10 Best Bakery and Baked Food Destinations in Melbourne
Written by David Hagger, client on .
The World Loves Melbourne has combed Melbourne for the best bakeries in Melbourne. We are still on our search so please let us know if we've missed anything.
Here are our favourite bakeries in Melbourne -
Tivoli Road Bakery - South Yarra
Bossy Boots Cafe - Brighton
Sourdough Kitchen - Seddon
Pure Pie - Port Melbourne
Noisette - Port Melbourne
Candied Bakery - Spotswood
Rustica Sourdough - Fitzroy, various
Chez Dre - South Melbourne
5 & Dime - CBD
Phillippa's - Armadale
A1 Bakery - Dandenong
Tivoli Road Bakery
Tivoli Road Bakery is an institution in Melbourne in the fine suburb of South Yarra.
Come here for top notch breads, croissants, danishes, brownies, and unbelievable doughnuts. For us we can't go past the pies and sausage rolls; flaky and gourmet and among the best in Melbourne. And the gourmet sandwiches are next level.
Coffee is great and soups excite. The place gets packed around lunchtimes with nearby corporate creative descending. The bakery has a fun atmosphere and you know you're in the presence of quality all the way.
Bossy Boots Cafe - Brighton
Bossy Boots cafe is a revelation to The World Loves Melbourne, being super popular and iconic with Brighton locals and now fast growing in its gourmet take home food offerings.Bossy Boots café is the masterstroke of Melbourne chefs Ben Forehan and Rachael Browne who have taken their cooking talents working at notable Melbourne kitchens such as Stokehouse, Circa and Dench Bakers, and 10 years cooking to the rich and famous on super yachts, to create a unique foodie haven in Brighton. The World Loves Melbourne has been raving about the baked goods here. The sausage roll has the best pastry of all the sausage rolls we sampled in Melbourne, with full butter puff flaky pastry from the dedicated pastry chef. Balance and overall impression is first class, and this is a contender for best sausage roll in Melbourne.
Check out the amazing swirl and the puff on the pastry (compared to other institutions in this article it's a clear winner)...
Bossy Boots also lays claim to best pies, cakes, vanilla slices and quiches in Melbourne.
Sourdough Kitchen - Seddon
Sourdough Kitchen is a charming cafe in Seddon with vintage style decor and ambience. Known for their epic bakery products, they didn't disappoint upon our visit.
Sourdough Kitchen charms with its simple but high quality baked good offerings. The little touches are in place and it serves it's sausage rolls with a killer chutney.
Grab a house made loaf of bread from a wide range including Rye, Olive, Multigrain and others (image credit below: Sourdough Kitchen Facebook).
Sourdough Kitchen serves up some of the best sausage rolls in Melbourne, and check out their scrolls and croissants.
Pure Pie - Port Melbourne
Pure Pie is an attractive bakery shop in Port Melbourne, serving up some of our cities' finest pies and sausage rolls. This cafe bakery has an almost vintage hipster vibe and specialises in bakery products.
Pure Pie served us this Sausage Roll with Pork, Apple and Fennel. The pastry was first class - buttery and flaky, with whole butter puff. The filling was superb featuring free range Otway pork, apple and fennel (fennel seeds on top) combining perfectly. Onion and garlic were also a feature, with sausage mince used to hold the sausage roll together. The size was reasonable and the overall balance superb.
Check out the compelling pies and sausage rolls, vanilla crust jam tarts and stunning cakes...
Pure Pie serves up its pies and sausage rolls in a cardboard box, with several sauces available at the tables.
Noisette - Port Melbourne
Noisette is undoubtably one of the best bakeries in Melbourne, with a plethora of high class items. We get the impression they supply the buns for some of Melbourne's best burgers. Bay St in Port Melbourne is like a "bakery belt" - high quality bakeries in a cluster.
Noisette is one of Melbourne's best for bakery products. French style baked goods of the highest quality are on display with long glass display cabinets compelling. Choose from the breads, mini desserts, cakes and pies and sausage rolls.
Image credit below: Noisette Facebook.
Candied Bakery - Spotswood
Candied Bakery is a bakery sensation in Spotswood and another success in the West. Having spent time in the west for work, Candied Bakery was a regular feature for The World Loves Melbourne. This place hums with quality, style and imagination. Candied Bakery is about nuances with quality ingredients and friendly interesting spaces to dine and imbibe. Candied Bakery turns the staid quaint bakery concept on its head with its modern offerings and fit out.
The Candied Bakery concept has been influenced by bakeries, food and flavours encountered by Toula and Orlando on trips to the USA and Europe. The most influential being a trip to New York City and San Francisco in 2011.
While in NYC and San Francisco, Toula and Orlando experienced top-notch ‘fast food’ at bakeries, milkbars, diners and food trucks that was tasty, inventive and didn’t cost the earth. Toula and Orlando were impressed by the combination of fresh ingredients and fresh ideas, including the melding of food styles and flavours at the ‘fast food’ end of the market.
Inspired by their experience, Toula and Orlando decided it was time to re-work known and loved Australian classics while tempting their customers tastebuds with some of their U.S and European favourites.
