Mapped: Where to find SA’s best Kitchener bun
You can’t call yourself a true South Aussie until you’ve sunk your teeth into a jam and cream-filled Kitchener bun – but who makes the best in SA? See the top 10 and 100+ mapped.
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The Kitchener bun is iconic to South Australia – a fried, sweet doughnut filled with generous helpings of jam and cream, then sprinkled in plenty of sugar.
We asked readers to tell us the best place to get a Kitchener bun in SA, and we were overwhelmed with more than 100 nominated bakeries.
We’ve crunched them down to your most popular 10, plus added them all our handy map below showing 100+ locations to find a Kitchener bun near you.
Did we miss your recommendation? Tell us in the comments below.
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: TOP 10 PLACES IN SA TO SNAG A KITCHENER BUN
Brighton Jetty Bakery
Location: 83 Jetty Rd, Brighton
Brighton Jetty Bakery was one of the names on everyone’s lips when we asked readers where the best places to go for a Kitchener bun was.
Owner David Matkovic said his secret to making the iconic and exclusively South Australian treats at his bakery was making them with fresh cream.
“Making them fresh everyday is the key. The base of the Kitchener bun is a yeast doughnut so it’s light and fluffy like a bread,” he said.
“We make them fresh in the morning then roll them in sugar and then it’s a just a matter of filling them with a good amount of jam and lots of fresh cream. In my opinion, fresh cream is the only way, you can’t have mock cream.”
As well as a classic size bun, the bakery also do mini Kitchener buns and even make Kitchener bun towers to order for special events such as weddings and birthdays.
With the latest scandal on whether the Kitchener bun should be renamed due to its ties with Lord Kitchener, Mr Matkovic said changing the name wouldn’t make a difference to the product.
“Firstly I don’t think people connect it to Lord Kitchener … the product is famous, not the name,” Mr Matkovic said.
“I think people are getting up in arms about something that’s of really little consequence. If the bun is good, it’s still going to be good whether it’s called a Kitchener bun or a jam and cream doughnut.”
Mr Matkovic said if the bun were to be renamed, it should be after one of his regular customers Ivo – a man in his 90s who buys Kitchener buns every day for both himself and his wife to enjoy by the beach.
Sunrise Bakery
Location: 28 Murray St, Angaston; 26 Barossa Valley Way, Lyndoch; and 41 Moorundie St, Truro
If you’re up north or travelling to the country you need to stop in at Sunrise Bakery for a taste of their traditional Kitchener buns.
Owner James Nagel has been running the shop for about 40 years and said he has been using the same recipe ever since.
“We have used the same method and ingredients, and using the best quality ingredients plays a big part,” Mr Nagel said.
“You need to put a good bit of jam in the bun to get that taste as well as the cream and sugar.”
Lovells Bakery
Location: 1946 North East Rd, Inglewood; and 41 Onkaparinga Valley Rd, Woodside
The secret to Lovells Bakery’s Kitchener buns is lashings of fresh cream.
“That’s the best thing, when you bite into a Kitchener bun it’s always the cream and sugar that gets on your nose,” owner Sharon Stewart said.
“The joy of the childhood experience eating a Kitchener bun is hard to beat.”
Lovells Bakery has been operating over six generations of Ms Stewart’s family, opening in the 1870s.
Keith Bakery
Location: Makin St, Keith
Owner of Keith Bakery Jayne-Ann Schrader has been a Kitchener bun expert since she was a kid, from working in the bakery when her parents owned it to now owning it herself.
Ms Schradar makes the buns herself fresh everyday as well as running the shop.
“They’re made the way most bakeries do them, but we do make sure there’s extra care put in,” she said.
“We give people the option if they want fresh cream or bakers cream, as a lot of people around here do like bakers cream.”
Barmera Bakery
Location: 6 Barwell Ave, Barmera
Making a repeat appearance in one of our lists on best bakeries in SA is Barmera Bakery, owned by Angus Boase.
Mr Boase said the Kitchener buns at his bakery are fresh, fluffy and huge.
“They’re made fresh everyday and we use fresh cream, that’s really all there is to it,” he said.
“They can be a bit messy, you have to plan the way you eat them so the cream doesn’t squirt all over but that’s half the fun, I’m sure.”
Bradley’s Bakery
Location: Flaxmill Rd Shopping Centre; 9 Midhurst Ave, Christie Downs; and Shop 4/50 Babbacombe Dr, Moana
Bradley’s Bakery’s secret is to keep things traditional. The bakery has been slinging Kitchener buns since they opened in 1997.
Co-owner Brad Miller said he uses fresh cream from local suppliers daily and said the buns are “quite large and quite filling”.
“Even as time has gone by and times have changed we have just maintained a high quality product with quite a large serving,” Mr Miller said.
“We know people prefer that, and we are always sure to use fresh cream.”
The OG Bakery Cafe
Location: 56 OG Rd, Klemzig
Nidal Rasheed took over The OG Bakery in November 2022 but the bakery itself has been around for 53 years.
The Kitchener bun is a staple at The OG and they often mention its iconic status to travellers passing through.
“We get a lot of interstate customers and we talk to them all about the quirky things in SA like the Kitchener bun, double cut roll and Farmer’s Union iced coffee,” Mr Rasheed said.
“What makes our Kitchener buns special? It’s using high quality ingredients such as trans-fats so that the bun itself is fluffy and not heavy. You can have a whole one and not feel sick afterwards.”
Ned Kelly’s Bakery
Location: 212A Port Rd, Alberton
The Kitchener buns are fresh and sweet over in the west at Ned Kelly’s Bakery in Alberton.
“We use fresh cream to start with, no imitation cream. They are always freshly made with jam, cream and sugar. We like to keep it simple,” co-owner Adam O’Hara said.
“Ours are fairly big, which is a good selling point.”
Ned Kelly’s Bakery opened in 2003 and Kitchener buns have been a staple in their cabinet for that 20 years.
“They are popular, we get a load of regulars come in just to buy them, and they’ve been around for a long time,” Mr O’Hara said.
Enjoy Bakery Cafe
Location: 112 The Parade, Norwood
Readers also nominated one of Norwood’s favourite cafes as having one of the best Kitchener buns.
Cafe owner Noel Carrodus said his customers can’t get enough of them in winter, due to the yummy and plentiful jam and cream filling.
Tailem Bend Bakery
Location: 61 Railway Tce, Tailem Bend
The Kitchener buns from Tailem Bend Bakery are hard to beat – they are huge!
The bakery says all their cream products are made using fresh cream, so there’s little wonder why they are so good.
This little family-owned bakery opened in 2014 with products all baked fresh on the premises, with most ingredients sourced locally.
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