Layla Bakery

Layla Bakery occupies a modest spot on Portobello Road, and on a Saturday morning the queue outside tells you most of what you need to know about its reputation. It’s become one of the more talked about bakery openings in west London, built around photogenic pastries rather than a wide savoury menu, and the shop itself is small enough that the queue often forms on the pavement rather than inside.

The pistachio pain suisse gets mentioned more than anything else on the counter, thick with pistachio cream and properly laminated dough, alongside more unusual combinations like a kimchi suisse and a miso bun that push the format further than most London bakeries bother to. The lamination throughout is genuinely good, and it shows most clearly in the layering and shatter of the croissants, which hold their structure rather than collapsing at the first bite.

The catch, and it’s a real one, is timing. Turning up after eleven on a weekend expecting a full counter is optimistic; the best selling items sell out early, and what’s left by midday tends to be the less interesting options. A few reviewers have also flagged inconsistency between visits, with some pastries landing a little waxy or short on flavour compared with the best examples, which suggests a kitchen still refining its processes under real volume.

There’s minimal seating, so this functions more as a grab and go stop on a Portobello Road walk than somewhere to linger over coffee. Weekday mornings are calmer and a more reliable bet if the goal is actually getting what you came for rather than whatever remains by lunchtime.

Worth the detour if you’re prepared to go early and accept some variation between batches. It isn’t consistently the best bakery in London on every visit, but at its best it gets close, and the pistachio pain suisse alone justifies the walk down Portobello Road on a good day.