Foxcroft & Ginger Soho Review
Foxcroft & Ginger
Soho, London
Reviewed by Amanda Hayes
Foxcroft & Ginger are a small chain of artesian bakeries with branches in Soho, Whitechapel and Dalston areas of London. I had the good fortune to be able to visit the Soho branch for lunch which is situated in the pedestrianized part of Berwick Street just a short walk from Oxford Circus. The eatery is modern industrial in style with bare brick walls and pared down décor but has plenty of comfy seating both upstairs and down. The downstairs area has the benefit of having an open kitchen where you can watch the chef at work but the upstairs has a fantastic view of all the cakes and sandwiches on offer.
This is no ordinary sandwich bar with cheese and pickle on brown, the sandwiches are made using chunky sourdough bread with fillings such as goat cheese, kale & walnut pesto, figs & candy beet & pork belly with crackling or chicken burger with kimchi, citrus mayo and cheddar.
I decided on the spiced Moroccan chicken salad with chickpeas, roasted pepper, butternut squash and tahini yoghurt dressing and it was the perfect choice. Delicately spiced yet full of flavour with large pieces of boned chicken breast meat, green beans, chickpeas, and chunky butternut squash. Gorgeous but very filling I only just managed to take up the offer of a cake from the wonderful selection.
The cakes are all made on the premises and it was hard to choose between choices such as banana bread, bakewell tart and apple and custard muffins. I let myself be guided by staff recommendations and went for one of my favourites, carrot cake. Great recommendation as it was packed full of nuts, not too sweet and topped with a lovely lightweight creamy topping dusted with more nuts. I was also given half a cruffin to try. A cross between a croissant and a muffin filled, in this case, with sticky caramel and it was sweet and indulgent, perfect with the cup of Earl Grey I had ordered. Other cruffin fillings are chocolate custard, a Honeycomb & Lemon curd and jam & vanilla custard and I would be more than happy to try them all! There are at least ten different teas on the menu, together with a selection of freshly ground coffee. The teas are all loose leaf and served in a pot they way tea should be served.
As well as lunch Foxcroft & Ginger is also open for brunch from 8am weekdays, 9am weekends serving such delights as house made sausages, peppers, herbed mushrooms, tomato, proper fried eggs, sourdough toast or ricotta gnocchi, tomato fondue, kale and broccoli w/ poached egg and pecorino, vegetarians are well catered for throughout the menu with lots of tasty options like giant couscous salad with peppers, courgettes and roasted cherry tomatoes. After 4.30pm they start serving sourdough pizzas and like all the other food at reasonable prices, I loved the sound of the Chorizo and Feta topping, definitely one to come back for. The café is also licensed and serves a good selection of wines and bottled beers should you fancy something alcoholic.
I, just like every customer I saw enter, received a friendly and warm welcome with staff taking the time to discuss the menu, its ingredients and make recommendations. You can eat in or take away with reduced prices for take away and cakes/sandwiches packed safely in boxes to save being squashed which is what I did with the half of my carrot cake that I just couldn’t fit in. The food here was extremely good quality (if a little fattening!) as were the drinks and the premises have free wifi so you can grab a cake and a coffee and catch up on your e mails.
Foxcroft & Ginger is definitely somewhere I will be returning too and recommending to others, well worth a visit if you are anywhere near a branch.
Rating: 5/5 
For more information visit www.foxcroftandginger.co.uk.
Foxcroft & Ginger, 3 Berwick Street, Soho, London, W1F 0DR