Similarities between the Sugardough product offering and the Candied Bakery menu are the top quality staples that Sugardough became well-known for – organic bread, pies and pastries. Among Candied Bakery’s signature products is Orlando’s Aussie meat pie. Not only is it made with 100% organic grass-fed beef, it is made from scratch - a rarity in most commercial bakeries.“It’s a classic meat pie using top quality organic beef. We wanted simple and delicious, and we wanted to use all natural ingredients”, say Orlando.
Candied Bakery also gets you going with doughnuts that excite more than bring guilt. Italian custard that will make you groan. These ended up being a treat for the office staff - beats the usual drab office cakes.
Another Candied Bakery signature product, and a favourite from Toula and Orlando’s NYC trip, is the Apple Pie Shake – essentially a slice of apple pie in milk, blended. “We loved them when we tried them in New York and we thought, ‘We’re a bakery, we make pies, why not a pie shake?”, says Orlando. Driven by being the best at what they do, Orlando and Toula hope to achieve the same success they had with their first bakery, Sugardough. Reflecting on their time at Sugardough Toula says, “the best part was working hard, and being rewarded with a line of customers out the front on weekends”. Orlando agrees, “There is nothing more satisfying than seeing customers enjoying food you have created.”
Candied Bakery stimulates with its catchy displays of product. The difficulty is in the choosing. Candied Bakery is famous for its hot cross buns - close to Easter they are hard to get such is the demand.
The coffee is also excellent at Candied Bakery. And don't forget the organic bakery bread!
We enjoyed the Croque Monsieur at Candied Bakery - one of the best we've had in Melbourne. For a start the bread was superb - one assumes made on site.
Candied Bakery is well worth a visit (and will probably become a regular destination once you sample their bakery goodness). From experience its worth visiting earlier in the day when delicacies are in supply (can be sold out).
Candied Bakery is a treasure house of bakery treats and killer shakes.
Check out the high quality treats behind the cabinet...
Candies Bakery makes some of the best pies and sausage rolls in Melbourne.
The bread at Candied Bakery is also a sensation.Highly recommended.
Rustica - Fitzroy, Hawthorn and other
Rustica Sourdough is a sublime artisan breadmaker and bakery on Brunswick Street that is surely a standout in Melbourne.
Come here for a superb cafe/restaurant experience as well as some of the best bread in Melbourne, as baked by Brenton Lang (ex Phillipa's) and his team. Rustica Sourdough serves up a cracker breakfast or lunch with a menu brimming with foodie options. I was invited here to sample some of the wares.
The breads at Rustica Sourdough are top class. I think I'll grab a Rustica loaf anytime I can get to Brunswick Street. I've savoured every bite of the Seedy Wholewheat Sourdough loaf I took home after my visit and absolutely loved it. I'm not easily impressed by breads - in fact I rarely like a bread from a supermarket and most bakers don't impress me. The bread was so good with excellent density, a sweetness of honey to balance the wholewheat flavour, an intensity and variety of seeds including sesame, linseed, sunflower and pumpkin - that I didn't need anything on it to enjoy it. Needless to say however I also added some Salmon steaks on top of the bread and it was a killer combination.
The traditional Organic White sourdough was surprisingly light and airy, with a delicate sourdough flavour. I have to admit my love for butter and enjoyed this superb sourdough with loads of butter. This bread is versatile and great for sandwiches. The Roast Pumkin bread was sensational - the wonderful golden colour of the bread a result of the corn dough. Rustica use only fine ingredients including Japanese pumpkin for this soft and sweet bread. The Olive with fresh Basil was also a highlight featuring quality Mount Zero olives and freshly picked basil. My favourite was the Fig and Fennel - how good are those caramelised Turkish figs with aromatic fennel to create such a beautifully balanced bread.
Rustica Sourdough also features sensational gourmet options such as these cakes and gourmet rolls, not to mention gourmet pies and salads... More substantial meals include the Open steak sandwich, Wild rice salad with lamb backstrap, Warm roast chicken salad and a superb Pasta salad. Or treat yourself to a sharing plate of Marinated Mt Zero olives and sourdough.
Breakfast options are exciting including House Cured Salmon or the Black Rice Pudding...
Rustica Sourdough has a large back room operation with impressive state of the art equipment. Brenton is known for his wild yeast culture development and techniques and has over 10 years experience as an artisan baker.
Rustica Sourdough pours some great coffee from Roastcraft coffee... And the drinks list is extensive including beer and wine.
Chez Dre - South Melbourne
Chez Dre exudes a chic part industrial vibe with oodles of character and outstanding food and coffee to match. It’s again that nondescript entrance (off the laneway) that is so Melbourne. In a cool location on Coventry Street opposite the South Melbourne Markets this French influenced beauty is currently talk of the town.
Chez Dre is unpretentious letting the fresh produce and amazing pastries do the talking. The World Loves Melbourne was struck by the red concrete floor, the open kitchen with chefs in their white finery, the breathtaking counter with macaroons and pastries, large gourmet baguettes, and the lounges and retro tables.
