Perfect Madeleines
And London Coffee Festival other non-coffee highlights
Hi! If youâve stumbled across this, welcome! Each week - usually on a Sunday - I share one Delicious Thing thatâs worth your time, money and stomach space. I used to worl as a Buyer and Food Developer (creating retail products) and Iâve been running food tours and judging food awards for about two decades.
Sometimes I also share random food geekery facts and details of upcoming pop ups. Those tend to be London based, but a lot of the products I share are available outside of London, too. I only like sharing âreal foodâ made by people who care.
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Happy Saturday!
Coming to you a day early in case any of you are visiting the London Coffee Festival this weekend.
I spent Thursday at the trade day sampling everything non-coffee that I hadnât seen before - and some that I have. For paid subscribers thereâs a full list of everything I found interesting and, for everyone, my stand out product that is available in London and postable across the UK:
Let me tell you to get these:
Perfect Madeleines
It makes me so happy when people make food with real and quality ingredients. These madeleines are made with Isigny butter and it is so important to use good butter when itâs a dominant flavour. So many croissants are disappointing because the bakery has skimped on the butter. I love cultured butter too - I tried new brand Widcombe Dairyâs which is not cultured but excellent. They have been making Estate Dairyâs, whose cultured butter is gorgeous. (I wrote about it and the best bread here.)
Maison Nari is founded by Narimane who is Lebanese and a self-taught baker. She lived in France for years and felt there was a gap for great madeleines here in London.
Nari launched the business last year and they are hoping to have their own location in the future. I am hoping for this, too!
In the meantime you can order boxes freshly baked and posted to you or buy them from a small selection of London cafes (maybe more after the festival!).
I tried the lemon on the day (not especially lemony but wonderful, nonetheless) and the chocolate one the day after. I know madeleines are famous for being served freshly baked but this was still fabulous the next day.
Please do check it out and let me know if you buy any! You can tag me on here or on Instagram or TikTok if you end up trying them.
Now, to other highlights!
Some of these products I may pluck out and highlight separately in future newsletters for everyone, but for anyone going to the consumer days of the festival this weekend or working in the food industry, this round up of delicious things I tried should be useful: