Bageriet.

Bageriet

Two bakers who between them did eight years in Ottolenghi kitchens opened a Swedish bakery in a Covent Garden alley and put the whole operation in the basement (Mynewsdesk).

Why go

Daniel Karlsson trained in the bakery at NK, Stockholm's grand department store, came to London in 2007, spent three years at Ottolenghi and then moved into product development at Melrose & Morgan, baking on the side for clients including the Swedish Embassy. Sven-Gunnar Appelgren spent five years across Ottolenghi's Notting Hill, Kensington, Belgravia and Islington rooms plus The Wolseley. They opened here in May 2013.

What that training buys is a repertoire done properly rather than approximated. Prinsesstarta under its marzipan dome, chocolate-drenched Sarah Bernhardt macaroons, appelmazarin with cinnamon and apple, danish pastries, and the kanelbulle with sugar crystals on top. Karlsson and Appelgren bake the bread here too, in a basement no bigger than the cafe above it (Time Out).

The calendar is Swedish. Semlor turn up in the weeks before Easter, cardamom bun split and filled with almond paste and whipped cream. Blueberry soup comes in winter. That is the room rewriting itself four times a year on somebody else's seasons.

Order this / avoid

• Order: the cinnamon bun, then a sockerkringla with a flat white, which is fika done at the correct speed. Take a blackcurrant rye home. Come in Lent for the semlor.
• Avoid: the savoury lunch. Time Out's own reviewer called the rolls humdrum with a limited choice of fillings, and the bakery counter is where the skill is.

What locals & experts say

• Sarah Guy, Time Out London, March 2020, four out of five and Recommended: The small selection runs from a white poppy seed bloomer to a dark rye, but my absolute favourite, worth making a special trip for, is the moist, fruity blackcurrant rye. She was less impressed downstairs on the savoury side: Given the quality of the bakery goods, it's a shame that the savoury lunch options are more humdrum, just regular rolls with a limited choice of fillings. It's a small grumble.2
• David Paw, The Infatuation London, April 2017: Bageriet is a tiny and stylish Swedish bakery that's perfect for hiding away from the crowds in Covent Garden. The coffees are good and they have the best cinnamon buns in town as well as some fantastic cakes. The Infatuation leaves bakeries unrated by policy, so there is no score attached to that.3
• No award, and no chef vote. Nothing from the Baking Industry Awards, British Baker or any London best-of names it, and nobody in our chef and baker vote file does either. Two bylined reviews are carrying this entry, and the more recent is six years old.

Good to know

• Where: 24 Rose Street WC2E 9EA, an alley off Garrick Street. Leicester Square is the nearest tube.
• Seats: eight. Time Out counted them in 2020 and nothing since suggests more.
• Timing: daytime. Hours were not published anywhere reached, so check before crossing town.
• Booking: walk in.
• Seasonal: semlor before Easter, blueberry soup in winter, and the specials change through the year.
• Price: Time Out banded it one of four and put lunch for two with drinks and service at around thirty pounds in 2020.
• Sites: one. The FSA holds a single Bageriet nationally.
• Hygiene: the FSA holds this premises at 4, rated 23 June 2026, under Westminster. Four is Good. FHRSID 772729.

Verdict

should-visit — Worth the detour, and the detour is about ninety seconds off Covent Garden. Daniel Karlsson came out of the bakery at NK in Stockholm, moved to London in 2007, spent three years at Ottolenghi and then did product development at Melrose & Morgan; Sven-Gunnar Appelgren spent five years across four Ottolenghi sites and The Wolseley. In May 2013 they opened a Swedish bakery in an alley off Garrick Street and bake everything, bread included, in a basement no bigger than the room upstairs. The range is the Swedish standards done at pastry-kitchen level: kanelbulle with sugar crystals, sockerkringla, prinsesstarta under marzipan, Sarah Bernhardt macaroons, appelmazarin. Time Out's Sarah Guy gave it four stars in 2020 and said the blackcurrant rye was 'worth making a special trip for'. The Infatuation's David Paw called the cinnamon buns the best in town. The calendar moves with Sweden's, so semlor land in the weeks before Easter and blueberry soup in winter. Two things hold it here rather than higher: there are eight seats, and the savoury lunch is ordinary in a way the reviewer said out loud.