Review : Bourke Street Bakery

2 Mitchell Street,
Marrickville

Mon-Fri 7am-4pm,
Sat-Sun 8am-4pm

Buggles & Squeak live in a part of Sydney that some may describe as 'God forsaken', we however, love it for its close proximity to the CBD, Newtown, Erskineville & Alexandria.
As such we have decided to embrace our neighbourhood & support some of the 'newer' local establishments.

Buggles and Squeak have visited the Bourke Street Bakeries at Surry Hills & Alexandria a few times & have been more than happy with the delights on offer, so when the bakery opened close to home, well, you can imagine our excitement.

The bakery is located in a part of Marrickville not best known for its views.

An outside table will secure this lovely streetscape. If the view isn't enough, having to raise your voice every 10 minutes or so to compensate for the planes overhead may just be what sells it. Personally I like a little aircraft fuel with my tea...but that's just me.

I decide to order a Beef Pie (with tomato sauce) & Buggles goes for the Lamb, Harissa & Almond Sausage Roll.  We were so keen to demolish these that we forget to take pictures.

I had sampled a beef pie at the Surry Hills bakery a few years ago, the beef was tender, juicy & full of flavour, the gravy rich, thick & dark & the pastry light, flaky & golden. However, the pie I had today (I found) was bland & insipid with not enough gravy & I have to admit, I was worried about chomping down on a gristly bit the whole time I was eating it, in other words I didn't have confidence in the pie. It was nothing like the pie I sampled a few years back.

Buggles tries my pie & she thinks it is tasty, the beef tender & the gravy rich & flavoursome...I will add however, that Buggles has been known to scoff (& enjoy) a frozen Sargeants pie...need I say more!

Buggles enjoys her sausage roll very much, declaring the combination of ingredients an absolute winner. I have to admit that it did look tasty & the pastry looked flaky & buttery....I didn't try it however, as I don't 'do' lamb. Buggles has also tried the Pork & Fennel Sausage Roll previously & loved it with equal fervour. Buggles feels mention needs to be made of the fact that she dreams about Bourke Street Bakery Sausage Rolls...she adores them.

We followed the savoury with some sweet...

I order the Flourless Chocolate Cake along with a pot of green tea.

I thought the cake was a little too dry for a flourless cake...it seemed too 'cakey'. Flourless chocolate cakes I have had in the past have been a lot more gooey. It was also not very big on 'chocolate' flavour. Don't think I would order it again.

The tea was quite tasty though.

Buggles orders two pastries (though she claims one is to share), the Strawberry Vanilla Creme Brulee Tart & the Raspberry Chocolate Mousse Tart. We had tried the creme brulee tart from the Alexandria bakery & were completely mesmerised by it's deliciousness....today further disappointment. The sugar crust was perfect...no denying, however the custard was stodgy as opposed to the silkiness of past tarts. The strawberry component also lacked the flavour of tarts gone by. The Raspberry Chocolate Mousse Tart was a different story altogether, rich, lush, velvety.....divine. The raspberry perfect next to the rich, dark chocolate. This was very successful indeed.

I think the Bourke Street Bakery may be suffering from too many stores. They have Surry Hills, Alexandria, & now Marrickville. It seems the attention to detail & the time & care that was taken when only servicing one store are now missing.
This seems to be something that always happens when a business expands, the little touches that made it special fall by the wayside.

Squeak

P.S. As I write this my pie is repeating on me...I am enjoying it even less the second time around!