Five To Try: New North-Side Bakeries for Cinnamon Scrolls, Reuben Croissants and Classic Baguettes

If there’s one thing Melbourne simply cannot get enough of, it’s new bakeries. Here are five more to add to your ever-growing hit list.

Daybaker, Abbotsford

Charlie Duffy’s highly anticipated Abbotsford bakery is built around a single idea: do a small number of things extremely well. Before Daybaker, Duffy spent years at Tivoli Road Bakery and then Small Batch, where he developed a loyal following for his laminated pastries.

The menu shows off his signature style with a core trio that will anchor the daily offering: a plain croissant, a chocolate wattleseed version, and a savoury option where cracked corn is co-fermented into the croissant dough with a spicy bomba calabrese butter folded in. Alongside those, a changing set of pastries will shift with the seasons, including a mixture of new creations and past Small Batch customer favourites, such as Duffy’s pear and Geraldton wax danish, all showcasing local produce.

Beyond pastry, the offering is just as restrained. Lunch is built around Roman-style pizzas and a couple of sandwiches made using stirato, an Italian baguette-like bread, with fillings that will change often but may include roast chicken with house-picked tomatoes and an avocado, broccolini, ricotta and salsa macha number.

66 Nicholson Street, Abbotsford

Gordon Street Bakery, 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. In April, he opened a second location 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.

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.

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.

175 Union Street, Ascot Vale

Simply Mike’s, Brunswick

Simply Mike’s, the new Sydney Road location for French baker Mike Ying, is a product of reinvention. Formerly known as Cinnabuns, the business was forced into a name change after a legal dispute with a major American chain with a similar name. Rather than fight it, Ying chose to pivot. The rebrand coincided with a long-awaited move from Albion to Brunswick.

At Simply Mike’s, cinnamon scrolls are the main event, with each one produced over four days, entirely in-house. The dough is made with a Japanese technique called yudane, mixing the flour with boiling water to increase moisture and softness. From there, it’s built gradually over multiple stages: rested, then rolled, filled, baked and finished. The result is a soft, tender scroll that’s become the bakery’s signature. Flavours include cinnamon, coffee, Biscoff, pistachio and carrot cake.

Scrolls are the hero and the drinks menu leans in with a cinnamon scroll-inspired iced latte with crème, cinnamon and salted caramel. But the offering extends to sourdough loaves, sandwiches and a changing selection of pastries. 

871 Sydney Road, Brunswick

Neighbourhood Kneads, Thornbury

Growing up, Pankaj Bajaj’s family ran Flora, a cafeteria-style Indian restaurant on Flinders Street, which they sold in 2022 after 14 years. There, he was a jack of all trades filling in for chefs, dishwashers and everyone else when needed. But his passion has always been baking.

He’s now opened Neighbourhood Kneads, in the former All Are Welcome space on High Street, Thornbury. Bajaj is joined by baker Didiet Radityawan, whose 27 years of experience include roles at Akimbo, Elka Bakery, Cobb Lane and Antara. 

As the name suggests, the bakery is focused on catering to what Thornbury needs. Locals have flocked for Reuben croissants, made with emmental cheese, Gamekeepers pastrami, caraway sauerkraut from Acide and a house-made thousand island bechamel sauce. There are also cinnamon scrolls, made over 72 hours using a tangzhong which helps achieve an especially fluffy texture. 

887 High Street, Thornbury

Oji House, Preston

Quentin Berthonneau was just 24 when he opened his first bakery Q Le Baker at Prahran market. He sold the business and went on to teach at prestigious French sourdough school L’Ecole Internationale de Boulangerie, consult for more than 70 bakeries across France (plus Sydney’s Flour & Stone and AP Bakery) and captain the Australian team at the 2025 Panettone World Championships in Italy.

Oji House marks a sharp shift in practice for the French-born boulangier and pastry chef. The business only sells baked goods on Fridays. These include four core breads (rye, table loaves, baguettes and a nut-heavy gluten-free option), alongside his signature sourdough shokupan. There’s also a concise line-up of viennoiserie – including croissants and a malted pain au chocolat – plus a rotating “grand levain”: a large-format, naturally leavened showpiece such as pandoro or panettone.

The rest of the time, it’s a school. Though geared towards industry professionals, Berthonneau’s masterclasses – 2.5-day intensives on topics like sourdough fundamentals, baguettes and extensible doughs, brioche, and panettone – are open to all. 

1/78 High Street, Preston

Additional reporting by Claire Adey, Aastha Agrawal, Lily Beamish and Nick Connellan.

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