DIY London Pastry Crawl

Yes, you read the title right. My roommate Emily, who is also a Global Intern, and I decided to treat ourselves this weekend to celebrate successfully completing the first week of our internships (aka us finidng any excuse to eat a ton of desserts). We had been wanting to explore Belgravia, a relatively posh area of London where the majority of the embassies are located, and found out that there are a ton of popular pastry and cake shops in the area. Thus the Belgravia Pastry Crawl idea was born. You have definitely heard of pub crawls in London, but I personally think pastry crawls should be WAY more mainstream. 

STOP 1: Peggy Porschen 

When we first arrived in Belgravia, we started out on Elizabeth Street, and could immediately tell this was in fact a ~nicer area. There were a lot of amazing looking cafes, shops, etc., and I immediately started plotting how I could become the United States' UK ambassador to get free housing in the area, truly goals. While walking on Elizabeth Street, we stumbled upon our first stop, Peggy Porschen. Peggy Porschen is a London tourist/cult favorite and all over Instagram. It's not hard to figure out why with its pink outer facade and stunning floral decorations. Emily and I each ordered a coffee and a cupcake. The latte art alone made it worth the stop and my Valentine's Day edition Red Velvet Cupcake did NOT dissappoint. The icing was delicious and the cake was fluffy and moist (does this make me a food blogger now???). All in all, big fan of this beloved London cake shop!!! 

STOP 2: Ottolenghi/Matcomb St. 

After Peggy Porschen, Emily and I needed to walk off the cupcake to make room for the MANY stops ahead of us, so we walked a little ways to Matcomb St, where the next stop on our unofficial Pastry Crawl was located. Along the way the sun came out, and we walked by some stunning parks where there were flowers blooming. Truly incredible ! We then arrived to Matcomb Street, where we stopped in a cheese store, a chocolate store and lastly Ottolenghi (a trifecta !!). My words could not do the pastry spread at Ottolenghi justice, so take a look at the picture. The prettiest spread of pastries, and it all looked delicious. I got two cookies so I could eat them on the go, but I plan to go back at some point and try their mouth-watering looking carrot cake (bonus: its vegan !!). However, would reccommend the Chocolate Pecan cookie I tried, but the cheese and chocolate samples that you can find on Matcomb Street alone make it worth the trip. 

STOP 3: Dominque Ansel Bakery London 

Dominique Ansel Bakery is located on Elizabeth St, close to Peggy Porschen, so we headed back there after Matcomb St. It was nice to walk off the cookies and cheese and to just take in the beautiful sunny day in Belgravia. However, we were truly in for a treat at Dominque Ansel Bakery, what ended up being the final stop of our Belgravia Pastry Crawl. Dominque Ansel Bakery is known for inventing the 'cronut', which is a combination of a croissant and a donut. I was TOO excited to try this. Emily and I ordered a cronut to share (lol we were pretty full at this point) and it was truly lifechaning, the perfect combination of two of the best pastries. Dominique Ansel does one specialty flavor of cronut a month, so the flavor of cronut changes month to month, already planning to go back in March and April !! I also got a chocolate cookie/milk shot, which was the most delicious snack. Truly had the best time at Dominque Ansel bakery, already want to go back! 

Emily and I had a couple more stops that we could have gone to, including EL&N cafe, however our stomachs and wallets were hurting so we cut it a lil short. Overall, would reccommend re-creating this diy Pastry Crawl during your time in London, the city really knows its desserts I must say.