Patisserie Valerie

The bad news is that we didn’t discover this gem until our 2^nd to last day in London. It was fantastic. We did get to stop by a second time as we headed to the underground on our way out of town. I had Napoleons both times, one chocolate and one cream with strawberries. My wife had a Napoleon the first day and an exquisite almond covered mini pie filled with an apple cinnamon mixture that she said was delicious the second day. We had just completed three weeks in Italy, France, and England and I would have to say these pastries were top notch.

We fell into this café rather haphazardly when our first-​choice establishment didn’t pan out. Our party of five was overdue for a meal but short on time with barely 30 minutes to spare before a 7:30 curtain at Gielgud. The kind hostess seated us right away and assured us we’d be in-​and-​out in time for the show. We count ourselves super fortunate for the full menu, tasty food (club sandwiches, Caesar salads, mushroom soup, and milkshakes), pleasant presentation and speedy service found here in this oasis of sanity amidst the neighborhood circus that is Piccadilly. Until the next day’s research I did not know ValerieCafe Charing Cross was part of a nationwide chain… nice surprise!

There are very things in life I could actually just sit and eat entire meals of, in fact, sit and eat 24/​7, and I discovered the amazing yet simple almond macaroon at this location. Now, this isn’t the traditional Parisian macaron (which PV also does incredibly well), this is the large almond flour macaroon variety, similar to a coconut macaroon but utilizing a different base – naturally. [I’ve tried other almond macaroons at the French cafes/​pastry shops in Soho, but they have always been ridiculously sweet to the point that it burned my tongue and lips (yes, that is possible), I couldn’t taste anything but discomfort while eating.] BUT Patisserie Valerie has perfected theirs, and it’s so amazingly good that I can easily pass up all their chocolate mousse cakes, their triple layer cream slices, fruit tarts, chocolate croissants, and all other pastries displayed in their windows like edible jewels, and just eat their almond macaroon.
This café also has generous offerings like their afternoon tea for two, a great selection of pastries, sandwiches, scones, and choice of tea for £25. They also have seasonal set menus, for example, this summer, which is a 2 or 3 course meal, for £9.95 or £12.95. This includes choice of starter, my choice would be the melon and prosciutto, a main like a cous cous salad or Moroccan chicken, and dessert, a selection of cold scooped treats or cake slice – heavenly.
Small note, there is little internal ventilation so it does get a bit sticky and stuffy in the warmer periods, but other than that, a great place to grab a quick café bite, hot drink, and of course, the almond macaroon.

First time having tea time ever, and what a perfect place to have it! We were denied at another secret tea spot as they were full, but glad we came upon this place!
We were seated in the back, and asked for a tea menu. Two separate pots of teas, ranging from Earl Grey to English Breakfast Tea, we both went with Earl Grey. Milk and sugar given. We thought the 14 pound/​per person set menu only allowed us to pick one thing from each menu, but in fact, they give you 2 of everything!
Bottom tier was the finger sandwiches, ranging from smoked salmon to cucumber sandwiches, 10 in total for 2. Yum! Smoked salmon was my favorite! Then onto the scones, which they give you 2 plain and 2 fruit ones with jam and clotted cream. So I normally don’t like scones since they’re hard and dry, but these are fluffier and lighter like biscuits. The clotted cream is AMAZING. It’s supposed to be like a butter spread, but almost like a light cream cheese, but better. So delicious. Smear that stuff all over the scones and add some raspberry jam. Definitley the winner of the food here. Lastly were desserts which we tried one bite of, ranging from carrot cake to chocolate eclairs. These were just so-​so, especially after the wonderful clotted cream. I will probably dream about this stuff until I have it again.

Location:
Great location if you have been on a busy tube or travelled quiet a distance into town and you want a calm and quiet coffee right next to Leciester Square tube station without travelling too far for coffee & cake. It is literally a 30second walk from any Leciester Square tube station exit
Price:
Can’t really say much as I only sampled the £3.20 cappucino (which is cheaper than places such as Starbucks). I MUST TRY THE CAKES NEXT TIME
Menu:
Not only does this bakery serve hot and cold drinks as well as pastries and DELICIOUS looking cakes, they do have various other items on the menu such as a full English breakfast
***Nice and quiet store next to one of the cities busiest tube station. Great location, pastries and cakes look amazing and it would be an ideal venue for a coffee based interview for recruiters or informal business catch ups as well as everyone else inbetween. Only downfall is the view***

solid go to chain for a lovely snack & break. like the Starbucks of patisseries. consistent, good quality.

