Today, 6 January, is Galette des Rois day in France. This cake, traditionally shared at Epiphany, celebrates the arrival of the three wise men in Bethlehem. It has a personal resonance for pastry chef Vincent Zanardi, who remembers these treats from his childhood. Inside the spherical, sweet puff pastry cake can be found a small porcelain fève embedded in the frangipane. Custom dictates that, every year, whoever finds this lucky charm should be crowned. ‘In my family,’ says Vincent, ‘the one who finds the fève escapes the washing-up.’
The tiny bakery in which you can – gingerly – munch your way through one of these cakes opened just before Christmas in Chelsea, London. Borrowing its name from its founder, the member’s-club entrepreneur Robin Birley, it feels very much like an extension of his other spots in the capital. Indeed, Zanardi is a long-time collaborator, and his familiar Birley bakes will be coveted.
The same care and attention given to the baked goods has been accorded the interior, which comes courtesy of Notting Hill-based JR Design. The scheme is inspired by the elegant, gilded motifs of 19th-century Japonisme, with murals hand-painted by artist Lizzi Porter. That idea originally came from Jennifer Shorto, a textile and wallpaper designer, and a great friend of Robin’s. Shorto sent him a link to a Christie's sale, featuring an 18th-century Japanese screen, which ended up selling elsewhere (for hundreds of thousands of pounds), but it was used to inspire the intricate crimson wallpaper seen in the Birley Bakery today.
On it, storks swoop along the walls, and cling to painted rattan railings bearing plump gift bags filled with Birley bakes in their beaks. On the ceiling, delicately hand-painted clouds form images of swimming fish and a jumping cat. Another highlight is antique delft tiles, which Robin bought at auction decades ago and stored until the ideal place could be found for them. They form the backdrop to a theatrical open kitchen, where passers-by can see Zanardi and his team at work egg-washing croissants and sugar-dusting cakes.
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You can take the shop’s design notes away with you in the form of gift boxes. (This writer’s tip? Go for the 24-piece chocolate set.) Characteristically crimson striped boxes by Fitzrovia designer Michael Nash Associates package baked goods, while striped paper bags and coffee cups pay homage to rattan seating found in Parisian brasseries; that material, which the design team sourced from a maker in Morocco, also fronts the base of the countertops.
Alongside this very timely galette – available to order all weekend – the countertops are flush with seasonal delicacies, born from Vincent’s network of longstanding global suppliers: Swiss chocolate; vanilla from Tahiti; Piedmontese hazelnuts and Valencian almonds; sea salt from Brittany; honey from Bermondsey; and wheat flour from an artisanal producer in Burgundy.
Though a few stools and benches are scattered inside, this is not a café to spend the morning in. Birley is keen for the bakery to remain just that: a shop. It harks back to his earlier (and less well-known) ventures as a successful sandwich-shop entrepreneur in the 1980s; ten Birley Sandwich outlets can still be found throughout the city. Here, it is Zanardi’s products that are the draw; and the interiors can be admired as you stand in the queue, one that will soon, no doubt, be out of the door.
Birley Bakery, 28-30 Cale Street, London
