London is full to bursting with virtually every cuisine and food dish under the sun. If you can name it, you can probably find it somewhere in the city, thanks to the impressive diversity of its inhabitants. But somehow, a recent opening in South London is the very first of its kind. Bara, which opened in Peckham earlier this year, is the city’s first Welsh cafe.
Cecily Dalladay and Zoë Heimann are two friends, both chefs and bread lovers, who wanted to bring a special kind of cafe to London. As well as being the city’s first Welsh cafe, the founders wanted it to be “a place where everyone feels at home, and where good food creates real opportunities.”
Bara – London’s first Welsh cafe
Named after the Welsh word for ‘bread’, it should come as no surprise that they bake their bread fresh every day. And from this starting point, their menu emerges.
At Bara, you’ll find everything from Tost with Welsh honey and preserves to Bara Brith (a traditional Welsh tea bread), Bacon, Egg & Cheese Focaccia, and more. Among the most intriguing menu items is the Welsh-ed up take on an American classic, the Caerphilly Cheesesteak, which is made with Welsh beef brisket, Welsh cheese, and Welsh leeks.
Visit on the weekend, and you can enjoy special dishes like the Swansea Breakfast on toasted focaccia, Crab Rarebit, Ragù on Toast, Welsh Honey Butter Pancake and the Pembrokeshire Lobster Roll (Saturdays Only). But be prepared to queue, because the latter has taken the internet by storm.
Grandma’s recipes
While many of the dishes at Bara may seem like wild, idiosyncratic takes on Welsh dishes, their origins are humble. Cecily Dalladay, who previously reached the quarter-finals of MasterChef Professionals, was looking to get back in touch with her roots. As she explained to the BBC, she’d spent so long cooking all types of food, but “it felt like I needed [to] do something true to me”.
It was then that she received her grandma’s old cookbook. The book, an old guide made by the Wales Gas Board to highlight traditional Welsh cooking and gas appliances, featured simple, hearty recipes. And alongside the recipes, she found little notes from her Grandma.
More than just a cafe
Bara is much more than just a place to enjoy Welsh food and ingredients.
Dalladay and Heimann are keen to give back and support their people and the community around them. They pay their staff the London Living Wage as a minimum, and “are building an entry-to-work programme for those that face barriers to entry to employment in London.” The cafe also sells £1.50 filter coffee and distributes vouchers at food banks, as well as working with them to ensure nothing goes to waste.
But why?
In their own words, they choose to do more because “cafés can do more than sell coffee. They can open doors, create jobs, feed people well, and hold space for joy, rest and solidarity. At Bara, we’re building that kind of café – one sandwich, one connection at a time.”
Clearly, the desire for banging Welsh food was always there, waiting to be sated. When Bara opened, they had a sell-out first weekend. And ever since, you can find people lining the streets outside, waiting to sample their wares.
📍 Bara Café, 44-46 Choumert Road, Peckham, SE15 4SE. The nearest station is Peckham Rye.
Find out more about Bara here.