Nine To Try: New Melbourne Bakeries Proving Their Worth

Melbourne is in no way starved for bakeries, with big players like Lune alongside micro-bakeries that specialise in canelés, tiramisu and more. This year, we’ve already seen newcomers add to our already exceptional sourdough line-up. Here are nine new bakeries, including two pop-ups, to add to your hit list.

Baker of Things, Richmond

This bakery from John and Stephanie Vroom of Maker Coffee is so much more than a supplier for the duo’s coffee shops (although it is also that). The high-calibre baked goods are unsurprising given ex- Beatrix baking manager Zoe Pearce is in charge of the pastry case. There’re seeded loaves and baguettes, but Pearce excels at taking retro Aussie classics including finger buns and jammy sponge cakes and reworking them for today.

Pecks Road, CBD

Filipino Australian brothers Albin, AJ and Arbi Lawang opened the first Pecks Road in Caroline Springs in 2022. With the new CBD store, they’re betting big on the brand. Pecks Road is best known for yeasted doughnuts, which take three days to make and come in flavours like turon (Filipino caramel banana dumplings) and ube polvoron. The latter is a purple-on-purple creation made of a bombolone filled with whipped ube cream, coated in ube sugar, then topped with meringue shards and ube polvoron, a crumbly Filipino cookie made from flour, powdered milk, butter and sugar. But the standout might be the “Filipino banh mi” – a special-turned-permanent-item with chicharron (fried pork rinds) and pork marinated in Peck’s Pinoy barbeque sauce.

Hector’s Bakery, Richmond

Hector’s Bakery is probably best described as Hector’s production kitchen – the Richmond space is now the place where the team makes almost everything for all the Hector’s Deli locations. But with the new bakery, the team has added a pastry selection, overseen by Aram Yun, previously of Bloomwood. Instead of the offbeat flavour combinations Bloomwood is known for, here Yun is tasked with continuously refining classics such as pain au chocolat and cinnamon buns.

Dua Bakehouse, Collingwood

Siu mai sausage rolls, pandan princess cakes and curry-filled pandesal are just some of the items you’ll find at Raya founder Raymond Tan ’s new Collingwood Yards bakehouse. Tan describes Dua as “Scandinasian”. Its dual Scandi and Asian influences come out in baked goods such as the melonpan piped with almond paste (inspired by Sweden’s semla bun) and the mid-century fit-out complete with vintage Ikea lamps and wooden tables from Penang.

Baker Bleu, Cremorne

Mike and Mia Russell’s two Baker Bleu stores in Caulfield North and Prahran have long been go-tos for 48-hour fermented sourdough loaves, baguettes, croissants and cinnamon scrolls. The pair recently opened the biggest Baker Bleu outpost yet, at the 65 Dover commercial development in Cremorne.

Signature breads, pastries and bagels are baked on-site, but here, they’re joined by more substantial options. You’ll find egg salad sandwiches alongside prosciutto and gruyere on a buttered ficelle. Plus, there are sourdough pizzas including a margherita with walnut pesto and chilli oil; a zucchini pine nut pie with feta and chimichurri; and even a classic Hawaiian.

Suburbia, Fairfield

Much like Baker of Things, Suburbia was founded so the Seven Seeds team could bring production of baked goods for its coffee shops in house. But the team also aims to make the shop a neighbourhood bakery for locals to drop in and pick up a loaf or stay and enjoy a toasted sandwich, changing seasonal salad – and a cup of coffee, of course.

Backhaus Food Store, Essendon

Even with 30 years of experience as a chef, Nick Williams couldn’t make sense of the cost to run a restaurant in a post-Covid world. For Williams, whose career includes two years as head chef at the Napier Hotel, a bakery seemed more viable, and the economics stacked up much better. In 2022, he opened a wholesale business, Backhaus Bakery, in Airport West, and recently, he opened Backhaus Food Store in Essendon, just a 10-minute drive from the factory. All the bread and pastries are baked fresh daily in the factory, then delivered to the food store. There are sourdough loaves, cookies and grab-and-go items like semi-sourdough focaccia, fresh light rye sandwiches and piping hot fougasse filled with kimchi and cheddar cheese.

Pop-Ups

Tarts Anon, CBD

There were many broken hearts amongst bakery lovers when Gareth Whitton and partner Catherine Way announced the Cremorne location of their cult-favourite bakery would close this year as a result of the building being sold. The duo has managed to keep the doors open a little longer than initially expected – Cremorne is still open for now and it’s unclear when exactly it will close – all while running a CBD pop-up. The pop-up outside Liminal sells mini versions of Tarts Anon favourites and is open on weekdays from 9.30am to sold out until Thursday April 24.

La Colmena, South Melbourne

Computer-engineer-turned-pastry-chef Cristina Jiménez opened La Colmena at the Prahran Market just over two years ago, after noticing a lack of authentic Spanish desserts in Australia. The bakery quickly became a destination for its piononos (rolled syrupy sponge cake filled with custard and topped with caramelised cream), pastry-cream-filled bunuelos (fried dough), glaseados (a cake made with layers of puff pastry, patisserie cream, meringue and toasted yolk) and other pastries inspired by Jiménez’s upbringing in Spain. It’s now popping up at South Melbourne Market until Sunday April 27.

*Additional reporting by Daniela Frangos, Raine Cabral Laysco, Gideon Cohen, Lara Torcello and Nandini Shukla.