Seven To Try: Melbourne’s Best New Bakeries

Melbourne’s bakery boom shows absolutely no signs of slowing – we’ve covered six of these standout new spots in the last two weeks alone. Even the subcategories are multiplying: scrolls are still enjoying their time in the sun, and there’s another addition to the city’s deepening Filipino bakehouse scene. Just don’t call it a fad. These bakers are bringing a level of care to their craft that’s changing the game. “I think fads come and go when you’re not very good,” says scroll specialist Dan Shrimpton. “The aim is to create a product that people want to eat again.” Here are seven that’ll have you heading back for more.

Maison Bake, Melbourne

You’ll find this cosy space down a tiny CBD laneway, where pastry chef Lalita Punpanawan has set up shop after stints at respected local bakeries including Agathe Patisserie and Falco. Among the homey treats on offer, you’ll find the Cara Cara orange tart, with its rich cream-cheese base, and the truffle bun, a flaky wheel of pastry layered with truffle butter and generously dusted with parmesan. But the standout item isn’t from the food menu: the pudding latte draws on Punpanawan’s background as both a pastry chef and a barista, combining a salted-caramel iced coffee with a soft, springy flan. It’s been a runaway success. “From the day that we started until now, we’ve sold out of pudding every day,” she says. 28 Corrs Lane, Melbourne.

Jess Lemon, Nunawading

The cooking show circuit delivers again: Nunawading’s latest opening comes via Masterchef and Dessert Masters alum Jess “Lemon” Liemantara. You may have spotted her extra-long pains au chocolat, designed to dip into your coffee before each chocolatey bite, on Instagram. They’re joined by a standout black sesame peanut pastry that takes three days to make (at this stage, only Liementara can prep its delicate brittle, crumble and caramel), as well as frangipane-filled almond croissants, cheese-sprinkled truffle and mushroom danishes, and a hoisin pork floss pastry that riffs on a pork bun. We advise heading in early – in its first few weeks, the bakery has been selling around 4000 pastries a week. “The lines take up the whole street,” Liementara says. 10 Market Street, Nunawading.

Mada, Collingwood

Marishell Evangelista has been selling home-baked trays of ensaymadas around Melbourne for a decade. It started in her home kitchen in 2016, cooking to order for friends and a largely Filipino customer base that she built online. In 2022, she expanded to a coffee-van operation, before quitting her job as an accountant and going all in on a permanent Gipps Street bakery in August. An ensaymada is a swirl-shaped, brioche-like bun made of soft, coiled dough smothered in butter, sugar and cheese. At Mada, flavours include ube; pan de coco, with coconut and brown sugar; and the standout yema, made with a caramelly Filipino egg-yolk custard similar to dulce de leche. The expanded Collingwood offering also includes milky almond Spanish bread and adotilog, a pandesal (breakfast roll) filled with chicken or beef adobo and topped with an egg, sunny side up. 95 Gipps Street, Collingwood.

Via Porta, Northcote

This bakehouse, in the former All Are Welcome space on High Street, represents “another chapter of Via Porta”, according to co-owner Simon Cosentino, who runs the group along with his three siblings. The focus here is on naturally fermented sourdough, with eight varieties developed in consultation with Michael James of the Hot Listed Urbanstead. Bakers are on-site from 3am to prep tin loaves, including dark rye and multigrain sourdough, plus ciabatta, baguettes and pizza dough. You can buy whole loaves as well as sandwiches – try the ham, Swiss cheese, piccalilli and pickled zucchini – and toasties, including a broccoli, kimchi, mozzarella and spicy mayonnaise number. Pastries – including canelés, classic croissants and egg tarts – come from the Via Porta Hawthorn bakery. 190 High Street, Northcote.

Itera, Brunswick  

After four years running teensy gluten-free bakery Kudo at the Windsor Hotel, pastry chefs Felix Goodwin and Elena Nguyen have struck out on their own with Itera. Their beloved gluten-free loaves and canelés are now available in a former factory in Brunswick. The space is big enough to significantly expand their repertoire, which now includes laminated pastries, a dine-in service and a retail section for pantry staples. Canelés include vanilla and oaked rum, pandan and taro, and a riff on banh gan (Vietnamese coconut flan) infused with star anise and topped with a takeaway coffee lid made of chocolate. Nguyen’s corn and parmesan choux, with corn-tea jelly and a parmesan-mozzarella custard in the middle, has also made the move. 4A Ballarat Street, Brunswick.

Scroll Lab, Brunswick West

Chef Dan Shrimpton first launched his sellout scroll shop in 2024 as a pop-up at Cobb’s Coffee in Ballarat, where he had been head chef. That was followed by a stint operating out of another former workplace, Thai restaurant Mr Jones, down the road. But, after two years, Shrimpton decided to “have a bit of blind faith” and sold his home to open a permanent bakery in the big smoke. His super soft scrolls are made using a “finicky” three-day panettone starter, in regularly changing flavours like jam doughnut and matcha with fresh raspberries. The chef’s time working in Thai kitchens in both Ballarat and London – including at Spitalfields’ celebrated Som Saa – inspired creations like the Thai milk tea scroll with crispy rice and palm-sugar caramel. Traditionalists shouldn’t worry: the classic cinnamon scroll with cream-cheese frosting and vanilla bean glaze will always be available. 6 Grantham Street, Brunswick West.

Better Now, Brunswick East

In 2025, Jai Johns made history as the first vegan contestant on The Great Australian Bake Off. Now, after years popping up at Melbourne’s farmers markets, the Cordon Bleu-trained baker has leveraged that success into a bricks-and-mortar shop on Lygon Street. Merging techniques learnt in Paris with some ingenious hacks of their own, Johns treats plant-based baking as an invitation to experiment. The seasonal offering takes inspiration from Southeast Asia and the Levant, weaving in spices like sumac and cardamom. Try a slice of Persian love cake with rosewater glaze and crushed pistachios; a za’atar, olive and cheese scroll; or a glossy miso-caramel apple turnover showcasing the laminated puff pastry Johns mastered during their television run. 130 Lygon Street, Brunswick East.

With reporting by Chelsea Chan, Haymun Win, Lily Beamish, Nomi Makin, Raine Cabral Laysico and Scott Renton.