Eric’s

The queue outside the buttercup-yellow front is for croissants, and the blackboard by the door is the whole menu. Eric’s is a small bakery in East Dulwich, in south London, run by a baker who came from Flor, and it bakes a short list well rather than a long one adequately.

A short list, baked hard

The range is deliberately narrow: sourdough loaves, wholemeal tins, porridge loaves, viennoiserie, custard-stuffed pastries, buns, doughnuts, biscuits and a pile of chocolate chip cookies on the counter. Everything is made by hand from scratch, and the bakery has never pretended to be a café with a menu attached; there is no kitchen behind the counter turning out plates. Croissants sit at the centre of the reputation, and the porridge loaf is the bread people come back for. The Good Food Guide named it among Britain’s best bakeries for 2026, which explains how a shop this size draws people from outside the postcode.

Cupboard-sized, with two stools in the window

The shop is tiny. It is essentially a takeaway, with a couple of stools in the window and room for only two or three customers inside at once, so every surface of the bright little space is working. The rhythm follows from that: read the blackboard while you wait, know your order before you reach the counter, take the bag and eat it somewhere else. Eric’s bakes only a few days a week and stops when the shelves are empty, which is the other reason for the queue. Arriving late is a real risk rather than a rumour.

Croissant first, loaf second

Take a croissant if there is one left; that is the benchmark, and it is the item most likely to have gone by mid-morning. Then buy bread, because this is not only a pastry stop: sourdough, wholemeal tins and the porridge loaf all justify carrying a bag home. The sweet counter is the third move, and the choice there is simple rather than elaborate, a chocolate chip cookie, a custard-stuffed pastry, a doughnut or a bun. The custard-stuffed pastries are the sleeper order, sweet enough to stand in for a cake without becoming one. On a bread and sandwich day the order changes shape entirely, which is the argument for going more than once.