Wholly Crumpets

Billy and his brother Miller Rouse started Wholly Crumpets (no relation to Melbourne’s Holy Crumpets) as a wholesale operation in 2018, supplying crumpets to cafes throughout Brisbane (including Sister and Florence).

Taking over the old Crumbs tenancy, the Rouses have since opened their own tiny al fresco cafe. It’s a charming 20-seater with timber picnic tables and cafe furniture gathered around a quaint shack pumping out Tim Adams espresso and specialty coffee, Leaf tea and, of course, cartloads of crumpets.

To meet demand, Billy cooks between 800 and 1000 crumpets a day in a kitchen just off Waterworks Road in Ashgrove. Six electric griddles punch out large, extra-thick discs mixed with Ben Furney flour from Dubbo, Maleny Dairies milk, yeast, and a touch of salt and sugar. After they leave the pan, the crumpets are set in a cold room before being sliced in two in the morning and shipped off to cafes and restaurants across Brisbane, including Wholly Crumpet’s own outlet.

Crumpets are served in both sweet and savoury styles. There’s a Nutella, strawberry and toasted coconut crumpet; one with banana, honeycomb butter and bee pollen; and a butter, house-made jam and pistachio number. For savoury, you can order them with smoked salmon, dill, cream cheese and capers; avocado, feta, lemon and hemp seed; or tomato, ricotta, herb and balsamic.

There’s also crumpet fruit toast, crumpet toasted sangas, granola and soup. And beyond the standard Wholly sixpack of crumpets, you can take away a one-kilogram crumpet loaf, Tim Adams coffee beans, and Hive & Harvest honey from Maleny.