Melbourne isn’t short of great places to get a great bagel. But if you’re after the distinctive woodfired finish of a Montreal-style bagel, your search could start and end with Mile End.

The tiny but now prolific bagelry first opened in Fitzroy in 2016, cornering the market for the dense and subtly sweet French-Canadian baked good. Six years later, it’s still in a league of its own, having expanded its reach to Brunswick in 2020, and now Richmond.

The blueprint on Burnley Street looks much like the other stores, which were all designed by architecture studio Therefore. As in Fitzroy and Brunswick, takeaway is the primary focus, but you can dine in here too, on a number of high bar seats in the front window.

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You can choose from the eatery’s core menu – sesame, poppyseed or everything bagels filled to the brim (literally) with toppings ranging from cultured butter, to PB&J, to smoked salmon with caper-and-dill cream cheese, to brisket pastrami. Or you can build your own at home by grabbing a bag of bagels and a tub of cream cheese to go.

You’ll also find Basque burnt cheesecake by the slice, created by a Mile End team member under the Only Cheesecake brand. “We’re one of her exclusive wholesale customers,” says co-owner Ben Vaughan.

And though this is the first Mile End location to break its inner-north bubble, Vaughan hints that it won’t be the last: “We’re really only just beginning our journey.”

Mile End Bagels Richmond
115 Burnley Street, Richmond

Hours:
Daily 8am–3pm

mile-end.com.au