Shame on you if you were one of the pretenders who followed the latest fad for lockdown sourdough. How certain were you that you'd fare in a city where the best croissant in the world was named by The New York Times? It's true that Victoria has a lot of impressive, world-famous achievements under its belt, but the fact that it's home to some of the finest bakeries in Australia is something to be especially proud of, especially given the city of Melbourne's reputation for being a foodie mecca.
Making sourdough, and bread in general, takes a lot of time and effort. Making a moist loaf, faultless crust, or caramelised bun can be a time-consuming procedure that takes up to a week of kneading, resting, and folding the dough. What's more, bakers have to endure horrible alarm clocks every morning as a cost of doing business.
Listed below are some of Melbourne's finest bakeries and pastry shops, as determined by us.
Best Melbourne Bakeries
The humble loaf has plenty of company among the crusty baguette and ciabatta. Finding a good boulangerie from a bad one might be a challenge. Culture Trip literally ate their way throughout Melbourne to bring you this definitive guide of the city's finest bakeries.
Baker Bleu
Attica, Cutler & Co., and the Carlton Wine Room often place orders for Baker Bleu's bread because of how good it is. Baker Bleu is known for its high-hydration, long-fermented, highly caramelised loaves, which often overshadow the bakery's exceptional viennoiserie. There may be a sign on the door saying the store is open until 3, but it's not unusual for merchandise to sell out earlier.
As luck would have it, word got out that this inconspicuous Elsternwick bakery was actually Attica's clandestine provider, and the entire business was compelled to go public with a big 400 square metre expansion in nearby Caulfield.
Even though they're producing twice as much, the queues for their fresh bagels, challah brioche, and 18-hour fermented sourdough are absurd. Despite the difficulties of maintaining its status as Melbourne's best bakery, Baker Bleu has persisted.
Mister Nice Guy’s Bakeshop
If you have food allergies, look no further than Mister Nice Guy Bakeshop. All of their baked goods are free of common allergens including eggs, dairy, lactose, cochineal, and gelatine, and they also offer selections that are soy-free, gluten-free, wheat-free, corn-free, fructose-friendly, and low gi.
They advocate for raising public awareness of the foods we knowingly put into our bodies and maintain that any ingredient required for a dish can be sourced without harming animals and improved upon. Similar to our fantastic baked delights!
Lune Croissanterie
The popularity of Lune Croissanterie, which was included on Gourmet Traveller's list of "Melbourne's Cult Sweets," is evidenced by the lengthy lines that form outside the shop every Saturday and Sunday.
It's well worth getting up at an obscene hour for, if only to get your hands on one of their pastries before they sell out. Each of their croissants is baked to a golden crispness in a facility specifically designed for the task. Lune's menu features a wide variety of baked goods, including the classic French pastries such as croissants and pain au chocolat as well as more unique options like lemon curd cruffins and twice-baked croissants.
Wild Life Bakery
WildLife Bakery's sourdough, with its crunchy, rich caramel crust, is like going to church on bread. The locals flock here to get their morning fix of the intense, chewy crumb, which is great with a smear of miso butter or a dip in the harissa-heavy shakshouka.
They also take lunch with them, which consists of wonderful, hearty baguettes and sandwiches you wish would never end. The thick, massive faces of the toasties that arrive succeed in their job of melting the quantity of sweet and nutty Comté inside, which is encased in a bed of breaded onion that has been doused in Worcestershire sauce.
Meanwhile, traditional salad sammies get a modern makeover when stuffed within chewy sourdough baguettes, boosted by the zing of pickled carrot, and tempered with soft avo and roast beetroot. We are moved by the fruit bread. Quenelles of silky mascarpone and spoonable lemon curd elevate this from its modest rank on the café menu, while plump gems of raisin, apricot, and whole dates shimmer in the cross-section.
The gorgeous brown rice congee with a topaz-yolked soy egg, kale furikake, and pickled mushrooms is the only dish that doesn't quite reach the heights of rapture. Although tasty, it lacks a hearty stock flavour. Its worst offence may, however, be that it exists alongside more impressive entities. These malty crusts, whether they're fresh or toasted, have a crunch so loud and a crumb so elastic that eating them too quickly can damage your taste buds and jaws.
