Star Brisbane baker takes on beautiful Breakfast Creek space
Sit by the water and go large on flaky almond croissants and pain au chocolat, decadent eclairs and luscious fruit tarts.
The city’s food scene collectively clenched last year when Shannon Kellam’s small fiefdom of eateries went into voluntary administration.
First, it was his BCN Group, whose hospitality businesses included Mica Brasserie in Newstead and the CBD, Lumiere Culinary Studio in Newstead, and King Street Bakery in Bowen Hills. Then, two months later, his iconic Montrachet restaurant followed.
Kellam was a major presence on the local food scene. If he could go, was anyone safe?
The reality, though, was that the seasoned chef had been caught in a series of misfortunes, including the pandemic and then the 2022 floods, which wiped out $150,000 of stock. Throughout, his venues remained popular.
So, it was a relief when Canberran restaurateur Clem Chauvin stepped in to reboot Montrachet in October. Now, Harry Ohayon and Maxime Bournazel have reopened the old Mica space at the Breakfast Creek Lifestyle Centre as a new outlet for their popular Rise Bakery.
“Max and I had always been customers of Mica before we launched our first Rise [at Sanctuary Cove] in 2022,” Ohayon says. “If we wanted good pastries, this is where we’d come.
“When Shannon went into voluntary liquidation, it was a bit of a shock for the industry. LSH [Property Australia], the landlord here, wanted a continuity of what Shannon was doing, so we came up and said, ‘look, we’d be happy to take over and continue what he started’.
“[Like Shannon], the vision has always been to showcase French baking and French gastronomy, so it was a natural continuation and made sense for Rise to take over.”
Ohayon is sitting at an al fresco banquette that overlooks Breakfast Creek. The lengthy external installation is the major design change from Mica to Rise. There are also some new pendant lights and a cocktail bar, in preparation for “stage two” of the takeover, which will activate the restaurant side of the business in “March or April”.
Otherwise, the fitout retains the feel of Mica, with its beautiful dark marble, pale brick and timber, fluted glass, mirrors and arched features.
As for what’s in the cabinet, expect a similar range to Portside and Sanctuary Cove, including flaky plain, almond and ham-and-cheese croissants; pain au chocolat; pain suisse; lemon-meringue tarts; decadent galettes des rois; and chocolate eclairs. For lunch, there are crunchy baguettes, and luscious sausage rolls and pies.
Brisbane is in the midst of an arms race when it comes to bakeries, but Rise chef Adrien Marcinowski’s pastries are up there with the city’s best.
“That bakery trend has passed now and it’s almost become more of a cultural thing,” Ohayon says. “That’s great to see. I’ve lived in Brisbane for 12 years and everything has come so far. It’s nice to contribute to that a little bit.”
For coffee, there’s Rise’s own Soleil blend, produced for the bakeries by Paradox Coffee Roasters.
In future, Ohayon says to expect the introduction of grab-and-go salads and smoothies that can be customised with collagen and different proteins – a move intended to appeal to clients of the Function Well gym, located upstairs in the precinct.
“For us, it’s not a long distance between here and Portside, but they do cater for different parts of the city,” Ohayon says. “The response from the local community has been amazing. They’ve been supportive and are giving us feedback, so it’s been really positive.”
Open daily 6am-3pm
Breakfast Creek Lifestyle Centre, 194 Breakfast Creek Road, Newstead
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Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.