Tag Archives: slice7

Biga Artisan Bakery, East Lindfield

bakery, city, nsw, vanilla slice

9 Hughes Pl, East Lindfield

It’s been a long time between vanilla slices, due to a combination of the COVID pandemic, and me being busy with new work. But today I took a short drive with Mrs Snot Block & Roll and Canine Snot Block & Roll for some afternoon tea to a new bakery that we hadn’t visited before.

Biga Artisan Bakery

I was wondering if they would have some vanilla slices, and lo! They did!

Biga Artisan Bakery

It’s an interesting bakery, with a small counter displaying just a few sweet treats, with a view behind to the working area with racks and machinery for baking bread. There didn’t appear to be a lot of bread available, probably because it was getting close to closing time. But they did have an interesting Lego version of the very shop I was standing in on the counter.

Biga Artisan Bakery

The 20-something Italian man behind the counter said that the Lego figures sitting on the benches outside the shop (which you can see for real in the first photo above) were likenesses of actual customers who frequented the bakery! It also appears that this bakery makes pizzas at some time, and they sell chilli oil. It definitely had a bit of an Italian air about it.

But I was here for the vanilla slice. I ordered one and took it out to eat on a bench in the deep shade of a large tree, since the day was over 30°C and very humid. I braved the sun to take a photo.

Vanilla slice, Biga Artisan Bakery

The slice is of a small to middling size, not the smallest I’ve had, but definitely not approaching the most generous. It has a single custard layer sandwiched between pastry layers that contain dozens of paper-thin sheets, the whole dusted with icing sugar. It looks pretty good, though it tapers to a thinner layer of custard at one end, which is apparently the edge of the slab that was sliced up to make the individual slices.

It’s easy to pick up and get a mouth around. However the first bite reveals that the pastry is very soft, not crunchy or crispy at all. I don’t know if it’s always like this, or if it has gone soggy from several hours sitting in the counter waiting to be served. Disappointing.

Vanilla slice, Biga Artisan Bakery

But that’s the only bad thing about it. Despite being soft, the pastry tastes good, with a nice brown caramelisation, and it’s light and separates into layers, rather than being stodgy. The custard is really good. It’s delicious, mouth-coatingly smooth and creamy, and has a decent hit of vanilla flavour, not too sweet. The whole thing is actually really enjoyable, despite the soft pastry.

I’m giving this a good score, and it would have easily made 9/10 if only that pastry had been crispy.

Vanilla slice: 7/10

Pennant Hills Hot Bread, Pennant Hills

bakery, city, nsw, sausage roll, vanilla slice,

Shop 2/3 Hillcrest Rd, Pennant Hills, New South Wales

The next old entry that I have to clear otu from my review backlog is also located in Pennant Hills, just a minute’s walk from the previously reviewed Andrew’s Patisserie, although I visited this place several months later! Yes, also nestled in the old fashioned 1960s shopping centre here is the descriptively named Pennant Hills Hot Bread.

Pennant Hills Hot Bread

At least that’s all the sign says. A Google search indicates that the business is actually registered as Thai Son Hot Bread, but that name appears nowhere on the premises signage. Yes, as you can tell from the name, this is another in the endless supply of suburban Vietnamese bakeries that can be found all over Sydney. many of them are excellent, so let’s see what this one is like.

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Christophe’s Pâtisserie Française, Lindfield

bakery, city, nsw, sausage roll, vanilla slice,

364 Pacific Highway, Lindfield, New South Wales

It’s been a long time between drinks here at Snot Block & Roll, mostly precipitated by the acquisition a few months ago of Scully, our toy poodle puppy. Raising a puppy limits time available for other activities, alas reviewing sausage rolls and vanilla slices among them! But happily Scully is growing into an adolescent dog and is becoming trained, so it’s easier to take her on trips and to find spare time once more.

