Best of the Gold Coast 2019: the Gold Coast’s top 10 best bakeries as voted by you
Crusty bread, hot pies and cream buns — bakeries have the goods that make us smile. After counting the votes, Best of the Gold Coast can reveal the top 10 bakeries in the region as voted by you.
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CRUSTY bread, hot pies and cream buns — bakeries have the goods that make us smile. After counting the votes, Best of the Gold Coast can reveal the top 10 bakeries in the region as voted by you.
10. Fosters Bakery
1/2227 Gold Coast Hwy, Nobby Beach
Fosters is the classic beach bakery filled with customers sporting sandy feet and wet hair, searching for the ultimate hunger-quenching bakery treat. Operating for 37 years, original baker Kevin Foster passed the baton on to his son Stuart in 2007 who has kept up tradition with the same enthusiasm of his father. It’s said once you try a custard slice from Fosters you never go back, with the original house custard recipe remaining a family secret since the shop opened. Consistency is key to Fosters, and it’s what keeps the customers coming back for more.
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9. Paddock Bakery
20 Hibiscus Haven, Miami
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Take a break from the daily grind and step back in time at The Paddock bakery. This charming 1950s weatherboard cottage bakes rustic pastries, dough and sweets out the back while seating diners for breakfast and lunch among the gardens. Co-owner Chloe Watts says Paddock offers an escape from reality with its relaxing setting and rustic baked goods. “We offer great food, made entirely on site, right down to the wood-fired sourdough, and an opportunity to take a break from the hustle and bustle and sit under the trees, passionfruit vines and festoon lights or in our 1950s cottage.” Paddock’s specialty crufffins have developed a cult following, made with semi-sourdough and chock full of chocolate, custard, cream, or a combination of all three. “We always do special edition pastries and doughnuts that really push the boundaries and offer our customers something fun and different to anywhere else,” Chloe says.
8. Bam Bam Bakehouse
2519-2521 Gold Coast Highway, Mermaid Beach
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You got friends or family visiting from out of town? You take them to Bam Bam Bakehouse. The Mermaid Beach cafe patisserie is an icon on the Gold Coast, attracting crowds from all walks of life with its infamous three-day-to-perfect croissants, quality brunch options and top notch coffee. The Bam Bam chefs regularly play around with new treat options for special occasions, and will soon be offering a vanilla tart for Mother’s Day. “It’s going to be pure white, we want it to be classy because all mums are classy,” Bam Bam general manager Dan Cresswell says. Dan says the egg nasi dish is a popular winter warmer with sticky fried rice, a fried egg and decadent satay sauce.
7. Gumnut Cafe and Bakery
Mudgeeraba Shopping Centre, 25 Swan Lane, Mudgeeraba
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The first rule of owning a business is knowing your product, and in the case of bakeries that means regular taste-testing. Gumnut Cafe and Bakery owner Leonie Newey says every new item goes through a screening process so the customers know it’s up to scratch. “We have a big range of gluten-free and dairy-free slices and cakes,” Leonie says. “When we first got them in I made all the staff and I taste them so they know what they’re selling. They’re all yummy.” Gumnut’s non-dietary restricted products are all made on site, with the curry pies, carrot cakes, doughnuts and cannoli the bestsellers. “The curry pies are the bestseller, and the cauli broccoli pies,” Leonie says. “We do Nutella doughnuts and the old style cream buns with fresh cream.”
6. Burleigh Baker
13/50 James St, Burleigh Heads
You know how Burleigh Baker owner Geoff Dance knows the customers love his loaves of artisan sourdough? It’s all in the body language. “When they leave the shop, even the blokes hold the bread over their heart region,” he says. The Burleigh Heads bakery, known for its sourdough and gluten-free treats, has recently been awarded a research grant for its innovative approach to fermentation, a slow process that culminates in bread that’s lighter on the tum. “What proper fermentation does is make things taste better, they’re substantially more digestible,” Geoff says. “We also only use organic anything. We only use butter or olive oil. Our meat is grass fed chicken, pork or beef. It’s all built from scratch.”
