When I lived in Notting Hill I was obsessed with Ottolenghi, the food and pastry shoppe that sits right across the street from the Richard Young Gallery, where I worked over the summer. I would spend hours in the gallery, glancing occasionally across the bricked street at the towers and towers of pastries, watching the steam rise from their espresso machine. It was heaven–and I adored it. Needless to say, my current locale is lacking the culinary flair of Notting Hill. When I want herb and rice salads, shallot, potato and goat cheese tatin or my must-have-with-my-coffee-in-the-morning-brioches, I do what all in-between city dwellers do: make it myself.
Just so you know, Ottolenghi has an excellent cookbook and also offers cooking classes.