Brasserie Bread and Bakery Café: Banksmeadow

How far would you travel for a loaf of bread?

This is no ordinary bread. Nor is this your average bakery in the burbs.

Tucked away near the industrial end of Botany Road in Banksmeadow, Brasserie Bread is an artisan bakery and café that seems more at home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Step inside and the display of artisan bread with varieties such as organic sourdough, heavy rye and specialty breads such as sour cherry loaf greet you near the door.

You are spoilt for choice but the enthusiastic staff take note and offer assistance and patience should you have trouble deciding.

Behind the counter, pastries, friends, tarts and little cakes put your resistance to the test.

Can you really say no to one of these?

The Brasserie Bread Bakery Café looks just as inviting with its long banquettes and communal tables. With a post-industrial décor and a warehouse look and feel, it fits at home near the Post Botany location.

We choose a table by the wall adorned with large colourful squares in soft suede. The tables are set close to one another that I can hear the next table’s intimate conversation but they don’t seem to mind.

After placing the order and paying at the counter, I watch Poached Eggs with Smoked Trout and Parsley and Feta Salad on Toast being served and I’m tempted by the Hot Smoked Salmon Pate with Baguette Croutons and Tasmanian Smoked Trout with Cucumber Salad on Rye Bread. But today I’m after a little indulgence.

The cappuccino and caffè latte arrive first, a nice froth and robust bean flavour.

The Pan fried Haloumi Cheese with Asparagus on Seeded Roll ($11) gets the approval of my companion.

The Sourdough Pancakes with Stewed Berries and Honeycomb Cream ($12) is a visually enticing dish. The fruit compote is slightly tart and combined with the subtle honeycomb flavour in the cream, it makes a light and not overly sweet dish, one that I would order again.

The highlight of the café is what happens behind the glass windows where you can peer through and take a sneak peek at the workings of the bakery and watch what happens behind the scenes. There is always something mystical about watching dough rise, a life-affirming organic process that always makes you feel good.

Brasserie Bread offers bread making classes for adults and free classes for children, though I was informed that the kids baking class is so popular that there is a long waiting period.

And the bread in question I came for? It’s this mass of rugged beauty. A garlic bread like no other. A soft Italian dough fermented with unbleached organic flour, finest virgin olive oil and fresh milk, studded throughout with whole garlic cloves, caramelised in a sugar syrup with balsamic vinegar and cracked black pepper corns.

Ever since the day I sank my teeth into a piece, it was love at first bite. The bread is best enjoyed on its own, slightly warmed in the oven, the perfect comfort food on cold winter night.

Now this is bread worth the drive to Botany Road.

Brasserie Bread also hold baking classes for adults as well as kids baking classes.

Brasserie Bread and Bakery Café
1737 Botany Rd
Banksmeadow
Sydney NSW
www.brasseriebread.com.au