The mid-morning hush of Marylebone is broken only by footsteps that converge on 27 Duke Street. Georgian façades flank the route, yet every passer-by seems drawn forward by the same invisible thread. It is the scent of caramelised sugar twinned with slow-melt butter, carried on a light breeze that slips along the terraces and turns strangers into willing followers. A soft queue has already formed outside Arôme Bakery, neat and unhurried. Nobody checks a watch. The ritual is reward in itself, a quiet signal that something rare is waiting beyond the glass.
Push through the door and sound recedes beneath a warm hush of anticipation. The room is minimalist, pale wood and brushed steel, carefully lit to let the food do the talking. Aromas shift from gentle promise to enveloping certainty as laminated layers surrender their fragrance. Here, the everyday croissant is re-imagined with Asian flavours, while the honeyed crackle of a thick slice of shokupan sets cameras clicking in rapid succession. What looks simple is, in truth, technically exacting and culturally layered.
Where France Meets Asia
Arôme is not the latest participant in a short-lived trend. Its founding idea is a disciplined conversation between classical French pastry and the comfort notes of Singapore and Japan. Every project starts with technique. High-fat butter is folded and rolled until hundreds of wafer-thin sheets are stacked one on top of the other. Yet the finishing accents – miso, Gula Melaka, yuzu, toasted sesame – speak of humid markets and street-corner kopitiams. The effect is measured rather than showy. A croissant wears a whisper of pandan, never a flood, while the Miso Bacon Escargot balances smoke, salt and umami against the sweetness of its swirl.
Marylebone, long known for old-world refinement, has adopted this cross-cultural confidence with surprising speed. Locals who once defined luxury by familiarity now queue for artisan pastries that read like postcards from two hemispheres. Tourists scroll through travel feeds, spot a post tagged London bakery and re-write their itinerary around a single breakfast. Arôme has become both destination and definition – proof that quiet perfection attracts as powerfully as loud novelty.
The Architects Behind the Counter
Success never rests on concept alone. In this case it rests on the shoulders of Lyon-born pâtissier Alix André and Singaporean restaurateur Ellen Chew. Chew supplies the strategic rigour that turns ideas into leases, while André brings the hands that fold, proof and bake. Their partnership is personal as much as professional; Christabel, André’s Singaporean wife, and Tiffany, Chew’s partner, contributed tasting notes gathered from family trips across Southeast Asia. Recipes are memory made edible. The Coconut Bun nods to hawker stalls in Katong, the Honey Butter Toast recalls late-night dessert cafés in Tokyo.
André’s résumé reads like a map of Michelin-starred kitchens – Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, Yauatcha under Alan Yau, Roka with Rainer Becker. Each restaurant expanded his flavour palette beyond beurre noisette and candied peel. London’s openness to the world made experimentation feel necessary rather than daring. As André tells it, “I started folding jasmine and matcha into batter because the ingredients were all around me. It felt natural to let the city guide the menu.” In other words, technique remained French, curiosity became global.
From Pop-Up to Permanent Fixture
Every cult favourite begins with a test. For Arôme that test was a three-month pop-up in Soho, launched to gauge whether Londoners would pay premium prices for croissants seasoned with soy caramel. They did. Lines curled down the block, reviews flooded Instagram, and landlords started making calls. A 2 000 sq ft flagship opened in Covent Garden in late 2020 – mid-pandemic, when most hospitality operators were folding rather than proofing. The gamble paid off. By August 2022, a second site had been secured beside Selfridges, ensuring exposure to the foot traffic of Oxford Street and the community spirit of Marylebone Village.
Growth remains disciplined. Production is kept small to maintain quality, and each venue features an open kitchen, allowing customers to witness the daily cycle from dough to display. Transparency breeds trust; the theatre of lamination explains the premium better than any marketing copy could.
Fun Fact: A well-made croissant contains roughly 81 layers of butter and dough after the classic three-fold, three-turn process, yet Arôme’s bakers add an extra turn for a final count close to 109. That single extra fold increases flake without weighing down the crumb.
Signature Bakes That Tell Stories
Walk along the counter and a narrative unfolds.
Miso Bacon Escargot
A rolled pinwheel, bronzed and glossy, looks deceptively simple until aroma hits. Red miso contributes depth, crisp bacon adds smoke, grated cheddar melts into the spiral, and coriander lifts the finish. The bite is savoury yet faintly sweet, familiar yet distinctly East Asian. It answers a question London diners did not know they had – what if a pastry behaved like breakfast ramen?