On this fine spring day, partly cloudy so not too hot, we ventured forth on an expedition to a small local market at East Lindfield. It was indeed small, but pleasant because it wasn’t the same stallholders who travel around the north Sydney area and can be found at a different local market each weekend. There was a burger van and a stall selling Russian food like blinis and pirogies, but we decided to leave the market and seek out a bakery nearby: Christophe’s Pâtisserie Française at Lindfield proper, a short drive west.

Christophe's Patisserie

Christophe’s is part of a row of old style narrow shop fronts directly facing the Pacific Highway in its role as the main artery through Lindfield. It’s noisy and there’s nothing but a strip of bitumen footpath between the highway and the shop fronts. But the patisserie invites with a display of delicious looking French pastries in the window and an impressively boastful array of certificates plastering one window with pictures of gold and silver medals. These turn out to be local business awards, so not an especially wide competition, but still, presumably it means there is something worth checking out here.

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Trappers Bakery, Goulburn

bakery, country, nsw, sausage roll, vanilla slice,

4 Sowerby St, Goulburn, New South Wales
trappersbakery.com.au

One fine autumn Saturday we took a driving trip to Goulburn, the first inland city established in Australia, proclaimed as such in 1863. Goulburn is mostly known as a former stop on the long drive between Sydney and Melbourne, and held the distinction of having the most patronised McDonalds outlet in Australia. But with the opening of the Hume Highway bypass in 1992, many travellers now avoid stopping in the city, and it has reverted to a more sleepy country nature.

The Big Merino

The biggest tourist attraction in Goulburn is The Big Merino, a giant concrete sculpture of a ram. Directly across the street from the Big Merino is Trappers Bakery, which was the first hit when I pulled out my phone and searched for “best bakery in goulburn”. So we pulled into the large car park for what is obviously a very popular place. Trappers Bakery is housed in a large rural style brick building with a corrugated iron roof, and it was doing a roaring trade around lunch time, with customers arriving every minute or two. Not only is it a bustling food stop, but adjacent is the Trappers Bakery Motel, offering rooms for travellers on the road.

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Jackman & McRoss, Hobart

bakery, cafe, city, sausage roll, tas, vanilla slice, ,

57 Hampden Road, Battery Point, Tasmania

When Mrs SB&R and I were planning our trip to Tasmania, one of her work colleagues gave her a list of place to visit in Hobart. Jackman & McRoss was high on the list, recommended for its bakery products, coffee, and its signature scallop pie – a culinary item peculiar to Tasmania, which is well known for its scallop fisheries. Walking up the hill from Salamanca Place, we discovered the bakery nestled in the historic Battery Point area, which is mostly residential, with only a few shops clustered around one intersection. One of these shops is Jackman & McRoss, and it seems to draw a big crowd as the only eating establishment in the immediate area. Painted underneath the name on the outside of the Federation era building is the slogan “Bakers of fine breads, cakes & pastries”. It’s a shame the word “purveyors” isn’t in there somewhere.

Jackman & McRoss

Inside, the small area in front of the display counters is packed with customers queueing to order coffee or get a croissant or other pastry to take away. The counters are stuffed to the gills with amazing looking cakes and Viennoiserie. And to the right side is an opening beyond which several roms of what obviously used to be a house have been converted into places with cafe tables. We are fortunate to grab a free table at an inside room, and sneakily move over to a window table later on. On the menu are not one, not two, but three different sausage rolls: pork and apple; duck, cranberry, and walnut; and Thai spiced chicken! Also in the display counter is something I’ve never seen before, labelled with a little sign, describing it as: “vanilla slice with crème patisserie, fresh strawberries, & brisee pastry”. All right! Let’s try the highly unusual duck sausage roll, with the vanilla slice for afters.

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La Renaissance Cafe Patisserie, The Rocks, part 2

bakery, cafe, city, nsw, sausage roll, vanilla slice,

47 Argyle St, The Rocks, Sydney, New South Wales
larenaissance.com.au

I’ve reviewed La Renaissance before, testing out their pork and veal sausage roll. But that’s not all they have on their menu, by a long shot. So it was natural that I should return to sample other wares of relevance to this blog.