Good pastry place in Leiscter Square. Had a muffin and a chicken sandwich which were pretty good. The truffles and coconut macrons looked amazing, wish I had tried them.

Pâtisserie Valérie c’est une chaine façon française à Londres.
Ben, pas mal: mon tea time avec scones était très bon.
Par contre, les étales de gâteaux genre mille feuille et je sais pas quoi, ça ma pas fait réver.
en conclusion: pas mal, mais je comprends quand même pas pourquoi c’était dans mon guide.

I have to say I LOVE the desserts here!!! Sooo good!!!
Serivce however is awful, but might be a European thing, not sure. I stood around before anyone offered to help me. Soo rude.
But I really loved their fruit tart!

On a recent visit to London, we frequented this particular Patisserie Valerie several times as it is just a few shops down from the flat.
I am rating 4 stars instead of 5 only because this place is SO busy that if you want to stay and eat, it is nearly impossible to do it in a relaxed manner.
That said, get your goodies «take away» and the price will be a little less. The gateaux will make your tummy sing sweet songs of happiness. They are clearly meant to be shared and we tried several. None seemed too sweet and the cake was just light enough to make half just right.
They also make a nice breakfast croissant and some yummy chocolate & hazelnut filled biscotti. We never attempted to stay and eat in as it just didn’t seem like we could sit and relax a bit.
It’s dangerous to live so close to this place, but we will be back on the next visit!

They charge more if you sit in and eat, I think that’s how Europe operates… I just wanted to try some desserts. I got the strawberry gâteau. It was really good but became too sweet at the end. The slice is meant to be shared though. The bread was so soft and the cream was light but sweet. The strawberries was good. My friend got the almond macaroon, and it was not and did not taste like a macaroon. I tasted like a big sugar cookie. Should have taken it to go and gotten the actual macaroons on the display outside. At least we got free wifi.

Good place for getting croissants from in the morning, but too tiny to sit down in comfortably. But staff friendly and quick, and prices reasonable.

Came here for a quick late-​night sweet. probably shouldn’t have bothered as the service was terrible — inattentive (spent most of the time being ignored). The desserts in the case were mouthwatering. We ordered the Giotto and Stawberry Giteau — and they were actually delicious), but bad service muddled everything…

I walked by this patisserie a few times coming and going from Covent Garden, and I finally relented one night when the pastries were too tasty-​looking to ignore.
Overall I’d say it’s not bad, but if you sit inside it’s definitely a bit weird. There’s something about the atmosphere that’s just a bit off; like you should only stay for a few minutes (to eat your pastry) and then leave; no lazy nights nursing a latte watching the theatre crowds go by in droves.
Since the pastries are (sadly) average at best, I don’t see much reason to return here instead of simply hitting up a Costa or Starbucks with better seating.

The chocolate croissant is huge. At 1.55 I think that is a decent price and will fill your tummy up for the time being. It’s delicious and crispy, when I originally thought it would be a hard as a rock when I touched it, but once it was in my mouth and I was chewing… I realized how very soft and fresh even though it wasn’t just made, it was. I’m a fan! So are my roommates.

This place is super cute but the food was just okay. I think this is one of the more popular chains in London because it’s like everywhere but I didn’t enjoy it as much. I went here a couple of times because it was right across my school but it was a bit overpriced and not that great. I got a raspberry chocolate cake and it LOOKed really good but it was just okay. Definitely the food décor was a lot better than the taste. Everything in here is really beautifully displayed but the cake was dry. I would go here again if in need for some desserts but definitely not my favorite!

Cake, Cake, Cake, ooohhh CAKE!
You know those cakes you see at the supermarket that look absolutely gorgeous but are either too rich or tasteless or just dry and disapointing! Well this is somthing entirely different every cake fantasy you have ever have will be fulfilled and more here!
My favorite is the Selva mmmm chocolate, crème patisserie and fresh fruit. I am putting on inches just thinking about it. Even had a very expencive birthday cake from one of these once I could have eaten the whole thing myself mmmm
Try it you won’t be disapointed!

Picked up a suitcase of delicious, beautiful desserts late evening after a theatre performance nearby. This is a treat to find; clean, inviting, talkative crowd, friendly employees who were efficient and helpful. Late hours (for the UK) make this a rarity in the neighbourhood.