Paul

Perfectly formed with the most fabulous goodies. The staff is friendly even at busy times. They have lots of outside space which is perfect for a sunny day. Definitely the place to rest when visiting St Paul Cathedral.
Don’t forget they don’t only sell baked goods but also serve lovely coffee! Possibly also the best hot chocolate in the world!

I had avoided this since it is a chain, but my wife wanted to go here, so we went here for breakfast on Saturday morning. It was essentially empty, and the food was good.

Good respite from Starbucks — thank god. Good selection of freshly prepared baguettes and pastries. Puff pastries and croissants are best, tarts look better than they taste and lack depth of flavor. Coffee and cappuccino could have been hotter. Best to sit outside, inside seating is tight.

I’ve always been a big fan of Paul and wish we had this chain in the states and an alternative to Starbucks. The espresso is great here as are the beautiful macaroons. I would recommend trying a few of the flavors and grab a few different croissants as well, they are great to grab the evening prior to a long trip for breakfast the next day. Service is always nice and quick at Paul as well.

Paul was my go-​to place for lunch two times in a roll. It was next to majestic St Paul’s cathedral and stone’s throw from my meeting place.
They have a number of tasty sandwiches, but my favorite was the one with salami, lettuce, tomato, cheese, an olive spread. The baguette bread had crunchy seeds on the outside, with the long shape making it easy and fun to munch down!
For desserts I normally get the lemon tart. Their pistachio macaron is also pretty good — sweet and a bit denser than I’m used to, but large serving given the price.
I will certainly miss eating here when I return home to USA after my business trip.

This location is very, very busy given its proximity to St. Paul’s and the time I was there — lunch in the City during the week. That being said, we lucked out and got a table, and I had some yummy quiche and a not so yummy macaron. To be fair, I just don’t like macaron, but didn’t know at the time since I bought my first one at Paul. On a second visit during the same trip I ordered a croque madame which was excellent! No table this time so we ate on the steps of St. Paul’s.
I’d definitely go back. Most or all of the staff were french and that gave it some street cred!

I couldn’t care less that this place is a chain, because the pastries are first-​class, the bread is just fine, and the service is unexpectedly charming.
The croissants in particular are beautifully flaky, and I like that they come in a mini version that makes for a perfect snack. Our favorite discovery is that their hot chocolate can be purchased in a large-​size carton to take home; it’s so rich and intense that I strongly recommend that you thin it with milk to prevent a heart attack.
The location is convenient to St Paul’s Cathedral, but tucked away in a little courtyard with outdoor seating. That helps, because the interior is pretty cramped.
This location was our introduction to Paul, and it made a lovely first impression. I think we stopped in several times within a week! Here’s hoping we’ll see them in the U.S. soon.

FYI. This place IS a chain. When I first bumped into one near my hotel in Kensington I thought it was a cute little bakery and wanted to try it… Then I saw this location near Blackfriars and decided to try a quick lunch.
Don’t bother — ESPECIALLY this location. We had the most horrendous service. Horrendous. We ordered our sandwiches and they practically threw the tray at me… My sandwich wasn’t bad — like a grilled cheese with the cheese on top — but super salty. I can’t speak on their pastries because I was afraid to order more than my sandwiches for fear that the people behind the counter might jump up and stab me…

meh. had a sandwich, it was fine. Service was really good and friendly.

I love this cute little bakery. They surely know how to make me daydream about their cupcakes and delicious organic bread. Often, before I go home, I stop here for something new I haven’t tried yet and I am happily surprised every time.

Across the street from St Paul’s Cathedral. Opted to eat here instead of their cafeteria since the former is in the basement and Paul’s has outdoor seating as well as indoor seating upstairs. Had quiches and tea. The desserts looked delicious but we did not partake.

Für mich ist es das beste Café in London. Super Auswahl an leckeren Kuchen und belegten Baguette. Freundlicher Service. Good value for money.

