Books for Cooks features cookbooks from around the world. Various recipes from the pages of the books are made daily in the test kitchen located in the rear of the store and served as lunch in the small café. The daily menu is posted on Twitter (now called X).

With an inventory of more than 8,000 books, titles include books on foodie fiction, history, biography, nutrition, art, sociology and chemistry as well as a vast array of recipe cookbooks on every type of international cuisine.

Books for Cooks was founded in 1983 by Heidi Lascelles, who upon her retirement passed the baton to Rosie Kindersley and Eric Treuille.

"Food here is not just something to be perused in books, it is something to be cooked, eaten and enjoyed. We can then really champion the books in which we know the recipes really work."