Bun in the Oven

There’s nothing quite as mouth-watering as the waft of freshly baked bread or as tempting as pretty little sweet treats. Dianne Bortoletto made it her mission to find Subiaco’s best bakeries and patisseries. Bun intheOven

Louis Boeglin

Louis Boeglin and his wife Yllana started their patisserie from humble beginnings, making a small selection of high-quality French pastries for the Subiaco Farmers Market and events like the French Festival. Four years later, they have their own bricks and mortar store where Yllana is based. Louis, an Alsace-born chef, who trained under two- and threeMichelin-starred chefs in Europe, is usually found in their Swan Valley commercial kitchen. Louis works with Swan Valley farmers to find the best and freshest seasonal produce, making everything by hand and minimising the use of sugar, eggs and starch so the key ingredients, namely nuts, fruit and chocolate, can shine. A core range of picture-perfect pastries and cakes adorn the glass cabinets and each week, there’s a special. Louis’ presentation of the finished product is sophisticated, unique and guided by the principle ‘aussi beau que bon’ which means ‘as

delicious as it looks.’

“The choux caramel is our best seller, but I have an emotional attachment to the tart au fromage blanc. It was the first thing I ever cooked with my grandmama when I was six years old, and this is her recipe,” Louis said.

On a random Tuesday visiting unannounced, this petite shop was filled with French natives who, after much discussion about what to buy, all left with pretty little boxes and wide smiles. 3/223 Bagot Rd, Subiaco 0483 844 103 info@louisboeglin.com Visit louisboeglin.com.au

Layers Bakery

Conveniently located in the Subiaco Square Shopping Centre on Station Street, Layers Bakery, owned by French couple Bertrand Hofman and Julie Vachey, opened in December. Named after the perfect croissants which feature fine layers of pastry, this patisserie is known for its almond croissant. They make everything themselves, using traditional French methods.

“We never use yeast, just a sourdough starter which is flour and water, and we don’t add any preservatives or colours. It takes us longer to make the bread, but it’s better for you this way, easier to digest,” said Bertrand.

Layers' head chef and co-owner Bertrand has lived in Perth for eight years and is ex-Bread in Common, where he worked for four years.

Besides crusty sourdough bread, the best sellers at Layers Bakery include the slow-cooked brisket pie, plain, almond and chocolate croissants, choux pastry with almond

EARNING A CRUST Opposite and this page, Layers Bakery have perfected the art of breadmaking, and the patisserie of Louis Boeglin.

A TASTE OF THE MED Above, Boucla's cakes are rightly revered, right, Eli and Matt Patisserie have made an artform out of the High Tea experience . Opposite, Sorganic (portrait by Jessica Wyld) and the bakery's delicious loaves.

and praline, and baguettes. 10/29 Station Street, Subiaco layersbakery.subiaco@gmail.com Visit facebook.com/layersbakery. subiaco/about

Eli and Matt Patisserie

Opened in 2018, Eli and Matt Patisserie, named after the owner’s sons, is bright and airy, with plenty of dine-in seating. Which is a good thing because this is a great choice for those who love high tea. There are colourful china teapots and cups and saucers, multi-layer cake stands with pretty indulgences such as raspberry eclair, lemon curd tartlet, raspberry macaron, freshly baked scones and homemade jam and scrumptious finger sandwiches, accompanied by luxury French Tea “Mariage Freres” or barista-made coffee. And the coffee is really good. Testing out a double espresso where there’s no room to hide behind milk or sugar, my caffeine hit was smooth and satisfying. Besides high tea, breakfast, brunch and lunch are serviced with an all-day menu that includes a selection of baguettes, quiches, salads, pasta, the club sandwiches and more. Eli and Matt Patisserie is best known for its Opera Cake, a decadent dessert of seven layers consisting of almond sponge, buttercream, chocolate ganache and chocolate glaze. It takes days to make and assemble. Don't miss their take on high tea - with coffee. 484a Hay St, Subiaco Visit eliandmatt.com Boucla

A Subiaco icon, Boucla was first opened 20 years ago by Despina and Brian Tanner, a Greek family whose portraits still adorn the walls. Subiaco local Nikki Grey bought it about five years ago when the Tanners retired and returned to Greece, and with the café came all the family recipes, a smart move given the chocolate ricotta cake has been known to make one weep with pleasure. Besides that unmissable treat, Boucla is best known for its sweet souffra, a Greek custard cake made with spirals of filo pastry and custard running

through the layers. On a trip to Perth, upon tasting the souffra, national food critic Matt Preston proclaimed it to be the best he had ever have had. If that’s not enough to encourage you to take a seat out the front or inside the Mediterranean-themed room, there’s an all-day dining menu with the usual avocado toast along with other less common dishes such as Turkish eggs, zucchini and mint fritters, Boucla egg brioche, shakashuka, cassoulet and more. 349 Rokeby Rd, Subiaco 08 9381 2841 info@boucla.com.au Visit boucla.com.au Sorganic Sourdough Bakers

As the name suggests, Sorganic bakes organic sourdough in-house using a 30-year old starter, organic flour, filtered water and sea salt that’s kneaded in a sizeable industrial machine, a process that takes 72 hours from start to finish. There’s a white country loaf that uses a blend of stoneground and roller-milled white flour, multi-grain folded through with soaked sunflower seeds, linseeds, wheat berry and barley berry. There's also a signature fruit loaf with figs, apricots, dates and sultanas, the wonderfully nutty walnut and chia loaf and a 100 per cent spelt loaf topped with pumpkin seeds. The coffee beans are sourced directly from ethical, sustainable farmers in Colombia, Honduras and Nicaragua while the all-day breakfast menu includes avocado on sourdough, a protein fix bowl, ricotta hot cakes, brekky burgers and bacon and eggs, served, you guessed it, on sourdough. The pulled pork ‘manwich’, open steak sandwich, ripper beef nachos, and chicken and cauliflower salad are just some of the tempting lunch offerings. Inside, the café is really cute with painted bread motifs on the walls, and out the front, there are market umbrellas providing shade. 273 Rokeby Rd, Subiaco 08 6249 9456 Visit sorganic.com.au

Back to where it all began…

New shop opening in 2022. Exciting times ahead.

