18b Station Lane, Hornchurch, Essex, RM12 6NJ.      01708 472121

We drove to Hornchurch and I spotted a windmill on the way, which I duly pointed out to everyone else in the car. I like windmills, I think that may have come up before, and so I have no excuse for the full half hour it took me to realise that ‘Le Moulin’ was French for windmill and that the name of this cafe was probably a reference to the nearby windmill. Not only that, but there was a model windmill made out of biscuits on the counter and I still didn’t get it. I’m sorry. In my defence I will say that I’d only had one cup of tea that morning and it wasn’t until I’d finished my pot at Le Moulin that I was awake enough to spot this connection.

My sleepiness aside, this is a great place. The cakes, oh the cakes! Le Moulin is a family run French patisserie and there is a window into the bakery bit at the back where you can see them making things. The array of cakes and pastries was mouthwatering, but we were all trying to be good so we didn’t have any. There was willpower involved but we did it. I’d love to go back and try the cakes sometime.