“Pastry is just the beginning,” Nargis Shaikh says, with a smile. The Hackney primary school teacher is one half of the couple behind Leyton’s new Middle Eastern bakery, Farha. With the hit shop just weeks old, Shaikh and her husband Umar Raza are busy planning the next stages: brunch or dinner, an outdoor terrace and possibly an adjoining interiors store. And everything under their single-word umbrella: Farha (Arabic for “joy”).
The bakery already attracts queues each weekend – but its “instant” success has been hard-earned. Converting the dilapidated, cavernous corner garage took an endurance-testing two years, as the couple battled issues with the building’s foundations, utilities and pipe work. And its isolated High Road location – not quite Leyton, not quite Stratford – means it has to be a destination to make the numbers work.
“We always set out to be not just another neighbourhood coffee shop,” Raza says, gazing out at leafy Drapers Field opposite. “Although that is of course important – we’re building a community. But we want somebody to wake up in west or north London and have a reason to say, ‘I’m happy to travel 45 minutes to go and try it.’”
And trying it Londoners are – in droves. A key draw is chef Vanessa Campanelli, formerly of Leyton’s famed Morny patisserie (which shut in 2023). Campanelli has since worked at Toklas, Fortitude and Cedric Grolet at The Berkeley, and her expertise is on show in creations like the za’atar cruffin with whipped feta and sumac pickled onion, and a whipped coffee ganache praline bun with dark chocolate glaze. A social media hit is the chai orange bun, a pillowy semi-brioche filled with vanilla and orange marmalade and chai-spiced custard. “It’s the item I’m most proud of,” says Campanelli. Savoury fans, meanwhile, are scrambling for the roasted aubergine danish drizzled with pomegranate molasses, the base layered with “smoky, homemade muhammara”.
Equally punchy is a drinks list conceived by barista Laura Metcalfe, who came third in the UK Brewers Cup 2025. Alongside a South American house blend, there are eight pour-over options, including Panama Geishas (a high-end, floral varietal) at £20 a pop.
The space reflects the pair’s roots. “Every decision has been to honour both Middle Eastern traditions and east London makers, marrying the two together,” says Raza. Furniture is built by a Leyton-based carpenter, with upholstery sourced from a small E10 business and ceramics by Kimberley Chan (San San). A visit to Fez resulted in the eye-catching hand-chiselled and -glazed zellige tiles on the counter, and the natural clay bejmat tiles lining the floor. The Egyptian sink was hand-carved from lava stone.
With stage one done, the pair is planning a flatbread menu and an extension into the back garage. “Our vision was never about just being a coffee shop,” says Shaikh. “Plus, this is a breeze compared to having 30 five-year-olds around you all at the same time.”
Stephen Emms writes a weekly Substack called Leytonstoner about the food and drink scene primarily in Leyton, Leytonstone, Stratford, Forest Gate and Walthamstow.
Farha
42 High Road, E15 2BP
Hours
Thu to Sat 8am–4pm
Sun 9am–4pm
