La Sable Patisserie, Mitchell

La Sable Patisserie is right up there with Pialligo Estate as something I’ve been waiting for for a long, long time. Years ago, the hairdresser who essentially created my hair colour (yes, the red hair) mentioned that a family member had worked at Flute Bakery and was quite the pastry chef (talented family, right?) that I hoped we might one day see something akin to Flute on the northside. (And we all know how much I love Flute.) La Sable opened up earlier this year and – in addition to a big plug on Scotty & Nige’s radio show – it’s getting great reviews around town. One of the greatest things about it is that, unlike Flute, it’s open more hours daily and it’s open on Saturdays!

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Flute Bakery Redux

Flute Bakery is my fave, and has been for a long time. I’ve dedicated a lot of time to bringing people on board with the Flute love, from bringing cakes to work to telling everyone who’ll listen about it. It’s now two years since I last wrote about it, so it’s a good opportunity to check whether anything’s changed (hint: no – it’s just as good as it’s always been).

Sweet Bones Bakery

It’s just past 8.30am on a Saturday morning, and Lonsdale Street in Braddon is starting to wake up. We managed to get a table at Elk and Pea without booking or having to squeeze in with someone else, simply because we arrived right on opening (8am). A day of assignment writing stretches out ahead of me, and I feel a little motivation is in order…

The Flute bakery

Canberrans and non-Canberrans alike will argue that Silo Bakery in Kingston is the best bakery in Canberra. I feel pity for these people, because that means they’ve never been to the

Mr Smith cake and 10 layer chocolate cake

actual best bakery in town: The Flute.

The Flute doesn’t do itself many favours by making a lot of the things we take for granted about bakeries – and even modern dining – and thumbing its nose at them. For starters, the bakery is in Fyshwick, hidden across the road from Super Toyworld and almost masked by trees and other industrial buildings. Add to that a crowded and confusing cashier area, opening hours of just 8am to 3pm (!), not being open on weekends (!!) and no Eftpos facilities (!!!), and you’d be forgiven for thinking that they’re deliberately trying to put themselves out of business.