You can wash down your snacks with some of the best coffee in town from Market Lane, some Mörk hot chocolate, some sticky chai, or even some La Sirène Saison from a can. Few customers get it to the register without also scavenging the front counter, which is neatly stacked with whole loaves, croissants, and rustic cakes like rosella wheat carrot and Khorasan fruit sponge. This broad, once-warehouse mechanic's in Brunswick East is now filled with brushed cement and thinly silhouetted furniture, all bathed in the moonlight glow of suspended globes. Because of the room's two enormous circular windows, guests may enjoy an aquarium-like panorama of the cooking area. However, the plate at this shrine to sourdough is where the baker and the eater share the most intimate moment of connection.
Rustica Sourdough
If you're in the market for artisan bread, go no farther than Brenton Lang's 2012 establishment, Rustica Sourdough. Rustica's sourdough selection is atypical, with flavours including quinoa, soy, and linseed, apricot, date, and walnut, and vine fruit, and rosemary.
An all-day café serves brunch all day long, with options like eggs benedict with lobster and charcoal brioche, French-toasted hot cross buns, and a breakfast salad with heated oats. We at Rustica Sourdough believe in the importance of using environmentally friendly farming methods.
FAQs Best Bakeries In Melbourne
The success of any bakery, whether a home-based or commercial operation, hinges largely on the quality of the products. Creating a niche for your bakeries, such as stunning cakes or unusual pastries, can help set you apart and build a loyal customer base.
Cakes represent the largest portion of total bakery sales at 24 per cent, followed by cookies 12 per cent, bread/rolls 11 per cent, cupcakes 8 per cent, sandwiches/wraps 6 per cent, and yeast-raised doughnuts and beverages tied at 5 per cent.
New product success varied by type of operation. For full-line retail bakeries, cakes ranked first, followed by bread and cookies. New cake products included cake slices, individual celebration cakes, cake pops, seasonal cakes, and specialty cake fillings.
Opportunities and threats are factors not influenced by the bakery. For example, a competitor opening across the street is one of the threats of a bakery, while a decrease in the price of flour is an opportunity. The City of College of San Francisco has published several analyses on its website, including one for a bakery, which may guide your thinking.
While sweet treats and savoury delights are always tempting, bread loaves and bread rolls are some of the best-selling bakery products. Some of these best selling bread items include: White dinner rolls.
The most profitable items for most bakeries are cakes, cookies and bread are also very profitable for most businesses. As for new and experimental products, their success tends to vary from one type of bakery to another.
Falco Bakery
Even if Rockwell and Sons is no longer with us, its co-owners agree that a shakeup was long overdue. This space is now occupied by Falco Bakery, which, like its predecessor, places an emphasis on classic baking methods with a few modern twists to honour the heritage of its Collingwood neighbourhood.
Falco will use locally produced ingredients with a focus on the seasons, much like Michael Bascetta, Manu Potosi, and Casey Wall's other establishments, Bar Liberty and Capitano. Flour from Wholegrain Milling in New South Wales and Powlett Hill in Victoria, chocolate from Birdsnake, and milk from Saint David's Dairy.
Christine Tan, the newest member of their team, will be making all of the sourdough, buns, and other baked items from scratch. Tan worked as the chief baker for Loafer in North Fitzroy after spending a year at the acclaimed Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. In addition to fresh, sourdough loaves, you can also get vegan chocolate brownies, sourdough English muffins, hot pies, and sandwiches, and wash them down with Falco's coffee, roasted right there in the shop.
Who wants to be right if the Made Well Group (Bar Liberty and Capitano) fails in their foray into artisanal baking with small batches? First-year success as the winner of Melbourne's best hot cross bun contest speaks volumes. However, the daily burger choices on golden caramel brioche buns can't compare to the ever-present buttermilk English muffins or the Rockwell pie (called after the site's past life as Rockwell & Sons).
Q Le Baker
This artisanal bakery is known for its healthful and flavorful whole wheat sourdough bread and pastries. For its baked goods, Q Le Baker relies on locally milled flours from Rolling Stone Mill and Laucke Flour Mills for their rye, spelt, and Khorasan varieties. Baker Quinten Berthonneau, whose resume includes stints at illustrious establishments like Vue De Monde and Chez Dre, purchases the fillings for his meat pies, sandwiches, and desserts from other sellers at the Prahran Market.
