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Come for the same brilliant pastries, plus a thoughtful brunch menu and specialty coffee by Coffee Supreme.
Rebecca Foley thinks a lot about what a bakery should mean to locals.
“Sometimes it’s the cornerstone,” she says. “Sometimes it’s the meeting point. Sometimes it’s just about the daily bread. It shouldn’t be about trends.”
But then Sprout Artisan Bakery, which Foley owns with her partner Lutz Richter, has never been about trends. It’s about pastry chef Richter’s precisely folded and shaped seasonal fruit Danishes, berry croissant baskets, and double chocolate croissant buns.
And perhaps most of all, it’s about a great sourdough.
“From the start we’ve sold a lot of sourdough, and it’s a classic daily consumable,” Foley says. “We focus on a shared food experience and great bread is central to that – to a great soup, to breakfast. It’s such a key part to so many meals.”
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On the back of those pastries and breads, Sprout continues to feel eternal – even when perhaps a dozen serious bakeries have opened since it first appeared in the Food Connect kitchen in Salisbury in 2014. From that set-up, to its continuing market stall in nearby Rocklea, to its first bricks and mortar on James Street in 2021, its product has been front and centre.
Foley and Richter could set up shop in a bivouac and still sell out by lunchtime, so there’s a little dissonance when you first discover the new, very modern Sprout Artisan Bakery on Skyring Terrace in Newstead.
It opened last week, and it’s a low-key stunner. Collectivus’ Amanda Leeson has designed a venue of terrazzo benches, vertical grey tiling and striking brass-lined sconce lights.
A large window and access door at the end of the service counter gently separates a small dining room without interrupting sight lines out towards the greenery-lined Quay Waterfront development and the river beyond. It’s good design, done well.
“There are some really beautiful elements, like the little retail space that’s travelled a bit [on social media]. It’s simple, but beautiful,” she says. “I love this aspect, being able to see the water.
“When you see a site and it feels really risky and there’s question marks, it’s probably a good time to think, ‘This could be it. Because it’s a step up from what we’re used to.’”
It’s a step-up in food, too, with chef Richard Valentine flexing his brunch muscle (last used at Sourced Grocer six years ago before he joined Richter as a baker) to write a short, sharp menu that elegantly touches up the classics.
There’s a scrambled egg croissant with house-made dukkah, herbs and chilli jam; a miche tartine with soft-boiled egg and a choice of either smoked salmon, labneh, herbs and caperberry, or heirloom tomatoes, labneh, herbs and a sherry vinaigrette; and a beef burger with onion jam, fontina, black garlic aioli and provolone that’s served with fries.
That’s on top of a cabinet full of Sprout favourites replenished twice a day from the production bakery a suburb north in Albion. Think four-cheese and spinach Danishes, chocolate croissants, cardamon custard scrolls – that kind of thing.
Espresso and specialty coffee comes via New Zealand’s Coffee Supreme. There’s also iced tea, sparkling lemonade, orange juice and a pair of smoothies.
Open Mon-Fri 6.30am-12pm, Sat 6.30am-12.30pm, Sun 7am-12.30pm
Shop 4/60 Skyring Terrace, Newstead