Subiaco

333 Rokeby Road, Subiaco Ph 08 9381 7968 Open Monday to Friday, 7am ~ 5pm Saturday, 7:30am ~ 1:30pm West Leederville

26 Oxford Close, West Leederville Ph 08 9381 1235 Open Monday to Friday, 6:30am ~ 2:30pm Saturday, 8:45am ~ 12:45pm

www.chezjeanclaudepatisserie.com.au

Chez Jean-Claude Patisserie

A Subiaco stalwart that’s been operating since 1997, Chez JeanClaude Patisserie is known for its bread that’s baked daily including rye bread, potato bread, sourdough, wholemeal sourdough brekky bread that contains a muesli mix, Le Parisiennes (thin, crunchy baguettes) that you can buy plain. The Le Parisiennes also come with a variety of fillings much like a roll, such as brie, avocado and sundried tomatoes or cream cheese, smoked salmon and capers, or smoked turkey and cranberry, all wrapped, ready for lunch. I can vouch for the French style ham, cheese, tomato and gherkin La Parisienne which I devoured all in the name of research. It’s the perfect place to grab lunch to go or try your luck to score one of the few tables under umbrellas out the front.

There’s also an assortment of sweet treats including mini patisseries, chocolate eclairs, millefeuille, Portuguese tarts, doughnuts, croissants, vanilla slices and strawberry tarts, as well as frozen unbaked goods to take home and finish off. Chez Jean-Claude makes platters and offers catering. Go early on Fridays and Saturdays to pick up the limited traditional plaited

Since 1997, Chez Jean-Claude Patisserie has been known for its bread that's baked daily . . .

breakfast butter bread of Switzerland, called butter twist.

In fact, the Swiss Art of Baking is a respect for tradition, a guiding principle in all that they do. Chez Jean-Claude Patisserie sources the best available ingredients to ensure the highest quality and freshness. 333 Rockeby Road, Subiaco 08 9381 7968 Visit chezjeanclaudepatisserie.com.au

Coffee and Cake Co

Tucked away on Forrest Street, Coffee and Cake Co is a bit of a local

SLICE OF LIFE Opposite, Coffee & Cake Co, Chez Jean Claude Patisserie and Raisin' Bakery & Cafe all offer sweet and savoury treats. This page, Zonts.

secret and owner Claire Keenan makes everything herself onsite.

“Everything is homemade, and we focus on wholesome, quality food, sourcing the finest pure ingredients we can, often direct from the farmer,” Claire said.

Best known for making cakes to order, Claire refrains from using refined sugar and never uses artificial ingredients. She bakes Persian love cake, dark chocolate, prune and strawberry tart, wild berry frangipane tart, linzer torte, cherry cheesecake tart, and some savoury options too including spinach and feta bundt cake, nut and seed life loaf bread, and beetroot, feta and sweet potato tart.

For the gluten-free, there’s GF chocolate and beetroot cake, GF strawberry and black pepper cake, GF carrot and almond, GF cherry and rosewater and more.

The tiny café with seating for just six people inside makes the experience of feasting on sweet and savoury treats even more delightfully intimate.

“I work around the corner and I come here every day, sometimes twice a day, everyone from the office does,” said loyal customer Mark Taylor. “My favourite is the ginger and oat slice, but I’ll often buy lunch and sometimes takeaway dinner because the food is just so good.” 4/1 Forrest St, Subiaco 0412 421 671 Visit cakeandcoffeeco.com

Raisin’ Bakery & Café

Raisin’ Bakery brings a fresh approach to baking, fusing French and Japanese flavours onsite as well as a unique fruit-based fermentation technique known as “Ten’nen koubo” in Japanese, or “wild yeast bread”. It's a fascinating technique that creates a unique and characteristic aroma, taste and crust. From Danish toast, salted caramel croissant, sausage rolls, Nutella s’mores cookies, Golden Gaytime cookies, bacon and potato pastry rolls, to less usual offerings like squid ink baguette, shokupan, edamame and miso loaf and curry baguette, Raisin’ Bakery also serves coffee, sandwiches, catering platters and more. Cakes can be ordered online too including a matcha tiramisu cake. 4a/155 Onslow Rd, Shenton Park 08 9380 4530 Visit raisinbakery.com.au The Z Factor

If you've experienced a craving for a super-freshly baked croissant for your morning weekend breakfast ritual, look no further than Zonts.

According to director Lionel Chong, Zonts Bakehouse is an online/virtual bakery that only opens during the weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 8am - 1pm), so you'll have to employ a little pre-planning if you want to tuck into your Zonts for a lazy weekend brunch.

Why the strange name? Well, it all makes perfect sense when Lionel explains. "In true Aussie fashion, we took a long hard look at the word ‘croissant’ and decided that it was too timeconsuming to write every time. As a result, Zonts (cro-zonts) was brought to life."

There's a minimum order of $18 (although there's no minimum order for selfpickup) and you should place your order by 9pm the day before your delivery date for next day delivery.

The choices on offer are pretty imaginative too - from a tiramisu Zont to a beautifully savoury 'Nduja Provolone Zont. For those craving a sweet hit, the twice-baked almond Zont or chocolate custard Zont hit the spot, while for purists, it's hard to go past a plain butter Zont, with its myriad layers of buttery, flakey pastry. Order at zonts.com.au