Launching on Connaught Street at the end of the month is Cocomaya Bakery from the team behind London’s gorgeous chocolate emporium of the same name. Brainchild of Agent Provocateur founder Serena Rees, fashion designer and consultant Walid Al Damirji and Joel Bernstein, former head of concept at Liberty of London, these style gurus are more accustomed to the catwalk than the cake walk but this hasn’t stopped them putting their fashionable nous to work in the culinary department.

At a champagne fuelled tea party to celebrate the launch, the multi-talented Rees told me that she’ll turn her hand to anything she loves from lingerie and scent to chocolate and now delicious cakes but who knows what will be next.

When the bakery opens to the public, expect freshly made artisan breads from pain rustique to brioche, chocolate fondues, seasonal fruit tarts, gorgonzola and pear savoury biscuits, mousses and sorbets galore – all dispatched from their charming new location. I can safely report that the Devil’s Food Cake and Apple Tart are out of this world but with a nod to the fashion background of its founders, Cocomaya’s selection will even include wheat, sugar, nut and dairy free options – and I am awaiting the Flourless Orange Cake with bated breath! “We wanted a mix of the wholesome and the decadent,” laughed Bernstein.

But lovers of Cocomaya’s primary substance needn’t worry. The chocolate shop has move from its original location across the street to sit next door to the bakery and will continue to purvey ice cream, brownies and, of course, its trademark chocolate treats made from the rarest and finest cocoa beans in the world. Cocomaya’s talented chocolatier is constantly creating new and unique options ranging from caramel, sour cherry and lavender to ginger, cardamom and raspberry with each artfully designed to resemble a piece of precious jewellery. For Halloween, he has even created some amazing chocolate skulls that come wrapped just like macabre Easter Eggs.

Also new to the capital is Cocorino, an artisan Italian focacceria and gelateria in the heart of Marylebone village which is a collaboration between Linda Yau (similarly talented sister of top restaurateur Alan Yau) and Italian native, Francesco Mazzei. The bijou venue is split into two: the focacceria's menu will range from stuffed focaccia and ciabatta to sough dough and piadina (skinny Italian wrapbread) with fillings including stracchino, rocket and bresaola or egg and Tuscan sausage for breakfast while the gelateria offers a mouth watering selection of over 20 Italian ice creams and sorbets made every day in the store including pistachio, frutti di bosco, stracciatella, and fior di latte flavours with soya based dairy free options as well. Eco friendly cups are made from the biodegradable cassava starch plant but the homemade waffle cones are too good to resist.

Finally, celebrity Primrose Hill set favourite and pioneer of the cupcake revolution, The Primrose Bakery has finally opened a second outlet in Covent Garden’s Tavistock Street. Popular with famous names from Kate Moss and Jude Law to Lisa Snowdon, Anya Hindmarch and David Walliams, Martha Swift’s West London outpost is doing a roaring trade in its infamous freshly baked cupcakes, croissants and cookies – it even does a mean line in yoghurt and granola that’s perfect for the body fascist brigade.

Comfort food has never been so fashionable

www.cocomaya.co.uk
www.primrosebakery.org.uk
www.cocorino.co.ukwww.hummingbirdbakery.com