Made here, every day
Our deck ovens are on by 6.30am. Pastries are laminated over three days, the sourdough is a fifteen-year-old starter, and nothing is bought in. If we sell it, we made it.
Est. 2019 · Orford Road
The shop that smelt of sawdust
We didn't set out to open a café. We set out to fix a problem: there was nowhere on the Village to get a properly baked croissant before nine. So we bought a knackered hardware shop, kept its old peg-board walls, and turned it into a bakery that opens early.
Our story
Built by bakers, for the neighbourhood
Maya and Sefu had spent a decade in London kitchens — her on the pastry section at a Marylebone hotel, him roasting for a Hackney coffee company — when the corner unit at 42 Orford Road came up. It had been an ironmonger's for sixty years and still had the original peg-board walls, brass scales and a smell of linseed oil. They kept all three.
The brief was simple: bake everything ourselves, source as close to E17 as we can, and treat the place like an extension of the street rather than a destination. The marigold in our name is for the window boxes that line Orford Road every summer; the crumb is, well, the whole point.
We're still independent, still family-run, and still proudly part of the Real Bread Campaign. Nothing comes out of a packet. The recipe card behind the counter is genuinely the one Maya's gran used.
What we believe
Three things we won't compromise on
Genuinely for everyone
Step-free, baby-change, water bowls at the door and a children's menu that isn't an afterthought. Dogs, prams and laptops are all welcome — there's free Wi-Fi and plenty of plug sockets.
Fair to our people
Every member of the team is paid the London Living Wage or above, tips are shared in full, and we close on Christmas and Boxing Day. Good coffee shouldn't come at someone else's expense.
Behind the counter
The people who get up early
Maya Osei
Co-founder & head baker
Ten years on hotel pastry sections before going it alone. Will judge your lamination, kindly.
Sefu Okafor
Co-founder & roaster
Roasts our beans on a vintage Probat in the back. Talks about extraction like other people talk about football.
Tom Fletcher
Head barista
Two-time London latte-art finalist and the patient soul who runs our Saturday morning classes.
Lena Halloran
Kitchen manager
Keeps brunch service calm and the specials board interesting. Champion of the weekday lunch crowd.
Proudly accredited
Speciality Coffee Association
Real Bread Campaign
5★ Food Hygiene Rating
London Living Wage employer
Locally roasted in E17
Pop in
Come and say hello
The kettle's always on. Book a table, join a class, or just wander in off Orford Road.