With a fashinably on trend name like Romeo’s Sugar Free Bakery, you would not be surprised to discover that it is on Upper Street in Islington. The diet-conscious Islingtonites would not expect anything less. The set-up is familiar enough, with appetising cakes and baked items displayed invitingly through their glass frontage that is bound to lure the most gym-hardened passerby inside.
The bakery has an earthy, homely feel with warm brick walls, plenty of foliage including beautiful lillies on the tables. There are plenty of chalkboards on display to reflect the seasonality of their produce.
You have to love a venue that promptly brings you tap water without trying to up sell you the more expensive bottled variety. It might appear to be a venue for takeaways but you feel equally comfortable sitting down enjoying their fantastic ingredients which are gluten-free, sugar-free, organic and made with locally sourced ingredients where possible.
We tried their eggs Florentine and the Romeo’s special, which had gluten-free bread, poached eggs, spinach and smoked salmon. There was not a single item that you would doubt its freshness for one second. The gluten-free bread was crunchy and firm, the spinach was farm fresh and the egg yolk golden and rich-tasting. Although it was slightly overcooked, so the yolks were less runny than they could have been. 
If you are not 100% awake, they do make strong and aromatic tasting americano. Alternatively, if you are ready for a healthy start to the day, then their thirst quenching green juice is the ideal beverage. It contains apple, mint, kale and cucumber.
Crepes are also a large part of their menu and is available over the weekends. They have both savoury and sweet options. We chose to share a cream cheese and berries crepe as a dessert course. What is particularly unusual is the fact they use organic Shipton Mill gluten-free buckwheat flour. It is a nutty-tasting flour that just feels incredibly healthy which we should all be trying more of even if we are not a coeliac. They had a high fruit to cream cheese ratio; so there was absolutely no guilty feelings at the end of the meal.
Romeo’s Sugar Free Bakery might be a trendsetter in London and I would not be surprised to see other bakeries following their lead.
baldwin@townfish.com