Gluten-free and sugar-free foods are going mainstream, and Romeo Dallh is on a mission to change our perceptions. He’s already rolled out a gluten-free bakery on Upper Street and now there’s a sister concern majoring in pâtisserie. This place started life as a regular French bakery.
But last December around ten sugar-free cakes and puds were introduced to the cake range, and they’ve hit the sweet spot with Islington locals in search of clean-eating nirvana. Though not yet exclusively sugar-free, the bakers have created a range of low-calorie, diabetic-friendly cakes, cheesecakes, alternative breads and dainty pastries.
This range contains no added sugar – what you get is what’s naturally present in the ingredients. Treats include red velvet layered cakes, apple-topped almond sponges, millefeuilles and deep-filled banoffee flans. They’re made with natural stevia extract, a zero-calorie sweetener from a leafy green plant native to South America. This happens to be 200 times sweeter than sugar – so a little goes a seriously long way.
Alongside ‘free-from’ offerings, there is a regular all-day French menu served in the cosy café, which includes salads, sandwiches, quiches and generously filled baguettes. The marvellous gruyere-and-bacon buckwheat crêpe was crowned with a glistening fried egg. A wedge of sugar-free lemon meringue pie lightened our load and tasted as good as the original model, hoodwinking our taste buds into believing that the meringue was as sweet as the refined white stuff.
Service isn’t the most switched on, but on our weekend visit, we were happy to linger over lattes and light bites while admiring the edible eye candy.