When Quentin Berthonneau and Marion David claim ownership of a prime section of Prahran Market, they are making a bold statement. Both partners are highly accomplished chefs; between them, they've opened Vue de Monde, Chez Dre, and Baker D.Chirico. Q le Baker's menu may have exotic options like chocolate sourdough, but when you can get baguettes that rival those sold in French boulangeries, there's really no need to stray from the standards.
All Are Welcome
The building that now houses All Are Welcome used to house a Christian Science reading room, which is where the restaurant got its name. Boris Portnoy, owner and baker, designed All Are Welcome with an open kitchen so that visitors can see the bakers at work as they purchase goodies.
Before settling in Melbourne and opening his bakery, Portnoy was the chief pastry chef at The Restaurant at Meadowood, a three-Michelin star establishment in the Napa Valley. Flatbreads, viennoiserie, and the Georgian cheese-filled bread khachapuri will be available, along with seeded and rye sourdoughs.
Wood frog Bakery
Wood frog has discreetly expanded from their original St. Kilda bakery to nine additional locations, all of which sell their hand-sharpened, naturally leavened, 28-hour soir, fruit, spelt, pumpkin, and olive loaves made from a starter that's eight years old.
If you're looking for hot cross buns at Easter, you should probably pre-order them to guarantee yourself some.
Loafer Bread
Loafer Bread is our go-to because it satisfies both our carbohydrate cravings and our need to feel morally superior. From the Gippsland meat used in the pies to the certified organic stone-milled flours, raisins, and grains in every loaf and cookie, they only utilise local, organic, and biodynamic products. The Slow Poke and the Cheshire, both eco-friendly cafes, rely on the Fitzroy North bakery for its ethically sourced baked goods.
Whether it's a mixed box of their buttery shortbread biscuits, a kerbside table with fair trade coffee, or a layered butter croissant with the densest nut population of any walnut and cinnamon scroll in town, we're all about it. Don't waste time sleeping in; pastries sell like hotcakes first thing in the morning.
Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses
Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses was founded and is still run today by members of the same family. The 1800s mark the beginning of their long and illustrious history. The Fergusons and the Plarres came to Australia from Europe about a century and a half ago.
Both the Ferguson and the Plarre families became well-known in Melbourne after starting their stories in the city's northern and western districts in the year 1901.
To Be Frank Bakery
The establishment is an artisan bakery, and it can be found in a quiet side street just off Collingwood's main strip. Long, natural fermentation is used to create the loaves at To Be Frank, utilising only organic or sustainably produced ingredients.
Produce from places like Demeter Biodynamic Co (VIC), Wholegrain Milling Co (NSW), Frattali Olive Oil (VIC), and Dalhousie Farm Eggs (VIC); breads like baguettes, fougasse, rye sourdoughs, and focaccia; pastries like fruit tarts, croissants, and escargots; (VIC).
To Be Frank with Lauren Parsons' head baker Franco Villalva, who formerly worked in the kitchens of European restaurants and Bacash, has designed an open-format warehouse where customers can observe their bread being made from start to finish.
Burnham Bakery and Piggery Café
The chef-owner of Vue De Monde appears to make boiling pots of something his life's work. He may have finally done it this time, with the establishment of a true theme park for food aficionados in the Dandenongs. The Nicholas family constructed the stunning 22-hectare Burnham Beeches in the 1930s.
By the year 2018, visitors to the gorgeous cream home can also rent a dog for truffling and obtain a room discount by weeding the vegetable garden. The romance agenda also includes Croquet and brewery tours, but for the time being, you'll just have to settle for buying bread and brunching at the Piggery, a commercial bakery and café.
Charcoal chicken is a $28 bargain for a family of four if you're looking for something other than buns to eat because of your excessive hunger. Half of a bird is grilled over charcoal out front, then sliced into large, juicy portions and served with a pile of golden chicken nuggets, a dollop of tartare sauce, and a side of salads.
