There’s nothing new about starting a meal with bread and butter, but these days the butter is getting boujee. And now it’s being used as a base for everything from miso and chicken fat to spices. 

In Melbourne, Embla changes its bread and butter seasonally. At the moment, it’s white country sourdough with summer herb cultured butter. Clover has a nigella butter on the menu, and Aru’s forbidden rice sourdough is matched with a spiced cultured butter.

In Sydney, Firedoor’s smoked butter has cult status – it was even sold via retail during lockdown. Single O’s banana bread is topped with espresso butter, and Tilda has a bread and butter service that costs a whopping $39. Yes, as much as a main. 

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Cultured butter – where a lactobacillus culture is added to the cream, fermented and left to age before churning – used to be fancy, but now it’s the norm. The extra work in cultured butter is reflected in the price. A 250g block of Western Star butter retails for $4.50, while a 200g wheel of Pepe Saya cultured butter costs $9.95

When Pepe Saya started selling cultured butter at Carriageworks Farmers Market in 2010, people made the pilgrimage to purchase it. It’s now in stores across Australia, and on Qantas’ first and business class flights.  

CopperTree Farms butter, which includes a truffle version, initially launched into Woolworths in 2021. It can now be found at Harris Farm and independent retailers at $7.50 for a 200g block. 

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According to the Australian Butter Industry Outlook 2022-2026, local butter consumption is set to reach 103,000 metric tons by 2026, growing by 0.6 percent year on year. Clearly, we can’t get enough of it, and chefs are only buttering up diners more with their unique creations. 

While butter may not seem like a natural fit for an Asian restaurant, Aru head chef Nico Koevoets says the spiced butter has become a signature dish since the restaurant opened in 2021. 

“We take Pepe Saya butter, dice it in large chunks, smoke it over red gum wood, mix it with a couple of different kinds of miso and season it with spices,” he says. “Butter works so well with miso; the subtle saltiness of miso adds a lot to the taste of the cultures in the butter, and cultured butter offers a bit more depth of flavour.” 

Koevoets believes bread and butter sets the tone for a meal: “I feel like it’s an easy starting point for a lot of people,” he says. “Most people order bread at restaurants because of that. It’s a good entry into the meal.” 

Credit: Jason Loucas

Tilda head chef Nathanael Merchant says the restaurant’s luxurious bread and butter service was inspired by New York’s Quality Bistro. 

“For us, bread and butter is a massive highlight of the meal,” he says. “It’s one of those things you always remember, whether you have it really simply or jazzed up a little bit.” 

At Tilda, it’s very jazzed up. Whipped Pepe Saya butter is served alongside A.P Bakery saltbush focaccia and various accompaniments. It’s enough to feed four, and Tilda even offers doggy bags for diners that can’t finish it all.  

Merchant, like many chefs before him, has enjoyed playing with diners’ perceptions of what butter can be.

“We now have people come in just for the bread and butter service,” he says. “People don’t usually eat butter that way and don’t expect it to be that good. It’s the first thing you see – it’s warm, salty, fatty and it becomes a big sensory overload.

“Chefs love butter because it’s exceptionally versatile. Most chefs get a kick out of transforming something so simple and really highlighting it.”

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