It’s the slow-fermented sourdough on the menu at Attica and Gimlet, and now you can finally get your hands on it in Sydney.

Follow the scent of freshly baked bread to Double Bay, where Baker Bleu owners Mike and Mia Russell have teamed up with restaurateur Neil Perry to open the city’s first Baker Bleu store.

“Mia and I always wanted to open a bakery in Sydney,” Mike Russell tells delicious. “We used to live in Clovelly but at the time it wasn’t feasible for us to open in the area, so we moved to Melbourne. It’s great to finally be back.”

There’s nothing humble about the store’s sleek minimalist design. A large marble counter separates the customers from the staff, with steel shelves displaying darkly caramelised loaves and sesame seed crusted ficelle, with poppy seed bagels hung on pegs. For the pastry fans, the menu also includes viennoiserie from sourdough croissants to a flaky chocolatine and cheesy Vegemite twist.

Neil Perry will also be contributing to the menu. “Neil’s the sandwich king. We’ll be making the bread and he’ll be creating the sandwich fillings and pizza toppings. We’ve given him full creative licence,” Russell said.

The Margaret chef and owner is known to be a bit of a sanga specialist, having dedicated a whole chapter in his new cookbook, Everything I Love to Cook, to the bread-based snack.

Upgrade your packed lunch with Perry’s poached chicken sandwich with roasted tomato, avocado and green goddess dressing on malted rye, or try the preserved albacore tuna with potato, eggs, black, olives, and herb mayonnaise on a fluffy country white. A hefty panini loaded with salted wagyu beef, lettuce, tomatoes and pickles is truly the best thing since sliced bread.

From next week, there will also be Roman-style pizzas with Perry choosing the toppings.

The impressive 255 square metre site contains its own bread-making factory out the back. “A lot of Sydney bakeries, especially those with multiple locations, will bake their bread offsite and have it delivered in,” Russell says.

Not Baker Bleu. Customers can watch on as the hot loaves travel straight from the oven to the shelves via an automatic conveyor belt.

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“You wouldn’t usually see something like this in a retail environment. And because we’re not doing wholesale, we can start baking later in the day so it’s even fresher when you get here.”

Mike and Mia have already applied for a liquor licence, which will allow customers to drink and dine on the street. “We’ll put some tables on the footpath and you’ll be able to sit outside and have a pizza and a spritz, it’ll be pretty special,” Russell says.

The retail store also sells a variety of products that you would typically buy with bread. Get breakfast ready with a rye and caraway loaf with Coppertree butter and Malfroy’s honey, or prepare for a mid-afternoon mezze with Cobram olive oil and Middle Eastern dips.

The bread will also appear exclusively on the Margaret menu, with Baker Bleu making special loaves for the restaurant late in the day.

Baker Bleu
2 Guilfoyle Avenue, Double Bay
Wed-Sun 7.30am-3pm
bakerbleu.com.au

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