First Look: Great Australian Bake Off’s Jai Johns Opens a Vegan Bakery in Brunswick East

Traditional Italian pastries may dominate Lygon Street, but Brunswick East’s newest arrival puts plant-based baking front and centre. Better Now marks a new chapter for founder Jai Johns, who made history in 2025 as the first vegan contestant on The Great Australian Bake Off.

The Lygon Street location is the first permanent home for Johns’s Better Now brand after years spent on the farmers’ market circuit, including stalls at Coburg, Carlton and Alphington. It’s also a distinct new offering for the northern end of Lygon Street.

“I think Brunswick East is really lacking in vegan options,” says Johns, who spent three years working at the neighbouring sandwich shop, Nico’s.

Johns merges French techniques picked at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris with some ingenious hacks of their own, treating plant-based baking as an invitation to experiment rather than to mimic butter-heavy classics. The seasonal menu takes inspiration from Southeast Asia and the Levant, with spices like sumac and cardamom in the mix.

Savoury standouts include a za’atar, olive and cheese scroll; potato focaccia laced with Six-Eyed Scorpion chilli oil; and a pickle, chive and dill scone nicknamed the “Big Mac”. On the sweet side, a cardamom Persian love cake with rosewater glaze and crushed pistachios sits beside an almond bostock crafted from twice-baked brioche and frangipane. A glossy miso-caramel apple turnover showcases the laminated puff pastry recipe Johns mastered on TV. (“House-made vegan puff pastry is pretty hard to come across.”)

Securing a dedicated kitchen will also allow Johns to add some delicate bakes to the rotation, an impossibility before due to bumpy drives to weekend market stalls. Meringue tarts, maritozzi and banoffee pie are all in the pipeline.

Filter coffee is sourced by Assembly in Carlton, hot chocolate is from West Melbourne bean-to-bar chocolate-maker Planet Cocoa, cans of oat iced matcha come from Byron Bay’s House of Matcha, and native herbal and bush teas are by Geelong’s Blak Brews.

For now, the shop remains a solo affair. “I start baking at 3am on operating days – it’s just me in here for now,” Johns says. But, outside regular trade, the space hosts meet-ups for the monthly Better Now Cookbook Club. Each session focuses on a different plant-based title, with attendees cooking a recipe at home before bringing it along to share buffet-style.

For Johns, the community gathering reinforces a broader goal of reframing plant-based food. “People often associate being vegan with austerity, and I’m trying to change that,” they say. “[Better Now] is for food-curious people.”

Better Now
130 Lygon Street, Brunswick East

Hours
Fri, Sat & Mon 8am–2pm

Sun 9am–2pm

@betternow_bakes