PAUL Gloucester Road

You know that feeling when you want a decent croissant but don't want to trek into Marais or pay Ottolenghi prices? This is your spot. PAUL's Gloucester Road location sits nicely between the V&A and the boutique shops, doing straightforward French bakery business without any faffing about. The pastry cases are stacked with laminated butter work that actually shatters when you bite it—pain au chocolats, almond croissants, the lot. Grab a coffee (it's decent, if not thrilling) and a pain aux raisins, find a stool by the window, and watch South Ken's museum crowds drift past. It's the sort of place locals pop into mid-morning, not somewhere you'd make a journey for, but absolutely where you should when you're in the neighbourhood.