Bread is my kryptonite, especially really good bread, so it's difficult to describe the mix of horror and ecstacy that washed over me as I spied this recent addition to the North Laines. I could see our torrid romance flash before my eyes -- I want you, but you're no good for me, oh my god you're amazing, oh my god I regret everything. And that's basically how it went down.
I walked in and immediately my mouth started ordering faster than my brain could moderate. I was already committed to a salt beef sandwich and a morroccan sausage roll before my senses kicked in and put the breaks on dessert. They warmed up the sausage roll for me (and they will also warm up any warming-appropriate sandwich, which my salt beef was not) and I literally started eating it from the bag as I walked away down the street like a crazy hobo. It was delicious -- the pastry perfectly warm and flaky, the meat well-seasoned and savoury. Then I started eating the sandwich, which I finished as I walked to the bus stop to commute to work. The crust of the bread had the perfect mild crunch, with the seeds giving it that perfect nutty malty edge, all of which harmonized beautifully with the salt beef, mustard, mild horseradish and cheese with the perfect sprinkling of bitter greens. Wait, wasn't that my lunch? I stopped in a much more drab bakery cafe in an attempt to purchase "second lunch" at the other end of my bus trip, but just felt depressed and left. It was no Flour Pot.
Needless to say, I really enjoyed my lunch, but I didn't find it particularly filling, which brings down the value for money. Was it just me? Are there narcotics in the food? Or maybe their portions are just a bit on the reasonable side (which I'm apparently saying as if it's a bad thing), and I'm just a ravenous bread monster. Which is probably true. If you see someone huddled on the corner with their head half engulfed in a Flour Pot Bakery bag, just keep walking and pretend I'm not there. read more