For: maritozzi worth the hype and weekend queue. The breakfast spread of pastries and sweet baked goods at Forno ranges from the straightforward like a buttery, flaky cornetto (like a sweeter croissant), to the decadent. Think a praline bun topped with a crisp chocolate disk and a sprinkle of sea salt. But it’s the maritozzi at this Italian bakery in Hackney that’s put it on the map.

For: oat porridge loaf. The most important thing to know about Eric’s is that the early bird gets the cheese and kimchi scroll. From the moment the cupboard-sized Dulwich bakery opens on Friday and Saturday mornings, there’s a perma-queue. Persist though—it moves fast. There’s a focus on UK-grown, organic wheats, and the buttery croissants and coffee custard-stuffed morning buns have a rich, nutty, and wholesome flavour.

For: Roman-style pizza slices and exciting pastries. The downfall of many bakeries in London is the poky seating. Often the price you pay for an excellent pastry is having to eat it on a cold bench outside. But not at Toklas. This Aldwych bakery is spacious and calming, with a display of sweet and savoury pastries—pistachio cream laminated brioche, ham and cheese pain suisse, and your classic pain au chocolat. But one of our favourite things to get from this inviting spot is the strecci.

For: glorious morning pastries and a cheeky loaf cake for later. Walking through Russell Square without popping into this small bakery for a flaky sausage roll or custard and strawberry morning bun is unforgivable in our books. A popular spot with locals (people and pigeons) plus anyone who’s fond of golden pastries and cinnamon buns the size of a mini basketball, it’s open from early morning until 3pm.

For: loaded naan. Ararat Bread is a teeny-tiny bakery on Ridley Road making brilliantly tasty and brilliantly inexpensive flatbreads. You can have your naan topped with cheese and garlic for just £1, watch it bubble and sizzle under the rotating oven, before inevitably sticking it in your mouth far too quickly and injuring yourself in the best way possible. If you want meat, the keema is a quid more and the mince mixture is packed full of coriander seeds.

For: a morning bun to start your day right. Unsliced rather than sliced bread is the greatest thing ever, as evidenced by the potato sourdough, springy oily focaccia, and everything else coming out of The Dusty Knuckle. This social enterprise bakery in Dalston has been doing good things in lots of ways for years now and it’s a great place for a pastry (the morning bun) first thing, sandwich (any) at lunchtime, or sourdough pizza on the weekends.

For: clay-oven flatbreads and plenty of seating. OK, we’ve never shed tears over a spicy sausage, but the merguez and garlic aioli flatbread at this Victoria bakery made us more emotional than the average merguez. And it’s not all you should focus on either. The whole ‘flatbreads from the clay oven’ section of the menu at Chestnut Bakery reads like a carb lover’s dream. We’re talking a chewy, fluffy base topped with things like fig, goats’ cheese, and ricotta, and wagyu salami and honey mustard.

For: the pastry counter of dreams. The people behind Malaysian restaurant Rasa Sayang teamed up with a French patissier to create this bakery in Covent Garden’s St Martin’s Courtyard. The spread of pastries on their counter is the type of display you spend five minutes staring at before saying ‘just give me one of everything please’. They’ve got pistachio chocolate escargots, pineapple and mango danish pastries, and a sweet honey butter toast that has the perfect fluff-to-crunch ratio.

For: the best mana’eesh in London. If you’ve ever had mana’eesh, you’ll understand how important it is that this Lebanese bakery serves them until 10pm. And they’re not any old flatbreads, they’re the best in London. Plus, you won’t be judged for rocking up at this Acton spot at 4pm in need of some doughy, meaty goodness. You can head there at 1pm on a Sunday for a platter of freshly baked minced meat and cheese, or flatbreads, and it’ll be just as good as when you come at 7pm on a Wednesday.

For: a superior savoury selection. As you approach Toad Bakery’s small shop front, catch a whiff of freshly baked bread, and then see the glistening pastries, that Pavlovian response will kick in. Straddling Peckham and Camberwell, there are a few colourful stools out front and only a street-facing counter in the doorway, heaving with gooey, vegan cookies, buttery croissants, and cardamom-heavy cinnamon buns. But make sure to leave room for slow-braised goat bear claw pastries.