A small flaky-pastry round filled with currants, butter and brown sugar, topped with crystallised sugar. A classic British bake found at St John in Clerkenwell and bakery counters across London.
Where to eat it: 4 restaurants across 1 city.
The Eccles cake is named for the town of Eccles in Greater Manchester, where James Birch began selling them commercially in 1793. London's enduring claim to the form comes from St John on St John Street (1994), where Fergus Henderson serves Eccles cake with Lancashire cheese as a counter-bakery and dessert plate. The St John recipe (flaky pastry, butter-soaked currants, demerara) is widely copied across modern British kitchens. Other London bakeries selling the orthodox form: Bea's of Bloomsbury, Lyle's, Toad Bakery.
Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy
Tip from the editors. St John serves them with a wedge of Lancashire. The salt cuts the sugar; once you've tried it you can't go back.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Fergus Henderson's St John in Clerkenwell has cooked the nose-to-tail British canon in London since 1994. Whitewashed dining room, no music, daily-changing menu on a single sheet.
Signature: Roast bone marrow and parsley salad, Eccles cake with Lancashire cheese
Order: Roast bone marrow with parsley salad and toast, then Eccles cake with Lancashire.
Tip: The bakery counter near the front sells the same Eccles cakes, doughnuts and brown loaf to take away if you can't get a booking.
The 1869 Farringdon Road working-class dining room in Clerkenwell London, restored under Will Lander since 2012, runs daily-changing British cooking in original Victorian booths.
Signature: Confit potato, Mince and potatoes
Order: The famed confit potato, then mince and potatoes off the daily menu, with a bottle from the shop next door.
Tip: The wine shop next door is corkage-free if you buy a bottle there. Lunch takes walk-ins at the counter Tue-Sat.
Erin Wilkins's small-batch bakery on Camberwell Road in south London, opened 2021, runs serious natural-leaven sourdough, pastel de nata and a weekend-only pastry counter.
Tip: Closed Mon-Tue. Pastel de nata baked in batches every two hours; arrive at 09:30, 11:30 or 13:30 for hot ones.
Worth the queue: Pastel de nata
James Lowe's Tea Building dining room in Shoreditch London is a Michelin-starred set-menu kitchen built on British produce, opened 2014, on the World's 50 Best list.
Signature: Cured mackerel, Brown butter ice cream
Order: Whatever raw fish opens the menu and the brown butter ice cream that closes it.
Tip: The lunchtime daily-changing two-course is half the price of dinner and uses the same kitchen.
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