A sweet, breakfast-approved vehicle for espresso cream cheese, blow-torched halva or an unami-rich spread of miso butter, there’s banana bread… the one you bake at home, and then there’s London’s banana breads. Even the simple-looking varieties, served as displayed on the counter, involve ingenious additions; tahini, buttermilk, a dash of rum… anything to make your banana bread extra squidgy, and just that little bit more perfect than your bake at home.
The guide to London’s best banana breads.
Banana bread: The Bach
Toasted banana bread served with a dollop of crunchy honeycomb butter, powdered sugar and endless doubt regarding one’s previous life decisions; as to why you’ve never ordered this fluffy delight before.
12 Broadway Market, London E8 4QJ
Chocolate chip banana bread: The Apple Blue
The Apple Blue banana bread instantly stands out; plonked on a plate as though it was a slab of meat, it’s dense yet gloriously damp, sweet but definitely not sugary, studded with slices of ripe bananas and dark chocolate chips.
212 Balham High Rd, London SW12 9BS
Toasted banana & walnut bread: The Farmer’s Mistress
Banana walnut bread with silky milk chocolate crémeux, crumbled banana chips, sweet candied walnuts and a glob of deliciously sour Estate Dairy yoghurt.
300 Battersea Park Rd, London SW11 3BU
Grandma Elly’s banana bread: Milk Beach
Squidgy banana bread full of sweetness from overripe bananas, served with a swoosh of silky cream cheese that gets a strong kick from Milk Beach’s very own, specialty grade espresso. We will never know who granny Elly is, but what we will know, is that her banana bread recipe is legendary.
19-21 Lonsdale Rd, London NW6 6RA
Banana bread: Kaffeine
Less is more; Kaffeine’s banana bread is perhaps the simplest in the capital, but don’t be fooled: it’s large (thin yet definitely taller than most), as sweet as you expect it to be (the aroma does a fine job at tempting every customer in the queue) and a generous pat of salted butter is the only topping you will ever need.
66 Great Titchfield St., London W1W 7QJ
Vegan banana bread: Bake Street
A delicately sweet banana sponge packed full of dark chocolate chips. Tried and tested on two occasions; one time toasted, another just as comes; surprisingly, warm doesn’t always equal better, but you’re welcome to enjoy Bake St’s best-selling loaf as you please.
58 Evering Rd, London N16 7SR
The 2.0: Brickwood
Brickwood and banana bread are almost synonymous, served in no less than three ways (the legend, the 2.0, the chocolate bomb). A crusty top makes way for a fluffy, cake-like interior, its sweetness here offset nicely by big spoonfuls of tangy mascarpone and berry compote; the 2.0 might just be the best.
Multiple locations
Pecan banana bread: Urban Pantry
Two slices of pecan-studded banana bread, toasted and topped with powdered sugar and big buttons of espresso butter. Forget walnuts, because it turns out, sweet buttery pecans are the missing ingredient banana bread needed all along.
15 Devonshire Rd, London W4 2EU
Grilled banana bread: Milk
Banana bread with pumpkin seed tahini and blow-torched halva butter, its burnt peaks bringing a crisp crackly contrast (almost like crème brulée) to a fluffy base; still warm from the grill. The Middle Eastern sweet-nutty spread is topped with pumpkin seeds, adding extra crunch to the equation.
18-20 Bedford Hill, London SW12 9RG
Loaded banana bread: District Coffee
Trust an Aussie café to make banana bread look like sunshine on a plate; a toasted slice arrives at your table with a mountain of Greek yoghurt, fresh berries, honey, a little cinnamon and a garnishing of edible flowers.
New Union Square Embassy Gardens, 7 Ponton Rd, London SW11 7DN or 22 Brook’s Mews, London W1K 4DY
Banana bread with miso butter: Snackbar
Banana bread with dark tahini and a mix of sesame seeds, grilled until charred and smoky, then smothered in an unami-rich spread of miso butter plus flaky sea salt… Snackbar strikes again with its bold salty-sweet ‘snacks’.
20 Dalston Ln, London E8 3AZ
Toasted banana bread: The Laundry
Thick, toasty warm banana bread drenched in satiny soft honeycomb butter.
374 Coldharbour Ln, London SW9 8PL
Banana bread: Violet
The American one. With its sweet sugar crust, its subtle tanginess from buttermilk, its grown-up twist of dark rum, its texture that is dense yet so so fluffy… there’s a reason why this sells out by noon.
47 Wilton Way, London E8 3ED
Toasted banana bread: White Mulberries
The sweet ‘side’ that put White Mulberries straight on the map, a toasted slab comes loaded with your choice of toppings: maple pecans and mascarpone, almond butter and Nutella (as gooey as it gets) or peanut butter and raspberry jam, all finished with fresh fruit, edible flowers and a good dusting of cinnamon.
St. Katharine docks, London E1W 1AT or Hay’s Galleria, Tooley St, London SE1 2HD
Award-winning banana bread: Daisy Green
Warm banana bread with fluffy mascarpone, flaked almonds, fresh berries plus a drizzle of honey, served like an open-faced sandwich. The award-winning dish that has been gracing the Daisy Green menu since day one.
Multiple locations
Tahini banana bread: Layla
Soft banana sponge with a savoury, nutty touch of Wildfarmed flour and tahini, enclosed in white sesame seeds for crunch. Layla, the neighbourhood bakery born during lockdown, fittingly does the pandemic staple so much better than any of us at home.
332 Portobello Rd, London W10 5SA
