The made-for-Instagram counter at the Anya Cafe, on Pont Street in Belgravia, is stocked with treats that look almost too delicious to eat. There are the alluringly lacquered “chubby heart” tea cakes, made of chocolate mousse and dunked in raspberry compote. “Caterpillar tarts” involve a slab of shortbread layered with vanilla custard and topped with a meandering arrangement of raspberries. Even basic biscuits and tea cakes have smiley faces and googly eyes, two signature motifs of the accessories designer Anya Hindmarch, who has dreamed all this up.
Despite the abundance of sweetness on the plates, the Anya Cafe itself displays a savvy design that nods to the midcentury-modern period. Slim, walnut-trimmed Formica tables are accompanied by sleek, leather-covered booths and chairs; the blocky branding seen on the menus and signage resembles something out of a distant decade. In many ways, the Anya Cafe encapsulates its founder’s winning formula—smart design with wide appeal that incorporates just enough whimsy to keep it interesting.
