Imago Bakery on a roll following stunning revamp
From croissants to egg ’n bacon rolls, and breakfast tacos, the Mercury’s Alix Davis digs in at Imago Bakery & Patisserie following their revamp during Covid. REVIEW >>
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When perusing the display cabinet of a bakery, I am inevitably drawn to the same item.
My gaze passes over glazed fancies and meringue-topped tarts, I am not tempted by perfectly cut pieces of cake or fruit-filled pies. Instead, I like to order a croissant – a magical creature concocted from yeasted dough and butter that houses many airy layers under a golden crust and the shape of a crescent. I’m a firm believer that if a bakery can get a croissant right, they’re almost certain to get everything else pretty bang on as well. Imago proves my theory right again with its offering of a croissant ($5) that’s generously sized, dense without being doughy and perfectly flaky. Which shouldn’t come as a surprise given that owner and baker May Xin says, “It’s my favourite thing to make. I enjoy the process of lamination [creating the layers in croissant pastry] and of course, I love baking as well.” Which, considering the hours a baker has to keep, is a good thing.
So, croissant research complete, I wipe the buttery crumbs off my face and dive into a breakfast taco ($9) consisting of a small flour tortilla topped with a tomato and cucumber salad, chickpeas and golden fried halloumi. There’s a slash of sour cream on the side that cuts through the saltiness of the halloumi and the whole thing is designed to be eaten with your hands – which I do, with gusto.
Like so many others in the hospitality industry, Imago had a forced pause during 2020 and Xin says this gave her “time to think and plan. There’s just no time to think when you’re working”.
Covid enabled her to revamp the cafe and customers are enjoying the tranquil, plant-filled space with its nubby upholstered seating and soothing music.
Each time I visit there are tables full of people sipping on a Clockwalker coffee or pouring from a large pot of tea and tucking into one of the many breakfast or lunch options. If coffee’s not your thing, you can have a hojichai (green tea), or a matcha, turmeric or seven-spice chai latte. While Xin runs the bakery side of the business – which has a thriving wholesale arm (if you’ve eaten at a Hobart cafe or restaurant you’ve probably eaten her sourdough), the cafe is run by Jack Tsai.
Xin hasn’t always been a baker. She worked in finance before completing a Cordon Bleu course and deciding that her future lay in baking. She moved from Melbourne to Hobart in 2017 to open Imago with industry veteran Dave Flukes, who was the original baker at Mona, and hasn’t looked back. “This is emotionally and physically challenging,” she says of baking. But, “I enjoy the work of actually making something. This is very tangible.”
The classic egg ’n bacon roll ($12) I enjoyed on another visit was certainly a tangible result of Xin’s efforts. A rich brioche roll encased a fried egg and salty crisp bacon with cheese and relish setting it apart from a standard offering. Again, it was something I enjoyed eating with my hands and was the perfect foil for a piping hot pot of English breakfast tea. In addition to the breakfast menu, there are lunch items including a fried chicken ($19) or beef burger ($22), eggplant shakshouka (a poached egg nestled in a rich tomato stew, $18) or zucchini and corn fritters with salmon ($19).
And of course, there are plenty of things to take home as well. I pick up a raspberry chocolate croissant and fan-favourite lemon brownie for my husband as well as a loaf of seeded sourdough, which Xin says is a bestseller (and which provides me with excellent toast for the week). As a baker and business owner with eight staff, “I have a set routine but everyday there’s something different. The starter might behave differently, the humidity is different, the temperature is different.” And, while she might miss the nine-to-five hours of an office job, she, “especially enjoys the positive customer feedback. That’s very rewarding and you don’t get much of that working in finance.”.
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