Gula Melaka Coconut Bun
Sticky with palm sugar syrup, dusted in shredded coconut, this bun marries Nordic form with Malay flavour. Gula Melaka’s smoky sweetness slides through the dough, creating pockets of caramel that burst beneath the glaze. The result is complex, earthy and far less sugary than its surface suggests.
Honey Butter Toast
The bakery’s crowned monarch. Shokupan, that whisper-soft Japanese milk bread, is sliced two fingers thick, brushed in honey butter, then toasted until the crust snaps like brittle toffee. Inside, the crumb stays impossibly light. Videos capturing the first crunch have clocked millions of views, turning this single item into a beacon for viral food trends.
Each bake is an answer to the same design brief: respect technique, honour ingredient, surprise the palate.
Inside the Marylebone Space
Step beyond the threshold, and the first impression is one of calm. Pale oak benches run parallel to picture windows that frame Duke Street life. An island counter, tiled in matte white, showcases pastries under soft spots, allowing laminated layers to glimmer. Behind tempered glass, bakers move through silent choreography – tapping dough, brushing syrup, sliding trays into stone-deck ovens. Customers carry flat whites from a dedicated Allpress station to slender tables. However, many prefer to collect a box and wander towards Regent’s Park.
Limited seating is intentional. Turnover remains fluid, queues stay steady, and the atmosphere remains serene. In London’s crowded café scene, breathing space feels like a luxury. Here, the wait functions almost as an amuse-bouche, heightening anticipation and framing the purchase as an earned treat.
The Queue as Social Proof
Marylebone residents are discerning shoppers, accustomed to immediate gratification. Yet they wait happily for Arôme. The line performs a subtle social role – it signals quality better than any billboard. Onlookers read the message instantly: worth the time, worth the price. Conversations strike up, recommendations pass down the row, and photographs travel further than any paid campaign could hope. Queuing in London is often a chore; outside Arôme it becomes community theatre.
Experience That Extends Beyond the Door
Pastry box in hand, customers spill into side streets with the giddy sense of carrying treasure. Many pair their purchase with Allpress flat white, others loop towards the Wallace Collection gardens. The bakery serves as a launchpad for city exploration, influencing itineraries in the same way a landmark gallery might. In doing so, Arôme turns transient calories into lasting memory.
Ingredient Integrity and Craft
Quality begins long before dawn mixing. Organic flour forms the backbone, high-fat European butter creates the lift, free-range eggs add golden gloss. Vegetables for seasonal products come from small regional suppliers, while organic ingredients like Gula Melaka arrive direct from Southeast Asia. Nothing sits overnight. Dough rests, proofs and bakes inside the same walls, then meets the public at peak freshness. By afternoon shelves sit half-empty, a consequence of the decision to favour skill over scale.
Above all, lamination rules the schedule. Three bakers manage the fold-and-turn cycle, ensuring each sheet maintains tensile strength without melting its butter layers. Temperature control, timing, pressure – every variable is logged because consistency is luxury’s quiet twin.
London’s Baking Renaissance
A decade ago, good pastry in the capital meant a flaky sausage roll or a Danish from a heritage chain. Today the scene is vibrant, driven by venues such as Pophams, Toad Bakery and The Dusty Knuckle. Arôme fits comfortably among these peers yet remains distinct. Where others riff on European comfort, Arôme writes a dialogue between continents. French patisserie provides the structure, Asian flavours provide the conversation, and the result broadens the definition of a London bakery in the eyes of locals and critics alike.
The Competitive Stage
London’s new love affair with high craft pastry has drawn comparisons rather than turf wars. Pophams courts East-End creatives with daring flavour twists that flip from morning viennoiserie to evening pasta. The now-closed Dominique Ansel Bakery relied on headline-grabbing hybrids, while The Proof funnels all its energy into profiteroles. Arôme’s position feels almost monastic by contrast. It limits the menu, refuses showmanship for its own sake and pursues cultural authenticity over novelty. Regulars who sample a Marmite pastry in Hackney then cross town for a Gula Melaka bun discover two quite different philosophies. One trades on shock and reinvention, the other on coherence and technical depth. The effect is not rivalry but an expanded map of possibility that benefits every hungry Londoner.
Industry peers recognise this. When Alix André is asked to name his favourite baker he cites Pophams, not his own shop. The gesture reads as earned confidence. Excellence invites comparison without anxiety because the product speaks first. In a city where consumers have endless choice, such modesty becomes a magnet. Visitors note the absence of aggressive marketing and decide that genuine assurance must reside in the details.
