Us humans take a lot of things for granted sometimes. Running water, clean clothing, heat are just a few of the things that we don’t really pay attention to. When it comes to food, I find that humble sliced bread is the one thing that’s most often taken for granted.

Picture this, you come home from a long day of work and can’t muster up the energy to cook (or in my case the skills required). You decide that your only source of joy for the night will be a Nutella sandwich. You grab the jar from the cabinet, you unsheathe your butter knife (yeah, I don’t spend that much time in the kitchen) and then you reach for the bread.

It’s not there or it’s mouldy or there’s only that last slice left that no one other than me enjoys.

We take bread for granted, we just expect it to be there even though we’ve made no effort to check or to put it in the freezer when it was begging to be preserved. When asked why there isn’t bread left all anyone can say is ‘I dough know, man.”

This is why I get my bread from Breadfern in Redfern now.

First of all, this might be the best bakery name of all time. I don’t care if they might’ve jacked the idea from Brewtown, I was bread to review this place. Shout outs to Bianca from For Food’s Sake for telling me about this place.

Redfern’s newest bakery prides itself on awesome pastries, pies, cakes made from organic ingredients. The charge is led by the guys over at Tapeo across the street who just wanted some more space and another way for their loyal customers to get a carb fix.

They also have Tapeo’s signature coffee if you’re into caffeinated beverages.

I’ve heard that coffee is quite popular but it’s just something I never learned to loaf.

Speaking of, let’s take a look at the loafs I opted for

You may not know this about me but my fruit intake is incredibly low. Prior to this fruit tart, the last piece of fruit I had was a chocolate covered apple that was included in a hamper. I followed that chocolate covered apple with chocolate covered honeycomb. I’d be more apple than Steve Jobs if chocolate was considered a fruit alas…I’m no Steve Jobs.

Let’s get to the tart. Custard tarts are one of my go-to dishes whenever I get the chance to go to yum cha. Imagine a Chinese custard tart from your favourite yum-cha place and then slap some glazed kiwi fruit, blueberries and strawberries on that bad boy. Boom, you’ve got yourself a fruit tart. The tart itself is very solid and proves to be a great base. It’s more like a biscuit than the flaky texture you sometimes get at yum cha. I was a big fan of the custard as it was subtly sweet and accentuated the fresh fruit on top. Make sure every there’s a bit of every fruit every time you take a chomp out of this bad boy.

Now let’s keep this tarty going:

My love for bagels and the nostalgia it stirs within me is well documented. I couldn’t resist snaring one when I saw it in the display cabinet. The girl who was serving me recommended that I get it toasted and smear some butter on it. Why not?

Shout outs to the killer recommendation as I really enjoyed it.

The top part of the bagel was incredibly crispy, almost like thin crust pizza except it was stuffed with blueberries instead of cheese.  I can’t wait until Breadfern realises they can take over Redfern with a pizza bagel. You heard it here first, I’m totally collecting royalties on that one. Even though there was a copious amount of butter on it, the bagel itself still felt really light.

This is good for maintaining my girlish figure.

Before you go: “Whoa iFat! You really shouldn’t have all this in one sitting, man.”

My counter: This blog is called iFat, not iEatInModeration. Secondly, this post was compiled over two days as my colleagues had lunch with beings they described as ‘friends’ whilst I ate at my desk.

I really knead to mix things up a bit. Something that doesn’t need to be mixed up? This killer salmon bagel from Breadfern.

All the usual suspects are present (minus Kevin Spacey). Incredibly fresh ingredients and in generous amounts (this bagel was cheesier than I am). Just a bunch of proven combinations at work, salmon with cream cheese have been dating since before I was born, avocado gets along with everyone and the rocket really took this bagel to outer space.

It was just a killer display, I’m going to refer to it as Keysersoze from now on.

This croissant had so man to it I thought I’d need to send it to a psychiatrist to get a complete rundown.  The ends were a bit doughier and more cake-like in texture. It would crumble upon touch and reminded me of when I tried to fix things with my ex. The smallest gesture and suddenly everything was broken.

….this got dark.

Then I remembered that you just wade through the darkness and hope to God there’s a light switch. That’s when I found the flaky centre of the croissant and order was restored. The juxtaposition between the crunchy almonds and the flaky texture that everyone knows and loves about croissants was like fireworks. I’d recommend grabbing this first thing in the morning or having it toasted to get maximum impact.

I like my croissants the same way I like my women: toasted.

That sounded way cooler in my head. I need to bake better jokes.

Here’s the TL;DR for everyone that wants to stick my head in an oven:

– Breadfern is a great place to go if you need a quick pastry fix.

– You knead to call me when you visit by the way, I’ll join you so fast.

– Options in abundance, high quality ingredients and made daily. This is definitely a breadwinner you want to take home to meet the parents.

***

Breadfern, Redfern

308 Chalmers Street, Redfern

Opening Hours:
Monday to Friday: 6:00am to 4:00pm

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