Chez Dre shows what you can do with a warehouse in a great location and a passion to bring a great culinary experience. You can tell this place has an inspiring vision as the marks of excellence are everywhere. It’s a great patisserie but more than a patisserie. With several pastry chefs, the patisserie products are out of this world. Yet the coffee is also great and worth talking about. People rave about the baguettes in terms of freshness, quality of bread and gourmet fillings. With the market across the road, there is an awesome accessibility to fresh and seasonal ingredients.
Accolades should be given to Andrea (Dre) Reiss who is a skilful pastry chef in her own right, and who has brought this dream to fruition.
Melbourne loves an open kitchen, and Chez Dre has one of the best as the pastry chefs go to work. There’s some large spaces here at Chez Dre where other restaurants might crowd in some tables. Consideration for aesthetics at Chez Dre appears to be well considered. The roofing with exposed pipes points to an industrial theme.
You are drawn to the pastry cabinet and there’s justifiable excitement. This is no ordinary pastry cabinet. This is the result of gaining experience from the best in Europe. Eclairs, tarts, brioche, Danish. The list goes on.
The food is top class with one of the best breakfast menus in Melbourne. Come here for Fruit toast, Brioche French toast, Sweet crepes, Omelette Du Jour, Croque Monsieur or Croque Madame. Or if you’re extra hungry there’s the Breakfast Platter with smoked ham, gruyere cheese, boiled egg poached fruit, granola and yoghurt, raspberry jam, sweet sable, croissant and baguette. The Grand Petit Dejeuner is a massive but gourmet offering of poached eggs on sourdough, bacon, spicy herb lamb sausages, potatoes, sautéed mushrooms, smashed avocado with goats cheese, and tomato relish.
The coffee at Chez Dre is excellent, working over the Synesso with coffee roasted by the Maling Room (one of my favourites). The baguettes from 10am looked amazing and I will need to return to try one.
5 Dime & Bagel - CBD
5 Dime & Bagels has been a bagel sensation since it began supplying to a plethora of Melbourne cafes and farmers' markets, the masterstroke of Zev Forman (pictured above). The issue has been keeping up with demand. The good news is that 5 Dime & Bagels has set up in the Melbourne CBD with a dine in or take away cafe at the New York end of Flinders Lane. The World Loves Melbourne visited 5 Dime & Bagels one morning after a meeting and were pleasantly greeted when we came through the door. Katherine place just off Flinders Lane is in a precinct on the rise known as The Archway. Of their bagels, 5 Dime & Bagels say they are "traditional (ish)"! Here is what they say on their site, "Each of our bagels is hand crafted, boiled and baked using the traditional method. They are made from the best local ingredients. We use tradition as a guide, but are not bound by it. Expect great bagels with some new twists..." So it's Manhattan to Melbourne with a twist.
Patrick a barista and bagel afficiado engaged us and served us a superb latte using Promised Land Coffee from Collingwood. Here at 5 & Dime & Bagel you will also find Airpots of batch brew filter coffee of the highest quality which are supplied daily by Jonathon of Promised Land to businesses including 5 & Dime Bagel. This is taking specialty coffee to another level.
Patrick created a stunning House smoked Pastrami bagel with pickles and mustard for our enjoyment. The bagel itself was chewy and fresh (several times denser than bread) and the layers of house smoked pastrami were rewarding. The pickles and mustard gave extra kick to this awesome bagel. If we worked in this precinct (which we were at one stage) we would be visiting regularly to experience this bagel joy at an affordable price.
5 & Dime Bagel displays its 10 styles of bagel, with our favourites being the Dill and the Special Salty Garlic.
Creamy spreads and Vegan options abound... A simple but stunning lunch full of flavour and quality...
5 & Dime Bagel also serve up tasty sweet treats like this Scroll we imbibed.
The fit out by Brand Works and Beyond the Pixel is simple like an American Diner with a large window where you can see the staff at work baking and creating the bagels with their large machine from Canada...
5 & Dime Bagel is one of those standout businesses in Melbourne where the quality resonates. The bagels are not made in 5 minutes but sit for 24 hours as the starter then fermented for another 24 hours. The culture here is of a relaxed vibe and the staff are attentive and engaging. Get on it.
Phillippa's - Armadale
Phillippa's is one of our favourite bakeries in Melbourne, with several stores including the iconic Armadale store.
Phillippa's baked goods are top class.
A1 Bakery - Dandenong
A1 Bakery were the final stop and a destination of Lebanese joy in our food tour of Dandenong. A1 Bakery take great pride in serving traditional authentic Middle eastern and Lebanese food that delights the taste buds. They use the freshest ingredients to create delicious tasty pizzas, dips and sweets. Due to the large demand for Middle Eastern food products, A1 Bakery stock a large range of grocery products direct from all over the Middle East and Lebanon.
The three boys, Sam, Eddie and Leo Abdallah brought us amazing food and many laughs at a memorable stop. This Znoud el sit dessert with crispy pastry filled with clotted cream, topped with orange blossom jam and accompanied by cardamon.
A1 Bakery is a superb bakery resonating with authenticity, quality and charm.