Wild greens and entire globe artichokes folded in a caper-parsley vinaigrette and a freshly blitzed cauliflower salad packed with cumin seeds and chickpeas are the salad toppings on the day of our visit. Salads, however, may easily serve as a meal in themselves. Or run out of sweets. Daily after lunch, a massive buffet is set out in celebration of afternoon tea. This includes a variety of hot appetisers from the kitchen, followed by fruit scones, soft-centered pistachio cakes, rich orange and almond frangipane tarts, and Lamingtons. If you're not driving, you can get a glass of Pol Roger Champagne with your meal for an extra $40. Nonetheless, the presence of barista Trent Heffer (ex-Silo) provides the Five Senses beans with ample thrust.
Rustic concrete walls, vine-covered silo turrets, and waitstaff in denim and plaid make you want to detest the place. There's also a biofuel bread truck, a herd of rescued emus, and a composting dehydrator. The family in identical vests who are taking a selfie in front of our building really irritates us. Burnham Beeches is worth the short trek if you like a nice crust and Downton Abbey–style opulence with an added eco-bend, despite the presence of huffy Toorak mothers and rampant Instagrammers.
Tivoli Road Bakery
After working at Baker D Chirico, Vue de monde, and Cutler & Co., husband-and-wife combination Michael and Pippa James established Tivoli Road Bakery in 2013.
Stone-ground sourdough, fruit and olive bread, and Turkish bread are just a few examples of the traditional breads that have been prepared here. You can get oat soda bread, 100% rye sourdough, and treacle bread on the weekends. Tivoli also bakes traditional Australian fare like pies, sausage buns, and pasties, in addition to a selection of Viennoise pastries.
Noisette
David Menard, a fifth-generation baker, created Noisette to bring the rustic flavours of the French countryside to the people of Melbourne. The pastry case is stuffed with macarons and croissants in every colour of the spectrum. You can see the various types of bread that are available, such as baguettes, brioche, multigrain, rye, and wholemeal loaves, all placed neatly behind the counter. If a store has locations in both Bentleigh and Port Melbourne, then you have twice as many opportunities for retail therapy to choose from.
Baker D. Chirico
The magnificent interior of Baker D. Chirico was designed by March Studio to evoke the shape of a breadbasket, complete with undulating wooden slats that double as shelves.
Savory pastries, beef pies, fruit buns, and seductive nougat are just some of the offerings, but it's the sourdough loaves that keep people coming back for more.
Rustica Sourdough
If you're in the market for artisan bread, go no farther than Brenton Lang's 2012 establishment, Rustica Sourdough. Rustica's sourdough selection is atypical, with flavours including quinoa, soy, and linseed, apricot, date, and walnut, and vine fruit, and rosemary.
An all-day café serves brunch all day long, with options like eggs benedict with lobster and charcoal brioche, French-toasted hot cross buns, and a breakfast salad with heated oats. We at Rustica Sourdough believe in the importance of using environmentally friendly farming methods.
Penny for Pound
Inviting aromas of butter waft from the tiny pastel jewel hidden behind MayDay Coffee on Bridge Road.
To pair a certain country with sourdough and mouthwatering cruffins is nothing short of an ingenious use of the croissant. On the other hand, the Reuben croissant—stuffed with pastrami, sauerkraut, cheese, Russian dressing, and a pickle—must surely reign as king of the croissants. Toasted just enough to perfection.
All Are Welcome
One of Melbourne's finest brews (brewed by Boris Portnoy, a former three-Michelin-star pastry chef), and the Northcote Christian Science Reading Room (Everyday Coffee). Due to unprecedented demand, the All Are Welcome community has expanded to a second location in Thornbury.
Choosing between the basic sourdough loaf, the sesame and honey braid, the morning bun, and Portnoy's own Gianduja Babka Bun might be challenging. In spite of the fact that it's natural to worry about making a decision, you shouldn't allow that stop you from checking out All Are Welcome, widely considered to be one of Melbourne's greatest bakeries.
Bread Club
Perhaps no other baking shop prioritises its Soundcloud over its famous pies and ever-changing sangas. Tim Beylie and Brice Antier, both of France, come from illustrious backgrounds (formerly working at Vue du Monde, Woodford Bakery, and Baker D. Chirico) but have successfully broken into a new market.
