“Should we open a cafe lol?”
That was the text Cecily Dalladay sent Zoë Heimann a few months back. Now, Bara – a Welsh-focused bakery and cafe tucked into a leafy market street that links two of Peckham’s busiest corridors, Rye Lane and Bellenden Road – has been born. It's a petite spot behind a dark-green facade, split into two: a takeaway counter on one side and a dining-in area on the other.
The pair met in Brixton, where Welsh-born Dalladay was running Gma’s Community Kitchen, a grassroots project supporting refugees and asylum seekers. London-born Heimann answered a callout for chefs put out by the programme, and she joined Dalladay to cook healthy ready meals for young carers and people hit hardest by the cost-of-living crisis. Long prep days turned into friendship, and both were at a point of change. Heimann was ready to leave her role as head chef at Pique Cafe in Battersea, while Dalladay had grown tired of working as a private chef for wealthy households.
The concept for Bara – which is the Welsh word for bread – is rooted in the duo’s mutual love of bread and is an ode to Dalladay’s Welsh background. Inspiration has been taken from Dalladay’s grandma’s Welsh Gas Board cookbook from the 1950s, which is filled with her annotations, notes and illustrations; the pair have incorporated these into the cafe’s branding.
“The recipes were simple and hearty, and it just felt right to run with it,” they say. “Bread is such a universal and humble concept; every culture and country has some version of bread, and its simplicity can bring people together. Bread is more our ode to community and connection.”
All the bread, including focaccia for sandwiches, sesame rolls, toasts, pancakes and baked specials, is made on site using regenerative flour from Wildfarmed. The menu changes with the seasons and shows influences from both chefs. Not every dish is traditionally Welsh, but ingredients such as laverbread, leeks and cockles are used in ways beyond the expected. A weekday breakfast counter offers Welsh classics such as bara brith (a traditional fruity tea cake), and leek bubble and squeak with egg and cheese on focaccia.
Sandwiches are at the heart of the weekday lunch and weekend brunch menus. A highlight is the Caerphilly cheesesteak with eight-hour smoked Welsh beef brisket, Caerphilly cheese and leeks from Welsh supplier Blas Y Tir. On Saturdays, there’s a Pembrokeshire lobster roll with poached Câr-y-Môr lobster in bisque mayonnaise. Ultimately, the pair wants to showcase the abundance of Welsh produce and cuisine beyond the obvious.
“People would immediately jump to cawl or Welsh cakes, but to be honest, I didn’t eat either of those things very much growing up, and I don’t know many people who did,” Dalladay explains. “Having aspects of traditional Welsh ingredients shows the versatility of these underused ingredients.”
There has been growing interest in recent years in recognising regional Welsh products, from Caerphilly cheese to Welsh lamb and Pembrokeshire oysters. Bara sits within that shift by working with small producers whose work often remains local to Wales.
“We feel it is important to support these producers who are working so hard to change the food landscape in Wales and the UK,” they explain. “We’re really excited to be working with suppliers that are making a difference, [like] Câr-y-Môr, a community-owned initiative striving to regenerate the coastal communities in Pembrokeshire.”
The drinks follow a similar approach, with coffee from Ammanford-based Coaltown Coffee Roasters, which is bringing new life to a former mining town; Tiny Rebel beer from Newport; traditional-method Welsh sparkling wine from Velfrey Wines; and Welsh still water. Bara also stocks Gaza Cola.
In the evenings, Bara plans to host guest chefs and offer the space at reduced rates to local non-profit groups. Once established, the team hopes to introduce an entry-to-work scheme for people who face barriers to employment, including asylum seekers who have the legal right to work. Surplus food will be redistributed locally, and vouchers will help keep the cafe accessible. The project reflects how Dalladay and Heimann first worked together in community kitchens, and they hope that people begin to see Welsh food beyond a narrow set of references.
“Wales doesn't seem to have as good PR as our fellow Celtic counterparts, which is a real shame because Wales is so much more than Gavin and Stacey and Tom Jones,” they explain. “It’s so rich, beautiful and full of history. We hate it when people don’t know that about Wales.”
Bara
44–46 Choumert Road, SE15 4SE
Hours:
Wed to Fri 7.30am–4.30pm
Sat 8.30am–5pm
Sun 8.30am–4pm
