Paul

Absolutely delicious pain au chocolat aux amandes. Buttery goodness.
The baguettes are, well, also super buttery, a tad bit more than necessary. But they have a decent variety to choose from.
Upstairs on a Saturday afternoon was way too crowded to sit. They do have tables outside, though.
The 5+ people behind the counter tried to do good crowd control, but they seemed very overwhelmed by our order of four baguettes and three pastries. It’s a good thing we weren’t getting drinks.
However, I appreciate how quick this option was for lunch in this highly-​touristy area.

This place is great! The food is extremely delicious and the portions are generous. They have a bit of seating upstairs and the staff is ridiculously friendly for such a busy spot! I’m definitely coming back here.
I had the breakfast sandwich and it was so rich, it actually kept me full until dinner time! I also tried half of the pistachio croissant, which was a bit too sweet for my taste, but still delicious.

Visit this Paul often for their hot chocolate and a pastry, depending on what I fancy. Great for a take away but not very good to sit in, unless its summer then they have a few seats outside which will be great.

This Paul is the size of a shoebox and is very busy most every time I stop in. The service moves along as fast as is possible given the space constraints, and they are always friendly to deal with. Not as huge a food selection as larger locations, but that’s quite understandable. Often full of actual French people due to it being in South Kensington, which adds a little fun to a French bakery experience. Generally tasty all around.

The tiniest Paul of all time.
Right outside of the South Kensington station, they’ve made the best of their space here. It’s one room, with the counter on one side, and a space for you to line up on the other (and not that much space either). When it is packed in here, it really gets packed.
I took to go from here, but I believe there is more seating upstairs. At least I saw stairs and people walking up there. But jeez it was tight.
Still, Paul delivers. It’s overpriced obviously, but tasty basic sandwiches, desserts and, of course, their famous macaroons, either in normal size in a box or in giant size in your hands. Delicious.
You can’t go wrong for a quick bite here… although I might take it to go.

I love their goat cheese tartine and strawberry Mille-​feuille
They have a terrace area although I hate pigeons and people smoke outside which takes away from the enjoyment. Their service is fast although stingy on silverware. Overall a nice café and they are growing over here… I would recommend them opening the place up a bit more so that it doesn’t feel so cramped. I do love their pastries for take away and the service is generally fast. They do have to improve on a lot of things yet, their breads can be quite stale at times so I would be cautious when buying those

Just what I needed on my walking tour of this part of London. Needed a cheap but filling lunch, and I got that here. Line is long, but it moves. I got a salami sandwich on french bread with cheese and pickles and I can honestly say it was one of the best sandwiches i have ever eaten. Tasted like a cheese plate sandwich. There is seating upstairs, and the crowd doesn’t linger. In and out and on your way!

Don’t go! Really unsanitary! There was a pubic hair on the millefille and I noticed it and told a male employee who didn’t give a flying f — . I saw him serve it to another patron! I wish there was a way to give no stars! Friggin gross!

Paul is positioned right outside South Kensington tube station, meaning it caught my eye as I passed through. Conveniently for them, but not so conveniently for my bank balance, I was thirsty, and a bit hungry.
I decided to get a drink, as one usually does when thirsty… and was about to order a fruit frappé when something else caught my eye. Twice in one day was getting a bit too much for things catching my eye but it was a macaron frappé. Intrigued by this combination of a macaroon, ice, cream and milk and with a choice of which macaroon to blitz I chose raspberry.
I watched in awe as the server went to the window, prised one of the large raspberry macaroons out from its other macaroon friends, then put it in a blender with all of the other ingredients. The result was a delightful pink liquid which tasted wonderfully of raspberry (I had initially thought that one macaroon would have just created a vague hint of the fruit) and had lots of macaroon bits floating around in it. Divine. And for good measure, and because they were in sight and I’d never tried one before, I had a canelé as well.
If you don’t know what one is, and I didn’t either, a canelé is a little eggy custardy pastry flavoured with rum and vanilla. It was delicious, lovely and caramel flavoured on the outside, and with a good bit, but not too much of rum on the inside, vanilla washing through. A lovely treat to end my lunch.
My only criticisms of Paul were price and service as I thought the food itself was fantastic and if I manage to find some money down the back of my drawers or the sofa, I would head back and try something savoury as well to see if the same quality is present in their sandwich range. Everything there is a bit pricey though, and I don’t think I saw any of the staff smile once while I was in there, but it’s a lovely place, and I spied some seating tucked away upstairs which may require further investigation. ‘Til the next time!

It wasn’t until my recent trip to Paris that I finally understood the quality of the food at Paul. I spied a branch of Paul at the Gare du Nord and it is a French chain.
If there’s one nation which takes its bread seriously, it’s the French. Yes, it’s a chain but I’m sure they wouldn’t want les rosbifs to find fault with their croissants, loaves or pastries.
Hence, you can be assured of quality whether you fancy a butter for croissant for breakfast, a crusty loaf for sandwiches or some pastries for tea.
They’ve just launched epicerie and marche lines selling new products like chocolates, sable biscuits and jam.