AP Bakery Takes Over the Kitchen at Marrickville’s Wildflower Brewery (and Has Jersey Cheese-Stuffed Buns)

Wherever AP Bakery goes, lines tend to follow – from its bakehouse and cafe on Paramount House’s rooftop, to its shopfront in Newtown, fresh new CBD outpost and its weekend stall at Carriageworks Farmers Market. So don’t be surprised to find lines meandering through Marrickville brewery Wildflower going forward: AP has indefinitely taken over its kitchen, turning out a tight menu of bistro-style dishes that are perfectly matched to the brewery’s wild-fermented beers.

“Topher [Boehm, Wildflower’s owner] has always said that making beer and making bread is the same thing, just beer’s overhydrated bread,” AP’s head baker Dougal Muffet tells Broadsheet. A partnership between an Instagram-sweeping bakery and a brewery specialising in beers made using yeasts and bacteria harvested from native NSW flowers might seem odd, but it’s actually a perfect match. At AP’s core is a dedication to using house-milled grains, often old-world varietals, grown in NSW and that are little used in Australia.

“I feel like AP has been boxed as one thing, but there’s a lot more substance to what we’re trying to achieve [beyond Instagram],” says Muffet. “It’s nice to rub shoulders with [Wildflower], because people start to see a different side of who AP is as well.”

AP’s residency at Wildflower is more bistro than bakery – though what comes out of the bakery underpins pretty much every dish.

The most popular so far is a plank of grilled Jersey cheese with hot honey in a bun. The cheese is by Colin Wood, and was first seen on the menu at Poly; it became a sensation when he started selling it individually during lockdown. (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 Russell Beard, the owner of Paramount Coffee Project and Reuben Hills.) Muffet hints that you can expect to see more of Wood’s dairy-based magic in Wildflower in the future.

AP Bakery’s popular pies have also made it to the menu, with a warrigal greens number and a beef and Wildflower amber ale pie both available. Other drinking-friendly dishes include pork rillettes with a glorious AP baguette, and the tomato- or potato-based pizzas AP sells at Carriageworks, with a selection of garnishes, including fermented chilli and anchovies. And Muffet reckons the Basque cheesecake, served with kumquat jam, is a must-try.

“We’re not aiming for anything too highbrow or complicated,” says Muffet. “It’s supposed to be snacky food to be enjoyed, primarily, with Wildflower’s beers.”

AP Bakery at Wildflower
11–13 Brompton Street, Marrickville

Hours:
Fri and Sat midday–9pm
Sun midday–6pm

wildflowerbeer.com
apbakery.com.au

AP Bakery’s residency at Wildflower has now ended. The article was updated to reflect this on Jan 12, 2024