Why Arôme Leads
- Mastery rather than spectacle
- Cross-cultural fluency built on personal heritage
- Slow expansion that protects quality
- Consistent interior aesthetic that frames the pastry as artwork
Fans seeking the best bakery in London often place it at the very top for these exact reasons.
Media Spotlight and Critical Acclaim
Food editors have carved generous column inches for Arôme. Time Out calls it a “cult-worthy French-Asian bakery” that delivers on every promise. MyLondon sends writers undercover only to report back that the Honey Butter Toast is “worth the train fare alone”. When industry judges compiled a national list of artisan stars, Arôme landed among the top five. These endorsements are more than decorative quotes. They form the trust layer that converts first-time readers into first-time queuers.
Radio segments and podcasts deepen the narrative. Chefs discuss the science of butter temperatures, designers unpack the influence of Japanese teahouses on the Marylebone interior. Each medium reinforces the sense that Arôme is not another café on a busy street but a case study in patient craftsmanship.
Viral Hunger and Social Proof
If traditional media lights the first spark, social platforms fan it into an open flame. On TikTok, the crunch of Honey Butter Toast gains millions of loops. The crackle is so crisp that microphones spike, prompting comment threads filled with awe-struck emojis. Instagram grids showcase caramel sheen under natural light, while carousel posts break down flaky croissant interiors layer by layer. These snapshots do the persuasive work of advertising at no cost to the bakery.
The queue illustrates popularity in real time. Tourists measure success by how far it stretches; locals treat the wait as community catch-up. Footfall from Oxford Street alters its route because phones in hand reveal a live feed of satisfied customers who have just secured their box. That social media buzz flows back in-store. Staff prepare a fresh tray just moments after the previous batch is packed into reusable bags.
Trust Through Transparency
Trust is fragile in a city where glossy openings can mask mediocre dough. Arôme counters doubt with visibility. The open kitchen provides every visitor with a brief introduction to pastry physics. Butter blocks are rolled, folded, rested. Thermometers dangle from wall hooks, timers beep, bakers discuss proofing times in the open. Nothing hides behind swinging doors. Even the all-important butter brand, though not printed on signage, is no mystery. A quick glimpse into the walk-in fridge confirms the use of premium French cultured slabs with fat content above 82 percent.
Supply chains earn similar scrutiny. Flour arrives from a certified organic mill in Gloucestershire, vegetables for seasonal savouries travel a short distance from a family wholesaler in New Covent Garden Market, and Allpress handles the coffee programme. By naming partners outright the bakery hedges against scepticism. Customers link price to provenance and leave convinced they have paid for genuine value.
Where Craft Meets Conscience
Technical brilliance now shares the stage with ethical consideration. Arôme’s disposable items are compostable, its take-out bags made from recycled fibre. Leftover bread becomes breakfast for a nearby community kitchen before closing time, minimising waste and supporting neighbours. These policies may not trend on social media yet, but they shore up goodwill among visitors who equate quality with responsibility.
Such conscience extends to staff welfare. Schedules rotate to avoid the punishing predawn routines that burn out young bakers. Training budgets send juniors to workshops on Koji fermentation or advanced chocolate tempering. The payoff is a workforce that stays, resulting in consistent product and memory-based muscle that a newcomer cannot replicate.
Looking Forward
Arôme’s founders remain wary of rapid franchising. Future growth will likely follow the same cautious cadence that moved from pop-up to Covent Garden and then to Marylebone. Rumours suggest a possible outpost in Paris, a symbolic return of technique fortified by Asian accents. Another possibility is a test kitchen that invites the public into developmental tastings, turning regulars into co-authors of new recipes.
Whatever path they choose, the bakery has already shifted London’s pastry conversation. Where once a croissant lived inside a purely European framework, it now feels incomplete without knowing what might happen when miso or pandan steps into the fold. Competitors adjust their menus accordingly, and diners benefit from a richer culinary experience as a result.
Conclusion
Arôme proves that excellence can whisper and still be heard on the loudest streets. It teaches that skill married to authentic story will outlast viral novelty and survive the ebb of passing trends. Tucking into a Honey Butter Toast on a Marylebone bench feels a little like reading a love letter from two continents, folded into butter-laden pages that crumble while you turn them. The memory lingers long after the last crumb falls away.
Just as bread rises when given patience and care, so do reputations. Arôme has earned its stature loaf by loaf, morning by morning, until the scent on Duke Street became as dependable as church bells. In the words of an old saying that fits the mood without strain, slow and steady wins the race.
