John Demetrios’s Butter Days Bakery Sold Out in 45 Minutes on Its First Day

This week we’re adding Butter Days to The Hot List , the definitive guide to Melbourne’s most essential food and drink experiences.

The sunshine bun tells you almost everything you need to know about Butter Days.
The custard-laden pastry might look like a danish, but it’s actually a take on the Norwegian solboller, or sun bun. Pastry chef John Demetrios was first introduced to the buns by his Swedish wife Martina Cissig Demetrios, when they were working together at the Michelin-starred Oaxen Krog in Stockholm.

“It’s something that Martina used to eat growing up,” John says. “And I’ve put in flavours from my Greek background, like lemon, so it ties back to both of us.”

The bun’s sunny shape also inspired the branding for the pair’s new Malvern bakery, which opened yesterday, and sold out of everything but drinks in 45 minutes. (John has since upped the daily quantity of baked goods.)

“I tried a lot of different presentations [of the sun bun],” he says. “But I think it eats better with no frills.”

Giving up frills is a big deal for John. His career has been built on them. First in London, leading legendary chef Pierre Koffman’s patisserie, then later in Sweden. After coming home to Melbourne, he took over pastry at Vue de Monde , before going on to do the same at Omnia and Hot-Listed Yugen. That fine-dining training gave him the edge in last year’s edition of Dessert Masters. His fastidious, complex, delicious desserts won him the title – and a $100,000 check, which he and Martina promptly poured into Butter Days. “This has been in the works for years now,” he says. “Winning Dessert Masters was the chance to do it.”

Alongside those sunshine buns, you’ll want to get your hands on fruit-loaded tartlets, all the usual viennoiserie suspects and brown butter bickies – shaped like a child’s drawing of a sun. Scroll fans will like the leatherwood-honey glazed escargot, filled with custard and house-made macadamia praline, as well as a savoury ham-and-cheese pinwheel.

Sandwiches are on offer too – just don’t expect the same bread every time. John plans to bake a different bread style for each sandwich. Right now, that means the egg salad sandwich and the pastrami and mustard sanga both come in a soft potato pretzel bun. In future, Italian sandwiches might arrive in focaccia and a ham-and-cheese would be partnered up with a baguette.

“Nothing’s going to be heated or toasted, it’s just as it is,” he says. “The idea is that if something should be served slightly warm, we’ll cook it fresh, in intervals.”

That will also ensure speedy service. Everything at the shop, from the menu to the layout, is designed to minimise the time it takes for you to get your food. Coming from the restaurant world, creating something that people can slot into their busy daytime schedules has been the biggest adjustment for John to make. “You’re not just creating something that’s going to be served straight away, it needs to hold up and not lose its integrity,” he says.

But making the switch from nighttime work to daytime is a challenge John’s pouring every ounce of his dessert mastery into. Because he’s making sun buns for his young sons.
“We’ve got a three-and-a-half-year-old and an eight-month-old, and at this age, you don’t want to miss anything,” he says. “So we’re creating the life that we want to live and have the kids around.

“More than ever right now, I feel like I’m walking into the unknown, but there’s never going to be a perfect time – you’ve just got to jump into the deep end and figure it out.”

Butter Days Bakery
209 Glenferrie Road, Malvern

Hours
Thu & Fri 7.30am–4pm
Sat & Sun 8am–3pm

butterdaysbakery.com.au
@alwaysbutterdays
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