A need to feed – KNEAD Bakery and Coffee Paul Hollywood

Paul Hollywood has recently opened up KNEAD a Bakery and Coffee eatery in London Euston and I so needed to go along.  I was lucky enough to experience and taste the delicious treats at KNEAD before the general public as I won a competition to attend a press event back in September before the official opening. I won my spot with this “I KNEAD to come to feed on Paul’s seedy buns in return I will spread the word like a carrier pigeon dropping crumbs”.

Paul Hollywood

Paul created KNEAD Bakery and Coffee as he has a passion for baking and has always wanted to have his own bakery.  He grew his passion from an early age when he worked alongside his father in his bakery.  Paul has won many awards and as we all know is one of the nation’s favourite television show hosts for programmes such as The Great British Bake Off and other shows.

KNEAD

KNEAD can be found just outside London Euston train station. The bakery is open every day so why not pop in for a bite to eat for breakfast like a utterly buttery bacon butty or even for lunch for a handmade delicious pie, a sausage roll which is sold by the inch or one of his deli sandwiches with so much choice you will be needing to go back to try out everything.  You can even watch your food being prepared and cooked live in the open plan kitchen.  You can either takeaway or eat in. If you decide to eat in you can charge your phone up in one of the many charging ports or connect to the free Wi-Fi, perfect for anyone be it a business person or someone that is on the go and needs their phone charging. You can also buy numerous drinks from KNEAD to drink in or takeaway but his speciality drink he sells in store is a coffee lovers dream the crafted Barista Coffee which uses 100% Arabica Beans enough to give you a buzz and keep you awake for the rest of the day.

Anyway I got to go along to a special press event during lunchtime and I got to try out food before the general public a day early.  Firstly I received a goodie bag which contained Paul Hollywood’s latest cook book, a mug with Paul’s photo on it, an apron and a meet and greet with the man himself.  I was literally buzzing with excitement so I certainly did not need any of his speciality coffee that day.

The food

Whilst there I got to try out a few of his delicious pastries and a sweet treat.  Firstly I tried the a sausage roll (an inch long) and it was like no other sausage roll I have had before as it was packed with succulent British sausage meat with a thin layer of buttery flaky pastry wrapped around the sausage meat.  It literally melted in my mouth with the moist meat making it taste even more divine. Next time I will order more inches to my sausage (as size does matter).  I also had one of his meaty steak pies again the pastry was so buttery and flaky with the taste being of very high quality and it certainly does not taste like shop bought pastry. When I broke into my pie the pastry flaked away and steam came flowing out.  The meat chunks of the British beef was the perfect size, soft and melted in my mouth and all covered in the most lovely brown flavoursome gravy.

Next and finally I had the Rocky Road as I have a sweet tooth and believe it or not I have never eaten a Rocky Road before so I was pleasantly surprised. It was gooey, sticky, sweet and the different textures from the biscuits, caramel to the soft marshmallows gave my tongue all different senses as well as an incredible taste.  Paul said to me he loves Rocky Road and then he used the known phrase “a minute on the lips and forever on the hips” and that is so right but oh so worth it.

Verdict

It was a lovely lunchtime affair and even though I loved the food I tasted I was obviously extremely happy that I got to meet one of my idols. Paul is a lovely man and made all us competition winners feel special and welcome. He also signed all our merchandise we were given from the book to the apron. Every morning when I drink out of my mug with Paul’s face on I will now be thinking not just of Paul when I met him but also about pastries and how I’m not going to resist in going back and ordering a mega 7 inch sausage roll say.

To read more about KNEAD Bakery and Coffee click here

Some of the photos in my blog are taken by the official press photographer that was there at event.