Bourke St Bakery, Surry Hills

 

A little while ago, when the weather was still kind, I visited Sydney to see the Sydney Swans play Hawthorne in the AFL on the Swans home ground.  Tim and I bought our tickets with high hopes that the Swans would have a home ground advantage.  Here is Tim with Janet, a wonderful spritely lady of 80 plus years, decked out in Swans colours, and who is a relative of a former Swans (once South Melbourne) player:

This was Janet's first Swans game in two years, so it was a special occasion for her.

Unfortunately, things didn't go to plan on the day, and the Swans lost to Hawthorne.

Putting that aside, the day was not a total disappointment.  Tim and I went to the Bourke St Bakery in Surry Hills for lunch, as the Bakery is within easy walking distance of the Swans home ground:

Look at all the divine bread in the window!

The Bourke St Bakery is tiny as far as floor space goes, and there is very limited seating inside and out, so your best bet is to buy take-away. However, as with presents, size is not in direct proportion to how wonderful a place is, and the longish queue to get in was an immediate sign that this bakery was worth waiting for.

I bought the most unusual but wonderful sausage roll I have ever had - it was a lamb, almond and harisa sausage roll, which I generously smothered, as is the Australian way, with tomato sauce:

The pastry was flaky and melt in your mouth, and the Middle Eastern flavours of the sausage roll  somehow just worked - I loved it!  Tim had a pie, which he said was very nice although very messy to eat.

Of course, no meal is complete without dessert, so I bought this quince galette:

It comprised slices of ruby red, poached quince, sitting atop a light pastry cream and a thick puff pastry raft.  It was superb!

Tim got the rhubarb and almond tart, a frangipane-filled delight topped with baked rhubarb and dusted with icing sugar:

Tim assures me that this tart was also a winner.

The Bourke St Bakery is rather out of the way in a primarily residential area, and as mentioned above, is not generally a place with space for you to sit and linger, but it is definitely worth the effort to seek it out if you are in Sydney and try some of their baked delights - or buy the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook and bring it home to you.  Next time, the bread is on my agenda!

Bourke St Bakery

633 Bourke Street

Surry Hills NSW