Gail’s warning

[Teacaketravesty]

My husband bought a tea and a hot cross bun in a Gail’s in central London yesterday, and they refused to toast it.

That’s it, that’s my PSA. Idk if it’s Gail-wide or if he was unlucky. I found some guff on their website about their HCBs being good enough not to toast but no actual confession. DH had no time to argue so just ate it: it was rubbish. I’d have asked for a swap for something that is meant to be eaten cold, but he is less good at sticking up for himself so had to live with the sadness.

Vipers, be warned.

Very bad form

999 NOW

Lol, I really don’t! I don’t use it in sandwiches either, only on toast!

I don’t eat Kit Kats 😂

Alas, no 😩

I didn’t even know you are supposed to toast hcb. Tea cakes, yes, hcb’s no!

I don’t like butter on either.

I love a good welshcake. And bara brith with butter

Wouldn't this be better in the London forum?

Local supermarket here has hot cross buns in the following flavours - chocolate, brioche with choc chips, biscoff filled, apple and cinnamon, crème brûlée filled, cinnamon jam donut flavour and fruitless. They should all get into the fucking sea.

No butter? The Cunts!

I agree (although can we spare the sea?) M&S did all sorts of silly bollocks flavours with HCBs last year, I avoid the section now - I can't look. I hope they've stopped that madness.

Butter - a thick salty slice improves everything - Gails, what are you thinking?

M&S have a chocolate one with a filling like a creme egg this year...No toasting that one, but it's probably better warmed up.

Why? Gail's have branches in the North West and the Midlands, Bath, Cambridge, etc, etc.

I saw that, and thought wtf?
I don't like creme eggs though

We have 3 Gail’s within an 15 minute drive and I don’t live in London.

Gail’s don’t heat anything. They’re irritatingly inflexible about it. Their floors are also incredibly filthy.

They do provide babycinos for free though.

I fear it’s a wider issue. Idk how far the blight of Gail’s has spread but Londoners are often the coalmine canaries/idiots at the front of new ways to horrify people across these islands.

They charge the VAT on sit in so it won’t be that I don’t think.

Their other egregious crime is that they reduced the lengthwise strips of chocolate from 2 to 1 in their pain au chocolate. ‘Twas a sad day for my toddler.

However: they saved me on mat leave as they’re one of the precious few places open at 7am who serve passable coffee. When you’re up from 4am with a sleep dodger you really can’t be bothered with the artisan place that only opens at 9am.

Gosh. They’re doing very well, for deviants.

Exactly the same thing happened to Patisserie Valerie - we loved going to the original one in Soho and when dh worked in London he would bring home boxes of yummy cakes for birthdays and special occasions. So we were very excited when one opened nearby…we went once…it was dire.

Yes, we used to love a trip to Pat Val back in the day. It was a treat, and you often had to queue. See also Paul, which went massively down the tubes.

I’m very relieved Betty’s hasn’t gone down the same road, although ironically it means I rarely get to visit as I no longer live in Betty’s territory.

On a bit of a tangent, this thread has reminded me that I was an adult before I discovered that what my mother and grandma called scones were actually rock cakes. They were delicious though, and they never skimped on the butter.

Yes I have long been annoyed by this too!! They won't heat hot cross buns, or any of the baked good, despite clearly have the ovens and microwaves that would allow them too. The coffee is always a bit lukewarm too, and everything is so overpriced for what it is - it would be one thing if it had stayed a bit nice and upmarket and better quality baked goods, but there are so many other coffee shops around that will heat things. Caffe Nero even heats the mince pies if you want, Starbucks (at least last time I tried) would heat the cinammon buns or banana bread, etc.

Send them a link to this thread and let them know how many people agree!!

I am very glad of this warning, we now have a Gails in our town so I'll tell everyone to beware! However, I cannot agree that hot cross buns should be toasted. They're different from toasted teacakes and should instead be gently warmed in the oven before splitting and buttering. Either way, they should never be served cold and the lack of butter is a crime!

Cafe Nero and Starbucks have awful cakes, though - no amount of heating up gets around that!

That's just cruel!

My sister has her hot cross buns toasted with crispy bacon inside ... it's delicious apparently.
Although she made an error recently and picked up choc chip HCBs instead of the fruity ones. She reckoned it was still good with bacon though.