Bea's - One New Change EC4

I was in the vicinity of St Paul's today so decided to check out the new(ish) One New Change shopping centre and my main reaction...meh.  I am not a fan of these mall-type shopping centres and particularly next to the magnificence of St Paul's Cathedral.  Anyway - I'm sure it's lovely for the people who work there to have some concentrated retail therapy to occupy their lunch breaks.  Anyway, the best thing by far about this development is that there is a Bea's there (is it still Bea's of Bloomsbury if it's not in Bloomsbury?)  I am a HUGE fan of the original Bea's in Theobolds Road WC1 and so as far as I'm concerned the more Bea's (and also bees) there are in the world the better.  In fact Bea - how about SW18?  Hmmm?  As much as all the food at Bea's looks delicious I can never go past their version of the red velvet cupcake - not as sickly sweet as Hummingbird and the like, these babies are cup cake perfection and the Square Mile flat white I had with it was spot on.  I sat staring out at a corner of St Paul's and decided that whilst One New Change was pretty naff, the fact it's provided a new home for Bea's makes it a winner in my book.

Bea's of Bloomsbury WC1 (Bloomsbury Pt.2)

I had walked past Bea's of Bloomsbury several times and lusted after the cakes in the window but until recently had never been inside.  To a greedy fella like me, being confronted by a towering display of cup cakes, brownies and biscuits as soon as you walk in to a shop is an instant winner.  I ordered a strong latte which was actually really good (I had not expected too much from the coffee in my Aussie coffee-snob way) and made with obvious expertise (the fern leaf in the milk is always a good sign).  To go with it I had my first ever "blondie" - oh man, it was good.  It was super sweet and if you're not into white chocolate (which is what distinguishes them from brownies) then you'll hate these.  I on the other hand have always had white chocolate as a guilty pleasure, stuffing my face with Milky Bars when no-one was looking (the good thing is that now that Green & Blacks do a vanilla pod-flecked white chocolate bar I can come out of the white chocolate closet).  So I have no idea why I hadn't had a blondie before, but the important thing is now I have and I'm hooked.  The lunchtime food looked really good too - but I was in a hurry so didn't sample.  Rest assured worried readers, I will be back to test the savoury treats that Bea's has on offer - followed up by another blondie of course...