La Renaissance Cafe Patisserie

Checking the shop’s history on their website, I find that this patisserie began in 1974, when a French pastry chef opened a shop in Roseville. The business subsequently moved to The Rocks in 1994, sited in an historical building built in 1842 (by an ex-Irish highway robber!), where it has been ever since. With this venerable history behind it, one would hope that the products have stood the test of time with their quality.

On this fine day, I sat in, and ordered the second type of sausage roll from the hot food menu, a pork, bacon, and fennel roll. And to follow, of course, one of the vanilla slices. The items are plated for me by a woman serving from behind a tall display counter, and I take them to a small cafe table in the flagstoned courtyard that extends out the back of the shop.

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The Corso Bakehouse, Manly

bakery, city, nsw, vanilla slice

3/1A The Corso, Manly, New South Wales

After filling up on the amazing sausage roll around the corner at Infinity Bakery, I had to make a bit of a trek in search of a vanilla slice for dessert. Not too far, fortunately, for on the western end of The Corso lies The Corso Bakehouse, a typical old style Aussie bakery with a store front and a counter, selling cakes, slices, pies, and freshly baked bread, as well as drinks from a fridge emblazoned with a Coca Cola logo. No cafe seating here, but they do have a line in fresh sandwiches to take away, with an Asian twist that includes pork rolls.

The Corso Bakehouse

In the large glass-fronted display is a huge tray of classic looking vanilla slices, nestled amidst other tempting looking sweets. The slices have a slightly rustic look, with the white icing scribbled with some very hasty and rudimentary looking brown markings, as though someone knew the classic parenthesis shape that they were supposed to have, but had done it at rapid speed in between checking the ovens.

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The Little French Patisserie, Mosman

bakery, cafe, city, nsw, sausage roll, vanilla slice,

840 Military Rd, Mosman, New South Wales
tlfp.com.au

One of the nicest things about having a day off work during the week is that you can travel around the city when everyone else is at work. Everything is open, but the streets are populated mostly by people with free time, and the atmosphere is very relaxed and laid back, unlike when hordes of 9-5 workers are around after hours or on weekends.

The Little French Patisserie

On such a fine day, I took a drive to the posh north shore suburb of Mosman, to partake of some of its fine array of victuals. Mosman boasts a swag of high fashion outlets, boutiques, and a high end toy shop featuring such children’s playthings as rocking horses and hand carved wooden soldiers. On the food side, there is a gourmet butcher, and Italian delicatessen, a specialty cheese shop, plenty of trendy cafes, and this place: The Little French Patisserie.

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Cammeray Cakes, Cammeray

bakery, city, nsw, sausage roll, vanilla slice,

443 Miller Street, Cammeray, New South Wales

This is an old-fashioned bakery on the main street of Cammeray, in a somewhat run-down shopfront building with a rusting steel awning over it. It seems to have at least two identities, as the signage outside calls it the very descriptive and down-to-earth “Cammeray Cakes”, but once inside there are posters stuck up proclaiming the premises to be “Le Martin Patisserie”.

Cammeray Cakes

Whatever the place is called, it’s a small, locally run bakery staffed by a couple of friendly Vietnamese ladies. They do some Vietnamese treats like pork rolls, as well as the usual staples of Australian bakeries. I ordered my sausage roll and vanilla slice and took them out to the nearby shopping plaza across the road to find a seat and eat them.

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The Flaky Tart, Kirribilli

bakery, cafe, city, nsw, sausage roll, vanilla slice,

4 Ennis Rd, Kirribilli, New South Wales

The Flaky Tart bakery.

I’d had my eye on this bakery for some time, but on my previous visit it was too early to eat lunch, and I had only recently had breakfast. But I had quickly checked they had sausage rolls and vanilla slices, awaiting a more opportune moment. That moment finally did arrive last weekend, having visited the area for a jog along some harbour-side paths and a swim at the North Sydney pool. I earned this!

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