After a year of turning out endless doughnuts, focaccias and hoagies to the masses, the team at blockbuster Carlton bakery Self Raised Bread Shoppe heard the message loud and clear: Sydney wants more snacks.

“It’s been so crazy. We just felt like it was a no-brainer to open another one,” says Sal Sennan, who now co-owns two “shoppes” with siblings Amani and Hussein Rachid. “We’re calling them Snack Shoppe and Bread Shoppe.”

Opened last week, Self Raised Snack Shoppe is a handsome, Matt Woods-designed takeaway window right near the trio’s Bexley North pizzeria, My Mother’s Cousin, whose NYC slices and hot wings have their own hardcore following.

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The team wanted Snack Shoppe to feel “the same but different” to its Carlton sibling. The retro milk bar feel has come across – and if you’re a fan of Hussein’s god-tier sandwiches, great news: the schnitzel, smoked beef and an updated deli hoagie live here, too.

But there’s plenty of new stuff to lure you to the new spot – like steak and egg sangas for lunch; and slabs of Roman-style pizzas sold by the slice.

Snack Shoppe also does two seafood exclusives. Sydney’s sandwich du jour – the fried fish – is served here with double hake fillets, American cheese, pickles and house tartar. There’s also a cold prawn roll with sweet-chilli mayo, iceberg lettuce and fried shallots on a milk bun. Add shoestring fries with chicken salt for the win.

Head pastry chef Sarah Ghantous is also filling the pastry cabinet with Boston cream doughnuts, classic croissants and more exclusives (pistachio and raspberry doughnuts, double-baked hazelnut pain au chocolat) to Snack Shoppe daily.

“Bread Shoppe will be the central bakery and everything will be delivered fresh the same day,” says Sennan. “The pastry chefs will be in from about 2am and everything will be ready to go at 6am.”

It’s safe to say the lines will follow the team here. But if you’ve never stood in the one at the Carlton OG, we’re here to say: it moves fast and it’s pretty painless. There’s a vibe, even.

“Although the lines are long, there is a vibe, there’s energy and everyone’s excited,” says Amani. “People are happy to wait half an hour or whatever it might be. No one’s fussed, no one’s angry. That’s why people keep coming back.”

The fact that no two visits to either shoppe will ever be the same is also a huge part of the draw. “You should see our Whatsapp chat at one in the morning, blurting out random ideas,” says Sennan. “We’re obsessed. We live, breathe and eat hospitality.”

Self Raised Snack Shoppe
Shop 4 8/20 Sarsfield Circuit, Bexley North

Hours:
Tue-Sat: 7am–3pm
8am–2pm

selfraised.com.au
@selfraisedbread