Gone - La Bonne? (Bakery)

[sugahill cafe]

I believe the new owners name is Ibrahim which would account for the new name i presume pronounced eebs.

[dickp]

We had croissants. They were OK. Just OK.

Not as flavourful as those before - on par *dons helmet* with Tescos.

[admin]

Aargh I wish this website would hold postings as drafts.

It does! There is a Save Draft button at the bottom. You may need to revert from the mobile to the classic theme to see it. There is a note in Town Asylum on how to do this: http://www.sydenham.org.uk/forum/viewto ... f=9&t=5078

You may be pleased to know the new site is planned to use a nicer mobile theme. I plan to include a link on both the classic and mobile themes to toggle between each other.

Sorry to intrude on this thread. If you want more information please use the thread in Town Asylum: http://www.sydenham.org.uk/forum/viewto ... f=9&t=9180

Admin

[marymck]

Aargh I wish this website would hold postings as drafts.

It does! There is a Save Draft button at the bottom. You may need to revert from the mobile to the classic theme to see it. There is a note in Town Asylum on how to do this: http://www.sydenham.org.uk/forum/viewto ... f=9&t=5078

You may be pleased to know the new site is planned to use a nicer mobile theme. I plan to include a link on both the classic and mobile themes to toggle between each other.

Sorry to intrude on this thread. If you want more information please use the thread in Town Asylum: http://www.sydenham.org.uk/forum/viewto ... f=9&t=9180

Admin

Thanks Admin. I think I found it accidentally, as I did manage to save a draft eventually. Great to learn about the new site and the forthcoming mobile version. Thanks for all your hard work. I'm sending you a PM.

All the best.

[bag lady]

well i'm enjoying the(several) pain au raison, not good looking but very tasty...

[LaBonneBakery]

I know this has disappointed many of our regular customers but the truth is we tried our best to keep it going despite the economic crisis.
Last year we trained a local staff who then became a shareholder at La Bonne Bakery Ltd and subsequently became Manager (His name is Ibrahim KONATE known as "Ibs"). I hope he put all the knowledge he received as an apprentice into practice now. He is someone who is very ambitious and who is a fast learner (he has no bakery background he learnt in 6 months what other people could learn in 12 months ) I wish him all the best. I remember one day we run out of eggs on a busy sunday morning and we needed to produce more croissants. He tried milk instead of eggs in the usual mixture and the chef was not very happy with that, the final result wasn't very satisfactory either as we had very funny pastries instead of our regular Traditional French croissants. He just invented IBS pastries on that day!

Just so that you are aware, don't expect the very high quality of bread and pastries you used to get at La Bonne Bakery at IBS. I know that sometimes the student might surpass the teacher but in this case there is a long way to go as unfortunately we did not have enough time to teach him everything. I am sure he will improve with time so let's give him a chance.

[Robin Orton]

What a weird post - talk about damning with faint praise! I wonder whether 'LaBonneBakery' has any financial or other interest in whether or not the bakery is a success under its new management?

[LaBonneBakery]

Success? Only time will tell!

[Rachael]

Success? Only time will tell!

I hope you don't intend to open a bakery in Sydenham again. Making such barbed posts about your successors on a public forum, whatever the reason, doesn't seem like good business practice.

[JulietP]

I agree, Rachael.

On a more positive note, the quality of the products at the bakery really seems to be settling down: at the weekend I bought a couple of bread rolls and they were absolutely delicious.

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[Robin Orton]

We had some mixed bread and rye pain de campagne and some 'pudding' - both excellent.

[stf]

hi, my wife just bought a croissant, 2 pain au chocolat, a wholemeal flute, a Camembert cob roll and a sugar loaf from this shop; she was hungry pregnant and craving the lovely pastries that we'd had here before, unfortunately she didn't realise that the shop had changed hands.
the flute did not seem fresh, but was ok
the cob was dull in flavour but cooked well enough
the sugar loaf, whilst having gross sucre on top wasn't sweet, not sure what this was in retrospect, it sort of looked like a sugar brioche, it wasn't nice I'm afraid
the croissant and PAC were however unbelievably bad, the dough was white bread dough, they were well risen but so far wrong that they were inedible, as unfortunately was the rest bar the flute.
It is a shame, I am not concerned about these purchases and will not be returning to this shop; however if anyone can recommend somewhere, preferably with a trained baker, able to cook French pastry, please post their whereabouts.
I am aware of blackbird, but it's a bit far.

regards

[suzisoo]

I too am no longer going to purchase from them. I have had to return almond croissants which were uncooked inside and the almond paste was inedible. I have tried to give them time to iron out their problems, however they don't seem to be improving and I have given up and gone over to the Tesco.

[CkB]

I don't think they're having teething problems - I just think we got far too used to Eric and the previous folk. He made awesome pastries, and everything else - some of the best I've had out of a little shop over here.

I went into IBS (the sign definitely has the S) Bakery today and it will be my last visit. When they first re-opened they used similar recipes - and didn't have much luck. As people pointed out, they kept burning things.

Having been away a lot lately I went in today. The recipes have changed radically. The gf had a croissant - it was like a bit of bread, no layers and wasn't a pastry at all. I tried my age old favourites, the pain au chocolates. Stiff, boards, and yes doughy bready bleurgh. The lovely crispy layers of the pastry gone.

And to make matters worse - I came out with out the white baguette I wanted, as they were black as sin. Why they put them out when they are that incinerated I won't learn. I fear these guys will not last long - and quite frankly I wouldn't recommend now, compared to previously when I used to rave about the place

Does anyone know what happened to Eric + co?

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[Janeco]

A bit further away but the French patisserie in Ladywell (corner across from station) is excellent. Very good bread and we had a birthday cake to die for this weekend.
Haven't tried the patisserie on Perry Vale near the old fire station but might be worth checking out.
La Bonne Bakery we find still good but a bit hit and miss as sometimes the bread is quite scorched.