you enter the shop there are about 4 small tables on one side (with those American deli style padded chairs that I like) and the other side of the shop has lots of little bits to buy - from reusable bags for your shopping to tattoo man dolls. The most important part of the shop however is at the end of this section - the lovely cabinets of CUPCAKES! They come in large and small and they had about 5 flavours to choose from - with more being baked downstairs in the kitchen - which is just as well as the shop was constantly busy with people buying boxes of cupcakes!

It was rather busy and we didn't think we'd get a seat but thankfully some people were just leaving so we grabbed a pew and ordered 2 coffees and 2 cupcakes - chocolate for Manny and vanilla for me! The cupcakes came served on cute little china plates with adorable little forks (not wooden as often happens and often taints the flavour!). They were totally GORGEOUS and Primrose immediately entered my top 5 cupcake places!! The frosting was to die for, thick and utterly tasty - with just the right amount of vanilla in it -and the batter base was just perfect. Manny was drooling over some cornflake mars bar cake and went and got a bit as soon as he'd finished his cupcake.

We got some cakes to take away - another vanilla for me and also a carrot one. Manny chose another chocolate and a mocha and also he couldn't resist their gorgeous afghan biscuit so we got one of those too! I also picked up a gorgeous set of 3 cupcake magnets and a little cute badge all by Owensays.com. I could've spent a fortune in there and bought loads more but I figured that if I was a bit restrained I had an excuse to go back again to shop v.soon!

We walked a lot of the way home so we ate the other cakes when we got in - the carrot one was full of flavour (and carrot bits!) and the frosting was really nice - sometimes carrot cupcake frosting can be a little too sweet but this was just perfect! Again the vanilla cupcake was beautiful - this time it was pink - the one I had in the cafe was bright green. (I should've taken a pic but I felt a bit self conscious whipping out the camera in the cafe..I need to get over that!).

While there I noticed that they sell their single cupcakes in ultra adorable Chinese take away style containers, complete with the Primrose Bakery logo- like the ones you see in Sex and the City..very cosmopolitan and cute! A perfect little gift for someone special! I will take a pic soon as I'm going to get one as a gift for someone this week :)

Finally - it wasn't a cupcake but good grief the Afghan biscuit was gorgeous!!! I'd never heard of them before but will definitely be having one again!

North West London cupcake tour...

Planning the cupcakes tours is half the fun - I get to drool over pictures of cupcakes and plan routes (this is Mannys favourite part as he can spend ages perusing maps!). So having successfully completed the cupcake tour of SW London, we are busy planning the NW London equivalent, hopefully for next month. So far we have 3 places to visit including the rather fab looking Primrose Bakery in Primrose Hill. I've already had their cupcakes from Selfridges and they're lovely, but nothing better than getting them straight from the source!! Don't they look GORGEOUS!!!!