If you're in the area, stop by for some tasty sweets and stay for the great tunes. Cheese and bacon 'fougasse' is the perfect way to sober up after Sunday DJ sessions at the bakery. A recent drive-by confirmed the near-completion of their new fit-out in Albert Park, which features their typical nasty mint green marble island.
Conclusion
Culture Trip picks the best bakeries and pastry shops in Melbourne. The city has a reputation for being a foodie mecca, and these bakeries are no exception. From bagels to sourdough loaves, we've put you through the paces at some of Melbourne's finest bakeries. Lune Croissanterie was included on Gourmet Traveller's list of "Melbourne's Cult Sweets". Their croissants are baked to a golden crispness in a facility specifically designed for the task.
Wild Life Bakery's sourdough is like going to church on bread. An all-day café serves brunch all day long, with options like lobster and charcoal brioche. Rustica Sourdough's selection of sourdough flavours includes quinoa, soy, and linseed. Falco Bakery places an emphasis on classic baking methods with a few modern twists. Q le Baker's baguettes rival those in French boulangeries.
Wood frog Bakery has expanded from their original St. Kilda location. Boris Portnoy designed All Are Welcome with an open kitchen so that visitors can see the bakers at work. Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses, To Be Frank Bakery and Vue De Monde are some of Melbourne's best-known bakeries. The Fitzroy North bakery is run by members of the same family since the 1800s. They only utilise local, organic, and biodynamic products in their baked goods.
If you're not driving, you can get a glass of Pol Roger Champagne with your meal for an extra $40. If you're in the market for artisan bread, go no farther than Brenton Lang's Rustica sourdough. All Are Welcome has expanded to a second location in Thornbury, while Bread Club is renowned for its pies and ever-changing sangas.
Content Summary
- How certain were you that you'd fare in a city where the best croissant in the world was named by The New York Times?
- It's true that Victoria has a lot of impressive, world-famous achievements under its belt, but the fact that it's home to some of the finest bakeries in Australia is something to be especially proud of, especially given the city of Melbourne's reputation for being a foodie mecca.
- Making sourdough, and bread in general, takes a lot of time and effort.
- Making a moist loaf, faultless crust, or caramelised bun can be a time-consuming procedure that takes up to a week of kneading, resting, and folding the dough.
- What's more, bakers have to endure horrible alarm clocks every morning as a cost of doing business.
- Listed below are some of Melbourne's finest bakeries and pastry shops, as determined by us.
- Best Melbourne Bakeries The humble loaf has plenty of company among the crusty baguette and ciabatta.
- Finding a good boulangerie from a bad one might be a challenge.
- Culture Trip literally ate their way throughout Melbourne to bring you this definitive guide of the city's finest bakeries.
- Baker Bleu Attica, Cutler & Co., and the Carlton Wine Room often place orders for Baker Bleu's bread because of how good it is.
- Baker Bleu is known for its high-hydration, long-fermented, highly caramelised loaves, which often overshadow the bakery's exceptional viennoiserie.
- There may be a sign on the door saying the store is open until 3, but it's not unusual for merchandise to sell out earlier.
- As luck would have it, word got out that this inconspicuous Elsternwick bakery was actually Attica's clandestine provider, and the entire business was compelled to go public with a big 400 square metre expansion in nearby Caulfield.
- Even though they're producing twice as much, the queues for their fresh bagels, challah brioche, and 18-hour fermented sourdough are absurd.
- They advocate for raising public awareness of the foods we knowingly put into our bodies and maintain that any ingredient required for a dish can be sourced without harming animals and improved upon.
- Similar to our fantastic baked delights!
- Lune Croissanterie The popularity of Lune Croissanterie, which was included on Gourmet Traveller's list of "Melbourne's Cult Sweets," is evidenced by the lengthy lines that form outside the shop every Saturday and Sunday.
- It's well worth getting up at an obscene hour for, if only to get your hands on one of their pastries before they sell out.
- Each of their croissants is baked to a golden crispness in a facility specifically designed for the task.
- Lune's menu features a wide variety of baked goods, including the classic French pastries such as croissants and pain au chocolat as well as more unique options like lemon curd cruffins and twice-baked croissants.
