A local’s review of the fabulous Bread Ahead Bakery in Borough Market, London Bridge, famous for its huge doughnuts, rustic atmosphere and delicious breads!
If you find yourself walking around London Bridge’s hidden spots and amazing shops, you’re bound to get hungry at some point – there’s so much to do in the area!
Borough Market’s one must-visit spot, and inside, you’ll find plenty of cool street food stalls, and even places to get a few snacks and foodie souvenirs from London.
That’s also where you’ll find Bread Ahead Bakery – the original one, born way before the huge Bread Ahead Wembley – with their iconic doughnuts and unforgettable flavors.
London’s Bread Ahead Bakery Borough Review – The Best Donuts
I seem to remember the first time I ate the Borough Market doughnuts was in 2014 when I first visited London with my younger sister, well before I moved to London.
We came across Bread Ahead Bakery on Instagram, if I’m not mistaken, and since we had nothing even remotely close to those bulky doughnuts in France, we splurged. Had to.
If you’re looking for the best food in Borough Market, Bread Ahead Bakery is an amazing spot to try especially for the thickness of the fillings inside their doughnuts.
But if you’re looking for vegan doughnuts in London, that’s sadly not the place.
To the best of my knowledge, Bread Ahead Bakery has branches in Borough Market close to London Bridge as well as South Kensington, and they’re expanding fast.
Please note that they don’t seem to offer vegan doughnuts yet.
Bread Ahead Bakery Review: The Bakery
Bread Ahead Bakery has two stands; one inside Borough Market, and one right outside. The one outside is the most interesting since it’s the biggest.
You can either get the Bread Ahead Bakery doughnuts from the stand right outside or plenty of different bread types inside as well as homemade cakes.
And since the bakery also offers baking courses, you can sign up and learn how to make bread or sweet treats – it’s also a nice gift for a close one interested in baking.
When you keep going down the road, you get to Southwark Cathedral on the right, which offers some of the most secret free views in London.
When you keep going on the left, you pass by Mellow, which offers some of the best vegan brunch in London Bridge, and as you go down, you reach one of my favorite Caffè Nero to study in London.
Keep going, and you reach Southbank and the Thames riverside, with the Tate Modern, Blackfriars, the Millenium Bridge, and St Paul’s really close as well.
It’s just a matter of minutes before you reach them, and I can promise you that if you get some Bread Ahead Bakery doughnuts, you’re going to want to take a walk afterward, lest you’ll fall asleep on your feet.
Bread Ahead Bakery Review: Bread Ahead Menu
The Bread Ahead Bakery is roughly the same as the seasons go by; they have some classic doughnuts filled with pistachio, Nutella, cream, honeycomb, and marmalade available all year round.
But what’s super interesting about these Borough Market doughnuts is the seasonal flavors, like the Blackcurrant Cheesecake ripple flavor pictured above.
Bread Ahead Bakery Review: What I Ordered
The last time I went to Bread Ahead Bakery, I got two doughnuts: a coconut doughnut and a pistachio one.
Those were two flavors I didn’t know since I almost always order either a vanilla doughnut or a honeycomb one to switch things up a little bit.
The Nutella and vanilla doughnuts at Bread Ahead Bakery are two of their ultimate best-sellers, but I don’t see the point in getting a £4+ doughnut if I’m not going to try a homemade recipe. This is why I’ve never tried the Nutella doughnut there, and I’m not planning to either.
Bread Ahead Bakery Pistachio Doughnut
I started out with the pistachio doughnut, which I thought was an interesting twist to the usual vanilla cream doughnut.
I love pistachio cream of the kind you’ll get in cornetti when you have breakfast in Rome – but the cream of the pistachio doughnut at Bread Ahead Bakery is very different.
It’s lighter, for starters. It’s much creamier, lighter, and boasts less pistachio flavor than I would have liked, but for those who aren’t big fans of pistachio to start with, it’s a really interesting flavor to order.
Bread Ahead Bakery Coconut Doughnut
Then, I got the coconut doughnut.
And that, folks, is probably the very best doughnut in Borough Market. I like coconut, but more as a scent than a food flavor (although I wouldn’t decline a Raffaello chocolate).
The Bread Ahead Bakery doughnut was much more filling with the coconut flavor than it was with the pistachio cream, and it really had this sweet, coconutty taste – with bits as well!
Overall a winner, which I’ve then ordered a few times when I was passing by London Bridge to work at the John Harvard Library or just to take a walk on the Thames riverside.
London’s Bread Ahead Bakery Borough Review – The Best Donuts
All in all, if you’re looking for the best food at Borough Market, Bread Ahead Bakery is definitely one of your best options. In the almost ten years since I first visited London, I’ve always come back to this place.
It’s clearly a bakery that takes care of its customers, and while the prices have gone up slightly over the years, Bread Ahead Bakery has always offered the most delicious doughnuts in Borough Market.
Get them with a coffee, and you’re set for breakfast!