The croissant diet

Hi, it's Kate! And I've been eating pastries nonstop. Here's what the best bites are in London and beyond [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hi, this is [Kate Krader](, food editor at Bloomberg, and let’s start with a question: Ever heard of the Croissant Diet? Me neither. I inadvertently found myself on this regime when I started to research [the thrilling expansion of pastry shops in London](. I spent several weeks crisscrossing the capital in search of the city’s most exceptional baked goods, with help from my great colleague [Sarah Rappaport](. On average, I consumed two laminated dough pastries a day in the name of comprehensive research. It was an excellent adventure but also a ton of work, not to mention a daily sugar high. (I might have been starring in my own culinary version of [Cocaine Bear](.) In putting together any “best food” type of round-up—and I urge you to go do your own research here, wherever you live—you have to nail the concept: Do you go broad, say best bakeries in London, something that’s been done a million times yet always gets attention? That’s a hefty challenge in a city as vast as this, and there’s no shortage of those stories. The gorgeously laminated and baked treats at Arome. Source: Arome Bakery Alternatively, do you go single subject, say doughnuts, which are having a big social media moment in London? That might turn out to be too narrow and also disheartening, especially when confronted with some of the more ridiculous versions here; options at Donutelier by Roladin are so overloaded with add-ons, it’s as if someone dumped their bag of Halloween candy on top.  Instead, Sarah and I split the difference and decided on a subject that I always want to talk about: what’s new. This is an excellent moment to discuss the state of pastry in London. The city is awash in incredibly good croissants and laminated dough designs that gloriously flake all over the place. They might be filled with mocha custard or studded with feta and glazed with honey, or multiple other incarnations. The delightful dessert tin at Shiok. Source: Shiok. Beyond croissantapallooza, Filipino bake shop Kapihan just reopened in Battersea with sensational treats like the ube tart, filled with a deeply purple yam custard. And the Singaporean-influenced Shiok off Liverpool Street offers trompe l’oeil treats like a rhubarb-filled dessert “tin” made out of white chocolate. Now, what pastries do you order when you finally get to the counter? Do you go with the product that looks best, that’s calling your name loud and clearly? Or the weirdest one, that validates the baker as a genius, or confirms that they’ve been consuming too many gummies? The answer is both—and then a couple more, for good measure. Buns From Home is one of the few places to get a decent cardamom bun in London. Source: Buns From Home Which means you’ll very likely consume a large amount of mediocre pastries in the service of finding the ultimate cookie or cake slice. There are a lot of not great cardamom buns floating around London, for example, and it took a bunch of sad bites before finding stellar ones at Buns From Home. So goes the Croissant Diet. (And did I ever find a good doughnut beyond an Instagram shot? A couple; generally it takes standing on line at a Bread Ahead outpost.) Of course the challenges of scouring the city for premium baked goods is something that calls for the world’s smallest violin. It’s not an easy time to be a food writer: Last month, the entire London Eater department [was shut down](, and in the US, ex-Bloomberg writer and Eater restaurant critic [Ryan Sutton]( was also let go. I’m a long-time Sutton fan; I now miss the coverage on both sides of the Atlantic. Here at Bloomberg Pursuits, we’re not going anywhere. And we promise to keep delivering food news, carb-related and otherwise. Connect with Kate on [Twitter]( or [Instagram]( More food guides from around the world. [There’s Never Been a More Exciting Time to Eat Thai in Bangkok]( A wave of chefs are focusing on local ingredients and reinterpreting regional cuisines to create a vibrant medley of flavors. [The 12 Best Bars to Drink Cocktails and Wine Like a Local in Sydney]( As the city celebrates WorldPride, here are the top spots to imbibe before, during and after the festivities. [Brunch in London Is Getting a Boozy DJ-Fueled Caribbean Makeover]( Forget Sunday roasts. The UK’s new favorite midday meal is Caribbean and comes complete with unlimited rum punch. [Tokyo’s Luxury Sushi Restaurants Go Casual With Budget Spinoffs]( The drop in expense account meals and business travelers during the pandemic encouraged new styles. [From Miami to Manhattan, the 14 Most Anticipated Restaurants in America]( Here’s to great dining all your long. What I’ve been listening to. Podcasts are brain food. Here’s some recent episodes that stuck with me. [Tech Bites — Spicy Green Book: Non-profit Directory of Black-Owned Restaurants]( Danilo Bastson is the founder [of the almost three-year old app]( that helpfully amalgamates Black-owned food businesses. The entrepreneur has thoughts about what it’s like to keep a pandemic-era project going when the world keeps moving. [The Dave Chang Show — Predicting Success and Reaching Your Full Potential With Matt Higgens]( The Momofuku founder and Chris Ying go deep on the subject of what constitutes a winner: Do you want to be born with skills or be the underdog? (You probably know the answer.) Also of interest: why the most talented chefs don’t end up with successful restaurants. [The Sporkful — A French Chef and Cincinnati: A Love Story]( Cincinnati, Ohio, has a deep and unexpected history of fine French dining thanks to many a company headquartered there (it needed fancy dining rooms for executives to take visitors). Chef Jean-Robert de Cavel became a local star; when he died, the city came out to celebrate him. Some travel inspiration. Because aren’t the best parts of vacations the