Prada pastries are coming to London - and fashion editors are thrilled

Charlie Gowans-Eglinton
Marchesi Monte Napoleone in Milan. In April, the chic pasticceria arrives in London - Prada
Marchesi Monte Napoleone in Milan. In April, the chic pasticceria arrives in London - Prada

In April, the historic Milanese Pasticceria Marchesi will open on London’s Mount Street. You might think the city doesn’t need another bakery - but you’d be wrong. This bakery, we need.

I first stumbled across the Pasticceria Marchesi on Milan’s via Santa Maria alla Porta when I was in town for fashion week.

The window of the Marchesi Monte Napoleone, one of three pastry shops in Milan - Credit: Prada
The window of the Marchesi Monte Napoleone, one of three pastry shops in Milan Credit: Prada

I was on foot, taking the opportunity of a sunny day to walk to my next show on the corso magenta, when I spotted it: dark wood exterior, window filled with large iced cakes in old-fashioned pastels and round buns with a nipple of custardy something on top, a few older Milanese gentlemen standing at the coffee bar inside to drink espresso. I was fortuitously early, for a change, and went in.

I did everything out of sequence: it’s pay when you order, but I ordered, drank my coffee, then paid. They didn’t seem to mind. The room is dark, small - more wood panelling - with a chocolate and pastry counter, and pastel boxes lining the walls and covering a few small tables.

Boxed pastries at the counter in Marchesi Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, Milan. 
Boxed pastries at the counter in Marchesi Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, Milan

There are some sit-down tables in a back room, but I stood at the bar to drink espresso with the locals, delighted at my find.

Except it wasn’t really my discovery. The Prada Group bought the majority share of the Pasticceria Marchesi, which dates back to 1824, in 2014 before adding two additional locations in Milan.

The salon in the Marchesi Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, which is directly above the Prada store - Credit: AGOSTINO OSIO
The salon in the Marchesi Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, which is directly above the Prada store Credit: AGOSTINO OSIO

I’d even been to one of them, a bright, colourful, incredibly chic (and Instagrammable) tea room above the Prada store in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, in sight of the Duomo. So different is the interior that I hadn’t seen the link between the original and this more refined and polished addition.

Prada or not, visiting Pasticceria Marchesi has become one of my Milan Fashion Week traditions. I’ve taken colleagues and friends, though I often go alone. I always pick up box of something - fruit jellies for my mother, pralines for my sister.

The signature Pannetone - Credit: Prada
Marchesi's signature Pannetone Credit: Prada

Before I flew home from the shows last month, I stopped for three boxes of fresh bombolini, like tiny custard-filled donuts only not as greasy, and hid them under my coat during airport check-in.

It’s a moment of calm, and custard, in an otherwise busy city. And who wouldn’t want one of those?

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