Gordon Street Bakery Says Bonjour to Ascot Vale

Baking throughout the day so customers get the freshest bread possible is a hallmark of France’s boulangeries. Paris-raised baker Wilhem Isaac carried the practice over when he founded the popular Gordon Street Bakery in Footscray seven years ago, after stints at Loafer and Woodfrog Bakery.

The business is still kicking – albeit more softly since the previously adjacent Footscray Hospital moved a kilometre away in February, taking hundreds of regular customers with it. Isaac chose to roll with the punches. “To keep everybody employed, I just decided to open a second shop,” he says.

Union Street in Ascot Vale is the lucky beneficiary, with the new spot, in taking the form of a simple white shopfront with the same menu as Footscray – except for coffee and other drinks. Everything is still being baked at the original site, and dropped up the road a few times a day.

“I always liked the street,” Isaac sayts. “That’s the street where I do my shopping, where I go for breakfast regularly or even for dinner. I think, yeah, I think it suits what we do, in terms of the community – like young families who like food.”

The all-important croissants take 72 hours to make, using industry-favourite Laucke flour and Anchor butter from New Zealand. There are plain croissants and vegan versions made with margarine, but Gordon Street’s almond and chocolate-almond numbers, both filled with almond cream, are locally famous. “They’re quite generous,” Isaac he says. “And bit naughty – we put a bit of rum in to give a more flavour.”

Bread – always sourdough – is another highlight. There are loaves of rye and multigrain;, fig-walnut and onion-walnut baguettes; and fougasses flavoured with caramelised onion and cheese, olive and rosemary, and plain garlic.

So far, so French. Less expected are the cheddar sticks made with puff pastry and Gippsland cheese. Or the cCheesymite scrolls made with croissant dough. And on the sweeter side, cinnamon scrolls, gluten-free chocolate brownies and gluten-free friands. Because while the ethos might be French, sometimes you have to play the hits the locals know and love.

Gordon Street Bakery
175 Union Street, Ascot Vale
No phone

Hours
Wed to Fri 7.15am–2pm (hours will expand shortly)

gordonstbakery.com