Books for Cooks

Books & Coffee — the perfect afternoon with the family

Food and books all at one place is like heaven. I found this bookshop randomly, because of some event my sister had to attend to. I dropped her and decided to come inside just to take a look.
The place is small, but the ambiance is welcoming and cosy, like most places with books. There is a fancy café, but I didn’t order anything as I wasn’t planning on staying.
A book on healthy eating grabbed my attention. It contained tips and recommendations on how to prepare your meals so they are healthier for your body without changing your diet.
I wish I would have stayed longer, but the place really made me a great impression for the 10 minutes stayed there.

This is a serious bookshop for cookbooks. My parents mentioned this place to me so we decided to take a trip to go check it out. Apparently a friend of theirs told them about it. To be honest, I knew about it, but I still hadn’t been.
And really, I probably shouldn’t have gone. Because within five minutes of being there, I found three different cookbooks I wanted: Dim Sum, New Mexican cooking and a whole cookbook on pork called Hog. Since I didn’t want to carry around three big cookbooks all day, I opted just to get the single pork cookbook. Luckily, I mentioned the other two books to my partner, and he got them for me for my birthday. So that was a win!
On my way out, one of the people who worked there told me that they also do lunch every day, and they cook food out of one of the cookbooks. How fun does that sound? Unfortunately, as I live so far away, I probably won’t make it back for lunch, but I probably will make it back to buy way more cookbooks than any one person should own in a lifetime.

This cookbook-​focused bookstore (with café at the back) is phenomenal.
Why, Alex?
Well, thanks for asking, Unilocaliverse!
The staff is phenomenal.
The selection of cook books is phenomenal.
Done.
Tucked away, the fairly small space is truly a find: it was busy when I arrived, but everyone was engrossed in browsing. A big tureen of soup was being manned out front selling soup to passersby, no doubt with the recipe sourced from a cookbook from the store. This place is hardcore about cooking and the books dedicated to it; why would you want to buy your cook books anywhere else?
Unilocal note: the back café is super-​cute and supposedly features a rotating menu put together from various cook books. Next time, it is definitely on my must-​try list!

I made my pilgrimage to this store on 11÷2÷12. I bought seven cookbooks that I really didn’t have the luggage space for but I could not help myself. Very nice staff, very knowledgable. I will be back with an extra suitcase next time and tea reservations!

The rest of the reviews already say it all. Café at the back of a cookbook bookshop. Extremely reasonably priced (less than a 10er for meal, dessert and tea/​coffee).

Thi place is a Mecca for cook books!
It is situated on the lovely Blenhiem crescent off Portabello road.
A nurse back in ’83 opened this shop — dedicated to Cook books!
EVERY cookbook imaginable is stocked here.
They have a little café bit where they cook things every day from selected books.
They also have a range of books under the same name as the shop that are a collection of their favourite recipes.
This place is a MUST for anyone who luvs to cook, read and/​or collect cook books.
The beauty of the location is that it across the road from a fabulous spice shop where all your hard to find, interesting and wonderful spices/​ingredients can be found!
Defo recommend!

Ladies, i saw no fewer than 3 cute guys in this store on a busy, busy Saturday morning.
Cuties who can cook (or at least attempt to)?
If i lived in London, this might have to be a hangout…
According to my London friend, this store keeps funky hours… but it was opened on Saturday at Noon… so there.
Little café at the back looked adorable too

This shop has been here for yonks. It was one of the first of its kind.
When ever in the area you just got to visit. Every time I visit I thank the universe that it is still here. Briliiant experience for foodies & cooks.

True bliss is being surrounded by thousands of cookbooks with the smell of pastries and spices in the air.
This store is my mecca.

Books for Cooks is bad news.
And by ‘bad news’, I mean ‘amazing’. But, you see, Books for Cooks is to home cooks as an enabler is to people with crack habits.
When I walked in the door, I was hit by a wave of delicious cooking smells emanating from the test kitchen at the back, which feeds hoards of West London ladies who lunch.
A quick glance around the sales floor confirmed that the shop was impossibly narrow and small. A number of the aforementioned ladies bumped and pushed me as they tried to navigate their way to the back kitchen (more often than not, not apologising — what’s that about?). Nevertheless, despite the shop’s small size, it seemed to contain every cookbook ever printed (in English, at least). As a vegetarian cook, I was delighted to find an entire bookshelf devoted to vegetarian cooking, many books of which were vegan. I wasn’t planning on buying anything, but how could I turn down an entire book devoted to vegan baking? With PICTURES?! And without too-​cool-​for-​school indie authors with their off-​putting hipstery graphics and lingo (Sorry Post-​Punk Kitchen. I love your recipes and all, but you make me feel as if I don’t measure up to your impossibly hip vegan indie street cred sometimes)?!!
So I bought this book. And I came home. And I made vegan cupcakes.
The end.

A new London favorite hotspot – this place rocks my socks for sure! The staff know their stuff and their store incredibly well, and are eager to help. They even offer cooking classes (though a little steep for the hands-​on option). I agree with other reviewers: a perfect lazy day stroll delight.

If you are lonely for an American voice, go to Books for cooks because that is where every relocated American wife is hanging eating a dessert and reading the latest marie claire.
Having said that, I love this place for their lunches. I love talking the cooks about what they want to make and why they chose the recipes to try.
I wish the dining area was a bit removed from the store.
Perfect Friday would be get up, walk to Notting Hill from Portman Square (see Churchill Hyatt review), walk up to the Portobello Market, duck into a few shops and rough trade. Stop for a coffee and look at the pretty produce. Around noon have lunch and buy a cookbook or three and then wander towards Westbourne Grove to the market and then towards the twee shopping.
The walking is good — gives you more reason to eat another pudding.

I had never heard of this place, even when I lived in London. Leave it to dear Clarissa Wright (one of Two Fat Ladies) to mention it in her excellent and enjoyable book which prompted my visit recently. What a selection — and the staff sure know their business. And at the back of the store is food, glorious food, and cooking classes and all manner of wonder. Wish there was a store like this in San Francisco…

The best cookbook shop in London. Huge selection and very helpful and knowldegable staff. There is a café at the back of the shop. They also have cooking classes in the test kitchen above the shop. I’ve been to a number of them and they are always fun.

If you’re a devoted Unilocaler with an affinity for cooking as well as eating, you ought to check this place out.
The reason why Books for Cooks is fabulous is because the store divides cuisines up by region as well as specialty.
What a –huge– selection of Middle Eastern, African, European, etc cook books. I was so impressed and I wanted everything.
Prices were a bit much (I’d rather get them off of Amazon!) but they stock many hard to find titles that are rare on Amazon or other online order sites.

Books for Cooks is the best place in London, apart from maybe Divertimenti, to find the perfect present for anyone who loves food.
The shop stocks all types of cooking and food books in both new and second hand condition, from all across the world. If a book isn’t enough, the shop also runs small cookery classes in the testing kitchen where you can try out wine tasting, literary lunches and cooking demonstrations in small groups with their resident chefs.

Ever scoured sites such as Amazon to find that perfect cookbook? Ever been disappointed when you can’t find an out of stock cookbook that has the pumpkin pie recipe to end all pumpkin pie recipes?
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this store, it’s a foodie’s paradise. There are some 8,000 recipe books filling the shelves from floor to ceiling on all manner of topics related to food: history, nutrition, art, chemistry and so much more.
But here’s the real attention grabber — at the back there is a reasonably priced café dishing up different treats from the ‘test kitchen’ which is devoted to trying out the recipes from the books themselves. Upstairs, too, they run cooking classes. So if you want to be the next kitchen big shot, look no further.