Pastries on Greek Street since 1871: Maison Bertaux and Soho's best bakeries
A Communard's tea room on Greek Street, a Dorchester pastry chef on Dean Street and a purple yam pastry on Hopkins Street. Soho's pastries, one bite at a time.
By Only Soho Editorial
The best pastry in Soho is an almond croissant at Maison Bertaux, 28 Greek Street, eaten in the tea room with a pot of tea. It has been made on the premises since 1871. Soho has added plenty of serious bakeries since, but none of them has a story like Bertaux's, so we start there and then walk you round the rest.
Maison Bertaux, 28 Greek Street
Monsieur Bertaux was a Communard who fled Paris and, in 1871, opened a tiny patisserie and tea room on Greek Street. The shop tells the story: pastries and cakes are still baked daily above the tea room, and it is run by Michele, who started there as a Saturday girl. It is not trying to be modern, which is the point. The rooms are small, the tea is proper and the cakes are, in Time Out's word, divine.
What to order: the almond croissant, first and always. Then look in the window and take whichever cream cake is calling. Go mid-afternoon on a weekday, when you can get a table, and do not rush.
The new guard
Onsu, 55A Dean Street
Onsu opened in January 2026 and is the bakery Soho talks about now. Michael Kwan, born in Hong Kong, worked at The Fat Duck, Ladurée and Hakkasan, and was executive pastry chef at The Dorchester before going it alone. The counter is Asian-inspired: salted egg yolk mille-feuille, a popcorn and miso caramel Paris-Brest, seaweed croissants and a wagyu beef curry bun. The Infatuation says the kumquat cheesecake is a must, and that there is a scrum at opening. There is also an oolong and milk chocolate tart, black truffle toast and an ube latte served in a glass frozen to minus 86. Go at opening, order the cheesecake and the curry bun, and wash it down with the Minus 86 coffee.
Panadera Soho, 3 Hopkins Street
Panadera, the Filipino bakery, opened on Hopkins Street in 2025, and it runs from breakfast to lunch. The counter is pandesal, the soft Filipino roll, alongside pastries and sandos. Order the ube pan Suisse, a soft laminated pastry filled with purple yam, and a longanisa sausage roll. The Infatuation rates the corned beef sando, too.
Over the road in Chinatown
Arôme, 92 Shaftesbury Avenue
Arôme's Chinatown branch, on the corner of Macclesfield Street next to De Hems, is mostly takeaway and the first Arôme to serve seasonal soft serve. Hot Dinners names the honey butter toast and the miso bacon escargot as the fan favourites. Order the honey butter toast, warm, and a soft serve if there is one on.
Chinatown Bakery, 25 Wardour Street
The cheap and cheerful end of Soho baking, grab-and-go and quick. Order a bolo bao with roast pork for something savoury, a cocktail bun and a slice of pandan cake. If they have taiyaki, the fish-shaped waffles, get one while it is hot.
Sweet things after dark
Soho does pudding well, too, once the bakeries have shut.
- Kettner's, 29 Romilly Street. In one of the prettiest dining rooms in London, open late at the end of the week. Order the soufflé, or the mousse au chocolat if you are sharing.
- Brasserie Zédel, 20 Sherwood Street. The crème brûlée on the set menu, three courses for £19.75, is the cheapest proper French pudding in Soho.
- Golden Phoenix, 37-38 Gerrard Street. Salted egg custard lava buns that ooze when you tear them, and mochi with sesame paste. Order both and share.
- The Eight, 68-70 Shaftesbury Avenue. A Hong Kong teahouse with a pineapple bun for when you want something sweet and warm.
The coffee to go with it
A pastry needs a coffee, and Soho has the right ones within a few doors. From Maison Bertaux, it is a short walk to Bar Italia on Frith Street, pouring since 1949, or to Algerian Coffee Stores on Old Compton Street for a £1.20 espresso. Our order: an almond croissant at Bertaux, then a double at the counter of Bar Italia. That is breakfast in Soho, done the old way.
A pastry crawl, Soho style
- At opening: Onsu, before the queue, for the cheesecake and a coffee.
- Mid-morning: across Soho to Panadera for an ube pan Suisse.
- Noon: Chinatown Bakery and Arôme, for something savoury and a soft serve.
- Three: Maison Bertaux, for an almond croissant and a pot of tea, sitting down at last.
One rule: never skip Bertaux for the new places. Soho has lost too many of its old rooms, and a tea room that has outlived the Paris Commune by more than 150 years deserves your custom. Buy a cake to take home, too. That is how places like this survive.