While breakfast breads in the United States tend to consist of bagels, muffins, and English muffins, Europeans tend to go for croissants and other viennoiseries. Although I generally associate these types of baked goods with France, patisseries and bakeries are abundant even in the UK, and nearly every café, grocery store, and cafeteria offers a variety of croissants and other buttery baked goods. What’s great is that even in the UK, great patisseries can be found which produce pastries far superior to almost anything I’ve had in the US. While the US has the market on bagels cornered, Europe is the standard bearer for viennoiseries, and after trying out Paul, a French patisserie and bakery chain with a ton of locations scattered throughout the world, I have to say that I am extremely jealous of Londoners for their ease of access to such great pastries.
According to their website, Paul started out as a small bakery in northern France in 1889 and gradually expanded to the point where it can be found in 19+ countries, including a couple of locations in Florida. Despite their status as a huge international chain, Paul still manages to maintain the integrity and quality of its products and epitomizes what all chain restaurants and bakeries in the US should aspire to become.
Upon my arrival in London, I first wanted to drop my bag off at the hostel where I would be spending the night. On the way, I stopped by at a Paul and entered to find trays of fresh-​from-​the-​oven baked goods emerging from the back.
When I saw the Beignet Chocolat, I immediately knew that I had to get it because, well, I like chocolate and I like fried dough, so there you go. The first thing I noticed was that it was not as crisp as a typical beignet would be. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the Beignet Chocolat is actually baked rather than fried, which explains why it was on the softer side. The doughnut itself was still a bit warm and was pleasantly soft, albeit a bit greasy, but the star of the show was the chocolate filling, which must have had some Nutella in it because I noticed a nice hazelnut flavor that complemented the chocolate quite nicely. This was easily the best doughnut that I’ve had in quite some time.
And since I was such a fan of Balthazar Bakery’s Chausson au Pommes, I ordered one of those as well. However, it was a bit of a letdown because while the flaky pastry was sufficiently flaky and tasty, I was disappointed with the fact that the filling was more like an apple sauce rather than the chunky apple pie-​type filling that was found in Balthazar’s iteration. It tasted fine, but I would have preferred more texture to the filling.
I enjoyed my first visit to Paul so much that I went back again the next morning. Once again, I ordered a Beignet Chocolat, but this time it was accompanied by a Pain au Chocolat aux Amandes because chocolate is obviously an integral part of a healthy and nutritious breakfast. The Beignet Chocolat was every bit as delicious as it was on my previous visit, and the Pain au Chocolat aux Amandes, with its molten chocolate-​filled center and crisp, flaky dough, was a winner of a pastry as well.
The high quality and freshness of the baked goods from Paul set the standard for food from a chain establishment. If American chains could emulate Paul’s success, then maybe I wouldn’t be so down on the state of most chain establishments in the US. While the US does bagels and muffins better than most other countries, I would gladly trade excellent bagels for great viennoiseries in a heartbeat. After all, with more numerous and creative ways of sneaking chocolate into breakfast goods, the French viennoiseries would certainly give me a good excuse to make chocolate a part of my first meal of the day. Please come to NYC, Paul.

We saw Paul when we arrived in London as it was between our tube stop and the hotel. Only after being in the city for a few days did we realize it was a chain with outlets all over.
Even so, we decided to give them a try, as one can rarely go wrong with French baked goods. The results were ok. The wife had a Fraisier and I had a piece of Rhubarb tart. Both were good, though not mind-​blowing.
There were some other cakes and such on display that looked good, but we didn’t have an opportunity to try them. I suspect at the very least they would be good, if not great.
Given the choice, I would still prefer my local French bakery, even though their selection is a bit more limited, but removing them from the running, I wouldn’t be upset if Paul was my only option for French baked goodness.

I ordered a croissant and a fougasse with bacon, and they were delicious. I actually thought the fougasse was only a bread pretzel, but the addition of bacon was a wonderful surprise. The croissant was soft and buttery, probably the best I’ve had outside Paris.
However, the service, even if just ordering take out, was lacking. Though, from my brief stay in London, customer service doesn’t seem to be as important here as in America, but the food will have me coming back.

The coffee sucked in this place. It was awful. The coffee in Starbucks tastes like heaven compared to this place.
That is all.

There are at least nine of these chain restaurants in London, and this year I discovered one at the Leipzig, Germany, airport as well. Perhaps they are everywhere! Usually there are cramped dining areas in which to eat the factory produced French food, but it can be suprisingly tasty and not too expensive for a soup, croissant, tart or salad. It’s a fairly reasonable place for tourists to grab a lunch and pretend they made a little trip across the channel to enjoy it. The one we tried is located at the side of St. Paul’s Cathedral not far from the Tube exit.

Paul was my favourite place to get a sandwich for lunch when living in Paris. 2 years ago Paul did not exist in London. British triangle sandwiches are nothing to be compared with Paul fresh and tasty sandwiches, it is no surprise how well this sandwich shop is doing in London.
I can recommend a range of different sandwiches. The baguette is my favourite bread to choose from, as I rarely buy it in London, there is no bread culture here, while in Paris at every corner of the street you will find a bakery with fresh baguettes. With the baguette I choose last time the brie with cranberry sauce and salad.
Coming to London, I try to hold on to good memories by buying from time to time my lunch at Paul. The decoration reminds of a bakery in the Provence — all in French manners.
There is another fact I do appreciate, all staff speaks French. There they do understand when I order chocolat chau or a pain au chocolat!