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5. Bakery 165
165 Maudsland Rd, Oxenford
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This drive through bakery is the only one of its kind on the Gold Coast but the regular customers know nothing beats face-to-face service. “The regulars still like to park and walk in,” co-owner Tania Bromhead says. “We are finding that the walk-ins outnumber the drive-throughs, 60 per cent (of customers) still like to shop with their eyes.” Bakery 165 offers “homemade” products made on premises, with the recent cool weather driving the sale of pies. “As soon as its cooled down we sell tonnes more of the hot food and the salad rolls slow down,” Tania says. “They’re all made on the premises by the two bakers. Chunky cheese and bacon, pepper and plain are always bestsellers.”
4. Kirra Beach Bakery
11/48 Musgrave St, Coolangatta
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Shift workers can’t get enough of the Kirra Beach Bakery, opening up at all kinds of odd hours to serve the weary midnight snackers. “Whenever the boys are in the back baking they open up the front, too,” owner Michelle Herd says. “The boys open at 11pm at night. There’s police, ambulance, security, road workers … there’s always people coming through.” Michelle says the shop is known for its pies, tarts and slices, offering traditional fares made fresh on site everyday. “Our pies are our biggest seller,” she says. “We’re a very traditional bakery. We’ve been here for over 10 years.”
3. 5B2F Bakehouse
Shop 3, 55 Brooke Ave, Southport
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Moonsun Yoo and his team at 5B2F Bakehouse are never content to sit still. “If there’s some trendy thing, we try to do it,” Moonsun says. “I’m always looking at the trends, we are always changing and different. I think that is our strength.” And it’s something that’s clear to see when peeping in the cabinet, with the variety of colourful pastries and treats looking anything but ordinary. Moonsun says his range can be described as classic Aussie but with a modern twist. “Our speciality is home made pastry and sourdough, the chefs are always creating something new within our philosophy. The bakery is a place everyone can enjoy, it’s not like a fine dining restaurant. Everyone can enjoy it no matter how old you are.”
2. Flour of Life Bakery
20 Siganto Dr, Helensvale
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For decades, omnivores could only indulge in cheesecakes and chunky pies, and plant-based eaters simply went without. But that all changed in 2016 when Flour of Life opened in Helensvale. The bakery is completely vegan but owner Steve O’Brien says he still has customers unaware of its cruelty-free agenda. “Many people come in and still don’t know,” Steve says. “We don’t identify as (a vegan bakery), we identify as a bakery for dietary-restricted people.” With a wide variety of sweet and savoury treats, Steve says it’s getting easier to source substitute products for recipes, but often it’s easiest to never substitute in the first place. “I had a phone call from a lady wanting to buy a cake for her son who had allergies,” Steve said. “I ended up giving her a recipe for a cake that didn’t need eggs. Sometimes you don’t need animal products at all.”
1. My French Pastries
10 Ghilgai Rd, Merrimac
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Wolfing down a delicious tart is so not a la française, so My French Pastries owner Antonio Marchesi is slowing things down a little, European-style.
“It’s about enjoying the time, enjoying the food,” Antonio says.
“When you eat in France, you would eat dinner at 7 or 8(pm) and it would finish at 10 or 11(pm).
“The culture is completely different, it’s all about spending time with family and friends. I want to bring a bit of France to Australia.”
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The half French, half Australian baker creates authentic treats from his home-based business in Merrimac, making meringues, macarons, eclairs and much more to order.
Antonio says his passion for French fare began as a child helping his father in the kitchen. He later trained under French pastry chefs in Australia and overseas, working as a qualified baker on the Gold Coast before opening his own business in 2016.
“I was just tired of doing the same old Aussie pies,” Antonio says.
“I love making pastries, I love tasting them, I love talking about them, I like the traditional French way. A lot of what’s happening (with Australian bakeries) is things are getting frozen, not made fresh.
“Seeing people enjoying my pasties, that’s what I live for. My passion is to see people enjoy the food.”
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Antonio is looking to open a shop in the not too distant future, but for the moment he’s run off his feet taking orders for everything from family lunches to weddings to those who just need a sweet pick-me-up.
The best way to get your hands on a box of his creations is to keep an eye on My French Pastries’ social media pages for “leftover” treats.
“The bestseller is our French strawberry cake, with strawberries on the side, a layer of sponge, cream and custard and whipped cream on top. Then I’ve got my mini tarts, mini lemon meringues, mini eclairs. Those are the biggest sellers.”
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