Dessert

When we saw 25a Warren Street for the first time, it was the large front window that got us most. It faces the mainly pedestrian street, along which commuters from Great Portland Street station walk to UCLH and back, and commuters from Warren Street station walk to their offices in inner Fitzrovia and back, all avoiding the ugly Euston Road in favour of quaint little Warren Street during the morning and evening rush hours. Twice a day the street is filled with people, and people like cake.

As we could not afford to pay for PR, we decided to bake some, and so our cakes became our advertisement and our bait. Glistening with syrup and glowing with fruit, we laid them on the window counter to whore themselves to the street. People would double-take at our window during their daily dash, then pause and come back for a closer look at our lovelies – the cherry-topped one, the spicy brown one, the half-glazed-half-naked one. Then Itamar or Rachael would meet them at the door, show them a menu, have a chat, bring them in. . . The cakes were doing their job.