Last week I visited Tooting Bec to explore its speciality coffee scene, so it’s slightly annoying that today’s Coffee Spot, the delightful Dee Light Bakery, is actually in Balham, even though it’s closer to Tooting Bec station than it is to Balham station. Located in a parade of shops with flats above, it’s on the northern side of Ritherdon Road, just off the A24 which links Balham station (north) with Tooting Bec station (south).

Geography woes aside, Dee Light Bakery is very much a part of the neighbourhood and will be celebrating its 10^th birthday in November. First and foremost, it’s a bakery, with everything (except the bread) baked by hand on site. There’s a wide range of goodies on offer, from breakfast through to lunch and afternoon tea, plus lots of cakes and pastries on the side. This is all backed up by an espresso-based menu using the Allpress espresso blend, along with a wide range of teas from Canton Tea Co in Bristol. You can sit inside at a short row of tables opposite the counter, or outside, where you’ll find a spacious, sunny terrace in front of the bakery, which is well set back from the road.

You can read more of my thoughts after the gallery.

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Dee Light Bakery was opened in November 2011 by the eponymous Dee, who wanted to create a small slice of Australia in her adopted South West London home. Conceived as an interactive bakery, it’s always been a place where people can come to see the bakers at work, enabling them to ask questions. It’s also about transparency, so customers can see what goes into every product.

Long and thin, Dee Light Bakery is split into three parts: a café area at the front, the bakery in the middle, with a children’s play area and demonstration room at the back. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dee Light Bakery was busy every weekend, with children’s parties and baking demonstrations, but these days, you’re restricted to the café, which has received an overdue refurbishment, Dee taking advantage of the enforced COVID-19 closure. The bakery is still visible though, so you can watch the bakers at work if you want to. In that respect, it reminds me of the original Exploding Bakery or Hart’s Bakery, with the smell of baking filling the space.

Dee Light Bakery is on the northern side of the (relatively) quiet Ritherdon Road, part of a long parade of shops and cafés (which includes Knead a Little Love), all of which are set well back from the broad pavement. This leaves plenty of space for a row of large, outside terraces, with Dee Light Bakery separated from its neighbours and the pavement by low, brick walls.

The terrace has five tables in all, three on left, two on right, each with a pair of chairs, except the back two, which have benches in front of the windows, one each side of the central door. These two tables also benefit from the large, retractable awning that extends from the front of the bakery. Finally, you can sit on the two walls at the front, which have padded tops (in case the idea of sitting on a brick wall doesn’t appeal).

Looking at Dee Light Bakery, the coffee is on the left, its La Marzocco Linea and Mazzer grinders clearly visible through the window, while on the right, loaves of bread and other groceries tempt you (although by the time I got there, at one o’clock, it had almost all sold out). The central door is slightly above the level of the terrace, although an almost imperceptible concrete ramp makes access easy.

Inside, there’s a large counter on the left, with the seating, a row of three tables (two four-person ones at the front and a two-person table at the back) opposite on the right. The counter is loaded with goodies, both sweet and savoury, while you order and pay at the back of the counter, where you’ll find stacks of Australian produce for sale, including Tim Tams and other Arnott’s biscuits. There’s also vegemite and a small range of Australian beers.

Dee Light Bakery has a range of breakfast and lunch savouries which are on sale until they’re all gone. This includes wraps and pastries (breakfast) plus toasties, sausage rolls and quiche (lunch), although there’s no kitchen per se, as Dee doesn’t want the smell of cooking competing with the smell of baking.

I was there in the afternoon, having had brunch at Green Monkey, so settled for a cortado and a Bakewell slice. My cortado was served in an oversized cup, providing the perfect ratio of coffee to milk, the Allpress espresso blend producing a strong, smooth drink. The Bakewell tart, in contrast, was sweet, with a crumbly pastry base and soft, moist sponge, the perfect companion to my coffee.

If you liked this Coffee Spot, then check out the rest of London’s speciality coffee scene with the Coffee Spot Guide to London.

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