Ordering a bread basket before your main meal is a risky game, but is one that never fails to sparkle with indulgence and, above all, deliciousness. Yes, you might have less room for the courses that follow, but those doughy slices dipped in olive oil are really too good to resist.
And now, any worries you might have had can dissipate at this new fine dining restaurant – where bread is their speciality, and actually all they serve.
Bakers Dozen‘s name might be created with with, but their 13-course (yes, 13) menu of bread-only plates will have you in a carbohydrate heaven after the laughter. The pop-up restaurant, brought to us by ASDA, arrives on October 19 in Aldgate, and celebrates the relaunch of the supermarket’s heralded bakery section.
Sure, people like to order a basket of bread, but why would they want 13 courses? Well, ASDA have delved into the numbers and found that 52% of the nation will order the item before a meal, 24% actually believe they are better than the meal itself, and 43% admit to often not being able to finish their main meal due to having one piece of bread too many.
One basket and 13 courses present very different challenges, though – and if ASDA think they can repeat the bread and olive oil trick another twelve times, they have another thing coming. Thankfully, they’ve passed that invention test in a big way, offering an eclectic range of yeast-based goodness.
During the two-and-a-half hours of dining at Bakers Dozen, guests – who will have gained their cherished spot via a ballot – are set to be treated by a special, one-off curated menu by Asda’s executive chef, Senior Director of Innovation and Trends, Jonathan Moore and his team.
For every sourdough with Marmite butter and pecorino there’s a portion of toast with brown crab and a Scandi-style open sandwich; and for each bread crouton with gazpacho soup there’s a fried tortilla or a croque monsieur. Please, though: make sure you leave room for the bread and butter pudding with brown bread ice cream. Because who wouldn’t at least be intrigued by that?
Ballot entry is now wrapped up, and the lucky winners will have themselves a treat of an evening on October 19. For those that missed out: it’s not all bad. You’ll get to hear the rave reviews of those who made it in, or you can grab any of the breads used in the dishes over at ASDA in their relaunched bakery section. Plus, who knows? Maybe this bread-only fine dining shebang will rise in a big way after the ovens are switched off at Bakers Dozen…