Recommendations from Sourdough Sophia
As she prepared to open her second bakery, Sophia Sutton-Jones shared her food memories and top tips with me. Now I have more London restaurants on my to-visit list!
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📌 Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Ln, London E1 6QR
NEAREST STATION: Liverpool Street / Shoreditch High Street
I’m a little slow in sharing today’s interview - there have been too many other things to tell you! - but I’m delighted to let you know another food-loving Londoner’s recommendations.
I’m a big fan of Sourdough Sophia products and I’m so excited by their second bakery which has seats inside! I have a soft spot for any food business owner with Sophia’s commitment to using ingredients that are both ethical and delicious.
Sophia kindly shared her responses to me over voice notes so any errors in the transcription are mine!
First, a quick look at Sophia’s beautiful new bakery and café on Essex Road in Islington:
Here on Instagram and on TikTok.
📌 119 Essex Rd, London N1 2SN
NEAREST STATION: Essex Road
Her original location is in Crouch End:
📌 24 Middle Ln, London N8 8PL
NEAREST STATION: Crouch Hill / Hornsey
what Sourdough Sophia loves
For those of you who don’t know, Sophia is the co-owner and co-founder of Sourdough Sophia which sprung out of lockdown. Sophia and her husband Jesse started baking for neighbours and they quickly had queues and more orders than they could manage alongside their new baby. Ever entrepreneurial (Sophia used to be a representative for Thermomix and sold e-courses she created to help people make the most of theirs), she added online baking courses to her repertoire to reach her growing Instagram audience who couldn’t necessarily get their hands on a loaf.
Within a year they’d opened the original bakery in Crouch End and out of the tiniest space Sophia and her small team created - and continue to create - a huge number of products, unable to contain her creativity. (In this - and the self-taught aspect - she reminds me of Maryasha at Zelda in Melbourne.)
Sophia is radiant with joy and energy on social media and in real life - despite now having a second child, as well as a second bakery - and she’s as fussy on taste as I am, so I’m delighted to hear of what she’s eaten and loved, and where she’s most excited to go next.
But, first, a little bit more about what brought her to where she is today:
What brought you to working in food?
I grew up with a family of bakers. My dad was a baker and he'd baked since he was 14, so I naturally have baked with him. Pretty much every weekend. My fondest memory of my grandpa is him baking rye bread, rye sourdough bread in his really nice, really old stove, wood fired stove and me just thinking wow, this is amazing. And my grandma has made the most incredible Apfelstrudel so I have a lot of really fond memories of baking as a child. And so that brought me into working with food. I've always loved giving people food and enjoying them eating it - and especially baking it - so for me that is why I've gone into food. I think I enjoy feeding people.
What food memories from growing up have shaped you or stuck with you?
I guess I've kind of just answered that one, but one of the most key moments in my childhood that brought me into making food and actually starting this bakery is:
I remember meeting up with my friend Daniella at the time we were in primary school and it was probably Year 3 or Year 4. Every single week we would take that baking book that I got from my mom - it was a kid's baking book - and we would imagine ourselves opening up our own bakery. We essentially just played bakery owners and we’d naturally run out of ingredients all the time. We were fairly far away from a supermarket so we couldn't walk to one so what we did is just knock on doors of the neighbours and said, “Look, we'll bake some stuff in the next two hours. Do you have any spare butter by any chance? We'll bring you some baked goodies afterwards.”
I think it's completely stuck with me and has recently come back to my mind when I thought about why did I open this bakery? It's amazing to think that as early as maybe seven or eight, I've already had that dream and it's come back to my life that way.
What’s the most delicious thing (or things!) you ate recently that you’re still dreaming about?
It was in Through The Woods and it was one of their starters. It was a beetroot dish with pumpkin and I think I've never eaten something as tasty as that before in a restaurant. I totally didn't expect it to be that tasty. It was vegetarian and it was just incredible.
📌 212 Middle Ln, London N8 7LA
NEAREST STATION: Crouch Hill
What’s your most memorable meal and why?
My most memorable meal was at Heston Blumental’s Fat Duck. Why? Because it was the most incredible food experience I've ever had. I've never in my life experienced food in a way that he's made it. It was an entire experience of feeling like I'm on a journey through someone's childhood; eating this food thinking about this person's holiday to Cornwall, and all throughout I've been made to feel really special. Because they've asked me these personal questions about my life that they could bring into that experience, which was definitely my most memorable meal.
📌 High St, Bray, Maidenhead SL6 2AQ
NEAREST STATION: Maidenhead
Where are you most excited about visiting?
I think I'm most excited about visiting Kitchen Table. I've never been and I really want to go. I love James's work. And I actually really want to go this year.
📌 70 Charlotte St., London W1T 4QG
NEAREST STATION: Goodge Street
Your top places for delicious things in London
That would include Angelina in Dalston. That's a huge one on my list.
