Everyone has been raving about Soho's Maison Bertaux since... forever (they've been around since 1871). And well, it sounded perfect. French, vintage decor, yummy cake and awesome tea. And apparently just enough charm for you to forgive its imperfections. But as charming as it was, I haven't forgiven its imperfections. And there were a lot of them.I had such high hopes when I arrived. It is cute! It's adorable in fact! I was excited and hunted for a table. Or course there were none (it's very very tiny) so I shivered outside while I waited for me friend. And then spotted the little side seating area. Which is completely separate to the rest of the cafe. And unfortunately has all the charm of a train station waiting room.
But the cake would make everything better, right? Cake makes everything better. Especially when it's raining. I plumped for an apple crumble pie. Pie, with crumble topping!? Yes please! What a wonderful idea. Unfortunately, my crumble pie was left with a stringy layer of uncooked pastry underneath it. I know that sometimes happens with apple pie (Miss Cay, how do we make perfect apple pie?), but I couldn't eat it. My friend's chocolate mousse cake was much better, but I was still annoyed that my cake was rubbish.
Tea was yummy. In fact I'd say that this was the best part of my trip. But being squished in by the door, and right next to another table meant that half of it went over the table. Apologising for elbowing people in the head every two minutes, or having to move because someone wants to get out does not make for a relaxing time. Service was OK, but other people have found them very rude.
Maybe I'd have enjoyed it more if we'd been in the main cafe. Maybe I could forgive them for my cake being rubbish and it was just bad choosing on my part. But £13 for two slices of cake and two pots of tea? They might be a London institution, but I'm anything but impressed.
Flickr image from Annie Mole's photostream. The shop at Maison Bertaux is no more, but if you want to find it (and indeed check out more reviews) here's a link to our friends at Qype.
Never forgive bad cake. And in an institution such as that, it shouldn't matter what you order; it should all be utterly bloody fab.
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right. I just wanted to love this place sooooo much so was doubley disappointed.
ReplyDeletewell according to the link above for their website, they have closed down - so probably a blessing in disguise that none of us has to find out just how expensively bad their cakes/surroundings are....
ReplyDeleteIt's a strange website - they used to have a shop, that's closed down, but the cafe is still going strong. I've amended the post so there's a link to the Qype reviews as well. I can add 'rubbish website' to the things that didn't impress me...
ReplyDeleteHear hear weewatto! Bad cake, and expensive cake at that, is such a disappointment and should be avoidable. Plus there's no excuse for rude service.
ReplyDeleteTheir website is bizarre: all 'Madam' but nowt about the actual shop...which is the reason we're browsing the site in the first place. Surely a cafe is about the food, not what the proprieter (sp?) is wearing, or am I just hopelessly unfashionable?
I always get one of the fruit covered tart things here and they never fail to impress. And I sort of love the rudeness of the service.
ReplyDeleteBut it is expensive, so I tend only to suggest it for a late night cup of tea (it's open till about 10pm some weekdays) or when somebody else is paying.
Since when did pie become cake?
ReplyDeleteSounds horrendously expensive.
Aaaah, I think once you put crumble topping on pie it becomes a 'cakey pie thingy'. Either way, it was rubbish.
ReplyDeleteYep, thoroughly disappointed by Maison Bertaux when I visited. Really wanted to love it, because the decor is amazing. But service was rude, coffee was poor and it's very expensive.
ReplyDelete