Brewbakers

Albion residents will be familiar with Brewbakers, a bakery in a recessed strip of shops along the perpetually busy Sandgate Road. If you haven’t been there, you are likely to drive right by, then scramble to work out how to get back and find parking, as the carpark just in front of it can’t actually be entered directly from Sandgate Road. The tan coloured letters that make up the sign out front also don’t stand out particularly well from the grey roof. Still, people clearly do manage to find their way there, and the limited outside seating is often fully occupied on a weekend morning.

Brewbakers wall — I don’t have a picture of the sign outside, but this is a sign on the wall inside.

It is a pretty compact space, mostly set up for patrons to buy their breads and pastries and then carry on with their days. The shelves behind the service counter are filled with an assortment of golden bread loaves and rolls, which are baked on site in the space just next door. Handwritten signs on brown butcher’s paper tell customers about the things that make the bread special. An assortment of other treats sits at the service counter, goodies like croissants, palmiers, friands, and doughnuts.

Brewbakers shelves — Some of the bread and the signs above them.

On this visit, we picked a quiche, sourdough brownies, a blueberry friand, and one of the sourdough doughnuts, which we had not seen there before.

The quiche was fresh from the oven. We picked the mushroom version, which had a lovely crunchy, buttery crust of many layers, encasing a soft, cheesy filling. There were a few pieces of mushroom in it, which had been cooked down and were tender. It was about the size of a meat pie, and quite satisfying, as long as one wasn’t ravenous.

Brewbakers quiche — A mushroom quiche in a brown paper bag.

We had the sourdough doughnut later on, revived with a brief reheating in the microwave. They come with a jam, chocolate, or butterscotch filling, and either in a miniature or regular size. We picked a chocolate filled one in a standard size, and the heating melted the chocolate down beautifully. It had a slightly chewier texture than typical doughnuts. It wasn’t dense or too heavy though. There was a hint of tanginess from the sourdough component, balanced by the light sugar coating. The chocolate filling wasn’t sweetened, so altogether it wasn’t cloying. A doughnut for more grown up palates.

Brewbakers doughnut — The sourdough doughnut with chocolate filling, lightly sugar-coated.

The friands available were blueberry or raspberry, of which we picked blueberry. The friand was dense and moist. It had the occasional fine graininess in its texture from almond meal, and certainly carried the flavour of almond, and buttery richness. The blueberries pressed into it were lightly fragrant. There was a blob of citrussy lemon curd in the middle that gave it a slightly bracing punch of tartness that, while not unpleasant, it didn’t really need.

Brewbakers friand — The blueberry friand.

The sourdough chocolate brownies were an item we had had before..so we got two this time. They were also dense and rich, with a hint of coffee flavour, and a raisin aroma. They had hidden gems of melted chocolate chips in them as well. Indulgently chocolatey, without being sweet.

Waitstaff were efficient, and cheerful when greeting customers.

Brewbakers definitely has delicious things. It isn’t cheap, but if you or someone you know needs a pick-me-up, or deserves a treat, this is a place to get something nice. It particularly suits those who are looking for an alternative to overly sweetened desserts.