When you step inside Baker & Cook, you will see the 12m Deli and Bakery counter, where you can purchase items such as the Crowich (Croissant sandwich) that was created so you can have a sandwich without spilling half of the fillings on yourself. The highlight at Baker & Cook has to be the selection of bread, including the low-GI Dempsey Sprouted Wheat Sourdough ($12); 6 Grains & Seeds ($9.80); Danish Rugbrod ($9); and German Vollkorn Loaf ($8.30).
The Baker & Cook menu offers a wide variety of dishes using fresh produce and cooking techniques with Asian and Antipodean influences.
We started with the breakfast menu and tasted Peter Gordon’s Turkish Eggs ($20), a classy take on the local runny soft-boiled egg. This version is a creamy concoction of yoghurt, poached eggs and Aleppo chilli butter with a thick consistency that is scooped up with slices of toasted Dempsey Sprouted Wheat Sourdough. Gordon, a New Zealander, is a friend of Baker & Cook’s founder and CEO Dean Brettschneider as well as a pioneer of fusion food and co-owner of the now-defunct The Providores and Tapa Room in London.
Staying on the breakfast menu, we sampled the Dutch Baby Pancake ($22) — a springy cinnamon pancake base topped with fresh berries, Earl Grey poached pear and edible flowers sitting on lemon curd and Greek yoghurt. The combination tastes almost like a muesli breakfast bowl.
Baker & Cook’s Small Plates selection is a great way to share dishes when dining with friends. The Corn Fritters ($16) was an instant hit. Put your fork through the fritter and it comes apart, revealing a generous heaping of corn, onion, coriander and bacon. Dip it in the chilli jam or chive sour cream and the taste just comes together.
A crowd pleaser, also part of the Small Plates selection, is the Miso Glazed Eggplant ($16), which comes with a baked half-lemon that lends another layer of flavour to the tender eggplant. Each vegetable is marinated in miso and wakame flavours, and the added crunch is provided by the crushed cashew nuts and chopped spring onions.
Large Plates are the hearty full-meal dishes, and the piping-hot Kühlbarra Barramundi en Papillote ($28) is not to be missed. Echoing the 1980s way of cooking fish wrapped in baking paper, the fish is cooked to perfection in a heady mix of lemongrass, ginger, garlic and fish sauce — we can smell and taste the Thai influence in this dish.
The freshly made, hand-stretched bases of Plank Sourdough Pizza are topped with quality ingredients and a sprinkle of personality
From Plank Sourdough Pizza, we ordered the Cheese Plank Pizza ($14.50) as dessert. A bed of sourdough is laden with blue cheese, fig jam, caramelised garlic, crème fraiche, balsamic glaze, caramelised walnuts, thyme and lemon zest, with maple syrup drizzled on top. If it sounds familiar, it is because it is a clever twist on the after-meal cheese platter.
Baker & Cook was started in 2012 and has since expanded into 10 outlets; Plank Sourdough Pizza now has five outlets. From the very beginning, Baker & Cook has established itself as an artisan bakery and food store that offers a heart-warming shopping and dining experience, proudly going by the motto that “Passion is Our Main Ingredient”.
Plank Sourdough Pizza is about offering customers clean, freshly made, hand-stretched bases topped with quality ingredients and a sprinkle of personality.
BAKER & COOK AND PLANK SOURDOUGH PIZZA
30C Loewen Road
Tel: 6251 1098 (reservations available on weekdays and at selected timeslots on weekends)
Opening hours: 8am to 10pm Parking: Free
Websites: www.bakerandcook.biz; www.plankpizza.biz; www.globalbaker.com