📌 56 Dalston Ln, London E8 3AH
NEAREST STATIONS: Dalston Junction / Dalston Kingsland
I absolutely love Les 2 Garçons which is in Crouch End.
📌 14 Middle Ln, London N8 8PL
NEAREST STATION: Hornsey
As a restaurant, Through The Woods, again in Crouch End, a totally hidden gem. It must be on everyone's list because it's amazing.
📌 212 Middle Ln, London N8 7LA
NEAREST STATION: Hornsey
As a bakery, I would say I really like I like quite a few. What can I pick to not make anyone unhappy?
Okay, so one of my favourite bakeries has to be The Dusty Knuckle. Of course, I love my own bakery, but I love The Dusty Knuckle. It’s a great bakery, they do great stuff. Fantastic bakes. I would also say, as a smaller one, I really like Toklas Bakery. It was really cute. And the way they've done it is really nice. The interior is lovely. It looked really inviting.
DUSTY KNUCKLE
📌 Abbot St, London E8 3DP
NEAREST STATION: Dalston Kingsland / Dalston Junction
Also at:
📌 429 Green Lanes, Harringay Ladder, London N4 1HA
NEAREST STATION: Harirngay Green Lanes
TOKLAS
📌 9 Surrey St, Temple, London WC2R 2ND
NEAREST STATION: Temple
Those are probably my top ones. You know what? I haven't been to enough chocolate shops. You still need to take me around. [Any time, love!]
I think those are the ones are the main ones.
What recipe do you make most often?
My very favourite recipe in the entire world is my grandma's marble cake and I make it literally still on a weekly basis and I would say is the best cake in the world. Definitely my number one recipe.
Number two is chocolate again, because I love chocolate, is going to be the chocolate mousse recipe from . I’m bit obsessed about Felicity, just to put that one out there, because her recipes are incredible. [Same.]
What I love about her recipes is that they really are the perfect of something. And so I love making her chocolate mousse. It's simple. It's perfect. And it's just a hit every time.
What treats do you buy for yourself most frequently?
Cookies, chocolate-covered cookies. I would say I'm a huge chocolate-covered cookie person. Cadbury Fingers, Tim Tams, Penguins, any and all chocolate-covered biscuits or cookies.
Do you have a favourite thing to eat?
A favourite thing to eat is probably going to be bread. I love bread. Bread is my favourite thing to eat. I could eat anything with bread. Bread with anything. My favourite thing to eat is bread. Full stop. Just a really good sourdough.
What’s your favourite thing to eat outside of your home city?
I'm going to just call London my home city right now. My favourite thing to eat, especially when I go back home to Germany is a really good old doughnut filled with jam, but the German way because they just know how to make a really good doughnut.
And a second favourite thing is called a nusseker, which is like a “naughty corner”. It's essentially like a shortbread base, then apricot jam and then it's like a a nut mixture that you melt. So it's hazelnuts, almonds, melted butter, lots of sugar and it kind of caramelises in the oven and then you cut it into triangles and dip it in chocolate on each end. I've made in the bakery before and I have to say is one of the best things you can ever eat because it's got everything you need. And so that's probably my favourite thing to eat outside of London.
Where would you most like to go on holiday next and why?
I think aside from the fact that I am going to Bali next because it's my probably second favourite place to be in the world. I want to go to Copenhagen very, very desperately because I'm well first I'm owed a visit by my husband because we couldn't go when he sent when he gave me that as a present for my birthday and second the foods scene there is insane. So I want to go to Juno Bakery, I want to go to Hart Bageri, I want to go and eat in the most incredible restaurants. So that’s what I really want to do next and that will be my favourite holiday.
FROM JEN:
If any of you are also thinking of going to Copenhagen. I went to 22 bakeries (some more than once!) and spent more than 300 Euros on baked goods so you don’t (necessarily) have to. This post includes addresses, nearest metro stations, what I tried and photos (yes, it took a while to pull together, on top of all the eating!).
The 22 Bakeries I went to in Copenhagen
If you’re like me, you probably haven’t even noticed it’s been more than a week since I last emailed. 😅 If you follow me on Instagram - or read my last newsletter - you’ll have already known this would be late. 😄
Thank you so much, Sophia.
I’d love to hear from you, dear reader:
Have you been to any of these restaurants or places? I’d love to know what you think we should order!
Where would you love to go for a city break?
Until next week…
love and happy eating,
Jen xx
P.S. My Paris and Melbourne rundowns are coming soon. They will be for paid subscribers only so if you’d like them to arrive in your inbox then you might want to consider signing up for paid membership soon. You can unsubscribe at any time!
Love the food memories. They are so important. I can still remember making cinnamon bread with my grandmother at the age of 5. That memory never left and influenced my decision to open my own cafe a number of years ago. Wonderfully written!