- Wild Life Bakery WildLife Bakery's sourdough, with its crunchy, rich caramel crust, is like going to church on bread.
- The locals flock here to get their morning fix of the intense, chewy crumb, which is great with a smear of miso butter or a dip in the harissa-heavy shakshouka.
- They also take lunch with them, which consists of wonderful, hearty baguettes and sandwiches you wish would never end.
- Meanwhile, traditional salad sammies get a modern makeover when stuffed within chewy sourdough baguettes, boosted by the zing of pickled carrot, and tempered with soft avo and roast beetroot.
- We are moved by the fruit bread.
- Quenelles of silky mascarpone and spoonable lemon curd elevate this from its modest rank on the café menu, while plump gems of raisin, apricot, and whole dates shimmer in the cross-section.
- The gorgeous brown rice congee with a topaz-yolked soy egg, kale furikake, and pickled mushrooms is the only dish that doesn't quite reach the heights of rapture.
- You can wash down your snacks with some of the best coffee in town from Market Lane, some Mörk hot chocolate, some sticky chai, or even some La Sirène Saison from a can.
- Few customers get it to the register without also scavenging the front counter, which is neatly stacked with whole loaves, croissants, and rustic cakes like rosella wheat carrot and Khorasan fruit sponge.
- This broad, once-warehouse mechanic's in Brunswick East is now filled with brushed cement and thinly silhouetted furniture, all bathed in the moonlight glow of suspended globes.
- Because of the room's two enormous circular windows, guests may enjoy an aquarium-like panorama of the cooking area.
- However, the plate at this shrine to sourdough is where the baker and the eater share the most intimate moment of connection.
- Rustica Sourdough If you're in the market for artisan bread, go no farther than Brenton Lang's 2012 establishment, Rustica Sourdough.
- Rustica's sourdough selection is atypical, with flavours including quinoa, soy, and linseed, apricot, date, and walnut, and vine fruit, and rosemary.
- An all-day café serves brunch all day long, with options like eggs benedict with lobster and charcoal brioche, French-toasted hot cross buns, and a breakfast salad with heated oats.
- We at Rustica Sourdough believe in the importance of using environmentally friendly farming methods.
- Falco Bakery
- Even if Rockwell and Sons is no longer with us, its co-owners agree that a shakeup was long overdue.
- This space is now occupied by Falco Bakery, which, like its predecessor, places an emphasis on classic baking methods with a few modern twists to honour the heritage of its Collingwood neighbourhood.
- Falco will use locally produced ingredients with a focus on the seasons, much like Michael Bascetta, Manu Potosi, and Casey Wall's other establishments, Bar Liberty and Capitano.
- Flour from Wholegrain Milling in New South Wales and Powlett Hill in Victoria, chocolate from Birdsnake, and milk from Saint David's Dairy.
- Christine Tan, the newest member of their team, will be making all of the sourdough, buns, and other baked items from scratch.
- Tan worked as the chief baker for Loafer in North Fitzroy after spending a year at the acclaimed Tartine Bakery in San Francisco.
- In addition to fresh, sourdough loaves, you can also get vegan chocolate brownies, sourdough English muffins, hot pies, and sandwiches, and wash them down with Falco's coffee, roasted right there in the shop.
- Who wants to be right if the Made Well Group (Bar Liberty and Capitano) fails in their foray into artisanal baking with small batches?
- First-year success as the winner of Melbourne's best hot cross bun contest speaks volumes.
- However, the daily burger choices on golden caramel brioche buns can't compare to the ever-present buttermilk English muffins or the Rockwell pie (called after the site's past life as Rockwell & Sons).
- Q Le Baker This artisanal bakery is known for its healthful and flavorful whole wheat sourdough bread and pastries.
- For its baked goods, Q Le Baker relies on locally milled flours from Rolling Stone Mill and Laucke Flour Mills for their rye, spelt, and Khorasan varieties.
- Baker Quinten Berthonneau, whose resume includes stints at illustrious establishments like Vue De Monde and Chez Dre, purchases the fillings for his meat pies, sandwiches, and desserts from other sellers at the Prahran Market.
