The newest addition to the AP Bakery family, AP Place in the CBD, had an unexpected, analogue beginning.
“The landlord actually handwrote a note to us and handed it in at [AP Bakery] Paramount, and he said ‘Look, I have a spot in the city, it’s a small shop, used to be a sandwich store. It needs some new life, would you guys be interested in talking about it?’,” co-owner Russell Beard tells Broadsheet. “I couldn’t refuse a handwritten note. And literally, he went up to the counter and asked them for a piece of paper. They pressed the till feed; [he] handwrote the note, handed it off and the rest is history.”
The team – AP Bakery is owned by chef Mat Lindsay, co-owner of Poly and Ester, as well as Ping Jin Ng, the owner and founder of Paramount House Hotel and Golden Age Cinema, and Beard, the owner of Paramount Coffee Project and Reuben Hills, and led by head baker Dougal Muffet – only recently launched its latest iteration, in Marrickville’s Wildflower Brewery, a couple of months ago. This latest eatery joins AP House at Paramount House, AP Town in Newtown and a stall at Carriageworks Farmers Market. Each outpost has its specialties, and AP Place’s is its pizza bianca: Roman-style sandwiches on a focaccia-like bread, stuffed with crisp porchetta and bitter greens. The porchetta sells out every day.
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SHOP NOW“It’s made to order until sold out, and it’s larger than life,” says Beard. “It’s right there in front of you, the theatrics, to see. The actual bianca [bread] is a two- or three-day process, at least. That’s all done in Marrickville. But all the assembly is done fresh on site.”
Other highlights include the cheesy cauliflower toastie, salt and vinegar hash browns and a three-milk bomboloni. AP Bakery signatures, including its Aleppo pepper and asiago scroll, croissants and steamy brisket pies, have also made it to the menu, along with loaves and baguettes made with old-world wheat varieties grown using sustainable agricultural practices.
The coffee is Reuben Hills, hot chocolate is by Birdsnake, teas are Tea Craft and Sticky Chai. Plus, there’s Strange Love sodas, and West End juices and smoothies.
Like AP Bakery’s other outlets, the space itself is tiny. Customers are served from behind a terrazzo counter in a burgundy-hued room; stacks of pizza bianca are piled behind glass, awaiting fillings. There’s a smattering of outdoor tables and chairs, but the menu is designed for takeaway.
“If we do another one, the only requirement I have is a ceiling,” Lindsay tells Broadsheet. “They’re all outdoors. Newtown’s outside, Carriageworks is outside, rooftop is super outside. That’s all the inside we’ve got. We need a roof next time.”
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