The Pig & Pastry opens in Petersham

The work of husband-and-wife team Katherine and Iain Smart, The Pig & Pastry has opened in the space that used to house fine dining venue Blancmange.

“The neighbourhood is so friendly and there’s been a lot of interest from locals,” says Katherine Smart, who you might recognise from front of house at Kitchen by Mike.

Husband Iain (previously of Simon Ekas Catering and a stint at The Botanist in Kirribilli) is shaking the pans and there’s a from-scratch ethos here that pervades everything on the menu.

“We’re trying to do as much as we can local, whether it’s just suburbs away or within the state,” says Katherine.

Coffee is by Annandale’s The Little Marionette and all cakes, cookies and tarts are baked daily in-house and served with house-made ice cream. Iain’s passion for baking his own bread also shines through, with fruit bread and brioche also on the menu.

Add to that bacon and egg rolls on house baps with house ketchup, braised beans with chorizo and sourdough, or porridge with quince and toasted seed mix and you’ve got mornings covered.

Lunches offer daily soups, a variety of hearty salads or slow-cooked lamb shoulder with spiced eggplant, yoghurt and crisp polenta. They’re licensed too, with a tight drinks list to complement the menu.

The interior walls have been stripped back to raw brick, while mismatched chairs and a communal table sit among more intimate spots and Portuguese tiles grace the counter.

The name hails from the time the couple spent in the UK (where between them they clocked up time at La Fromagerie in Marylebone and Chez Bruce) and is a nod to The Pig & Pastry in York that belongs to Iain’s sister – though the execution of the Australian version is all their own, right down to weekly trips to the flower market for bunches available to buy in the cafe across the weekend.

The Pig & Pastry

1 Station Street, Petersham

(02) 9568 4644

Hours

Mon, Wed to Fri 7.30am–4pm

Sat & Sun 8am–5pm

thepigandpastry.com.au