Bourke Street Bakery: Pastry perfection
The original branch of this now legendary bakery opened on the corner of Bourke and Devonshire back in 2004 and word soon wafted through Surry Hills on the scent of fresh baked pastry, sourdough and rye. Today, the artisan pastry makers can also be found (still with the constituent ‘Bourke Street’ in the name) in Alexandria and Marrickville.
The original establishment is still tucked away in the same tiny corner store, and from early morning til early afternoon, the queue spills out the door and frequently snakes around the corner. Here, standing the cold, hungover on a Sunday morning, waiting in line for a coffee is somehow comforting. The line may be long but it’s not often that somebody actually complains. The stomach-rumbling anticipation is all part of the experience.
What makes the wait more than bearable is the fact that one’s patience is amply rewarded by the delicious baked goodness awaiting at the business end of the queue. The savoury pastry is wondrously flaky, baked to a dark caramel brown. It lifts the humble sausage roll to new heights, with soft, moist, meaty fillings like lamb, harissa and almond, and pork with fennel seeds, turning the workaday snack into an almost decadent gourmet delight. Then there are beef brisket pies, grilled pizza slices and chorizo and thyme studded rolls.
No less spectacular are the sweets, in particular the tarts – the shortcrust pastry has a rich, buttery crumble that’s incredibly moreish and hard to beat. Try the ginger brulee tart with its crackling caramelised sugar coating, or the fiendishly gratifying raspberry and chocolate mousse. It’s almost easy to forget that they actually bake plain old bread here, at least until you notice scores of locals marching out the door with rustic loaves in brown paper bags under their arms – the soy and linseed sourdough and the rye caraway keep ‘em coming back.
Posted by Fiona Davies