food? [Ski Resorts Finally Figured Out Crowd Control, Just in Time for Huge Weekends]( [Fairytale Chateau Wants Americans to Stay in Billionaire’s Former Vacation Home]( [Peru’s Machu Picchu Reopens: What You Should Know]( [Black Women Are Banding Together to Leave America Behind. Here’s Why]( [Six of the Most Stunning New Hotels Coming to Ibiza and Mallorca]( [Visiting Amsterdam Now Finds a City at a Crossroads]( You had some questions! Several of you wrote in via [our dedicated question line](mailto:AskPursuits@bloomberg.net?I have a question) and also [via our Instagram](. Here are some answers. What’s the most overrated food trend at the moment and why is it uni? Ha! There is a lot of uni (sea urchin) swimming around US menus right now, that is for sure, but I’m not going to call it an overrated trend. I have mostly seen it in places where it belongs—as part of a menu’s raw section in particular. But maybe I’m not seeing it run rampant because uni isn’t as ubiquitous in the UK. What is all over the place on both sides of the Atlantic is fancy fish eggs. Caviar bumps last year were obnoxious; now, besides [TikTok’s Doritos with caviar]( (ah, [good ol’ TikTok](), you can now order a caviar martini if you’re at Corrigan’s in London which is pushing it. Where caviar makes sense? On beef tartare handrolls at Locust in Nashville, Tennessee. Photographer: Andrew Thomas Lee Why do most restaurants outside of New York make you box your own leftovers? I wish I could tell you why more restaurants have stopped stocking take-away containers, specifically eco-friendly ones. It’s most likely to do with material costs while restaurants deal with ingredient inflation and staffing and simply keeping the gas on. You are preaching to the choir here, @trixare4kidsmom, I wish it were mandatory. Related: In France, they recently passed an anti-waste law that does with with disposable packaging, even at fast food places like McDonald’s. Fries now arrive in [reusable red rubber packages](, and they’re quite popular. If there was a Best New Chef in London for 2022 who would be on your top five list? As someone who was obsessed with Best New Chefs for a long time at Food & Wine magazine, I appreciate this very good question. (Although as Dave Chang recently pointed out on his podcast, see above, they aren’t always a great predictor of a chef’s career.) The London list would definitely feature Jamie Smart at Cadet, who creates miraculous dishes like a [game liver mousse toast]( with pear and porcini. Also Tom Straker is lighting up the city at [his eponymous Notting Hill place](. Nokz Majozi has taken over Holbern Pie Room; she’s quite amazing. I also love what Ayo Adeyami is doing at the [West African fine dining spot Akoko](. Chef Ayo Adeyami at Akoko Photographer: Evan Ortiz/Bloomberg Pursuits Is fine dining going the way of the dodo bird? Nope, @yobetts. It’s changing, it’s evolving, and all the increasing prices make it harder for places that rely on a large amount of staff and specialized ingredients to do business. Even if it did go the way of the dodo, it’d come back from extinction—[like the actual dodo](. Everything in the restaurant industry is cyclical. In the early 90s, before the Food Network, people went to restaurants for the scene or the food or both. Then chefs became stars and you went to restaurants for that. Now, every cook has been on Top Chef or Chopped; you can’t throw a doughnut and not hit a celebrity chef. Today’s coolest places are famous for the scene, the plateau de mer, the great bar. Fine dining, or however you want to define it, may have a lot more Japanese influences than it used to, and drawn-out tasting menus that hold you captive might be taking a pause, but people still have a lot of money to spend on eating out, and they’re doing it at ambitious restaurants. In fact, in 2018, we chronicled the casual-to-formal shift then sweeping the country—a Luxe Redux, if you will. Photographer: Adrian Gaut for Bloomberg Businessweek Hidden gems of London that combine good cocktails and food? I’ve recently become obsessed with Los Mochis in Notting Hill. They’re a Mexican-Japanese place, which I know will trigger alarms at the unlikely pairing, but they have excellent miso cod tacos and guacamole ([with actual avocados and lime]() among other things. Plus, the bar stocks one of the biggest tequila collections in Europe; their take on the classic Tommy’s margarita, which swaps orange liqueur for agave syrup, is terrific. I also just had a great pink peppercorn negroni and delicious duck confit with chili sauce at Cinder in St. John’s Wood. Side Hustle at the Nomad also has excellent cocktails—more spicy margaritas!—and their snack selections, like queso flautas, is very strong. (It constitutes a mini Mexican food wave in London!) Tayer + Elementary isn’t hidden in the least—they’re one of the [world’s best cocktail bars](—but they do have great snacks. I can eat a lot of their corn dogs, stuffed with chorizo and comte, and as well as the vegetarian-friendly KFC (Korean fried cauliflower). Is Cheez Whiz really considered to be a superior cheese by Philadelphians? You are asking the wrong person, @danfleisher, and not just because I’m from New York City and can’t speak for my neighbors. I also loath Cheez Whiz. That said, I have been part of Philly cheesesteak tastings where the neon-colored spread was somehow better than the provolone on the competing sandwich because it oozes all over the meat like a big comforting blanket. That’s where any endorsement of the product ends with me. Philadelphia friends help me out here with an answer, please? New for subscribers: Free article gifting. Bloomberg.com subscribers can now gift up to five free articles a month to anyone you want. Just look for the "Gift this article" button on stories. (Not a subscriber? Unlock limited access and [sign up here](.) Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? 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