Aux Pains de Papy

A trip to Paris on the Eurostar might be the best way to indulge yourself in a French café experience, but what’s the next best thing? A trip to King’s Cross  for this endearing little café, a mere boule’s-throw from the Eurostar terminal. Aux Pains de Papy already has a loyal following of office workers seeking their daily bread and satisfying lunchtime sandwiches, but it’s also worth seeking out patisserie and boulangerie. There’s a small display of classics – éclairs, quiches, crusty baguettes and croissants greet you. Time it right and you could bag a croissant as it emerges from the oven, split and slathered with saucy béchamel and filled with ham and melted emmenthal. We liked our rustic, saucer-sized pan-bagnat: a lightly crusted roll filled with chunky tuna flakes, crisp lettuce and hard-boiled egg all dressed with lashings of olive oil. Paris-Brest, crisp, golden-hued choux pastry rings filled with a ruff of nutty praline cream, was another favourite. If you can’t get across the channel to visit Parisian bakeries, try this family-run French bakery and café instead.