The A1 Bakery, Brunswick
The A1 Bakery is an institution in Melbourne's northern suburbs. A Lebanese specialty foodstore and café as well as the obvious bakery, A1 manages to convey something rich and diverse through what is undeniably a very simple menu and quite unassuming surroundings.
Not surprisingly, A1 is about bread, or more specifically Lebanese flat breads with added toppings - something similar enough to pizza for A1 to have adopted this terminology (rather than the more traditional mankoushe). The mainstay of the place is the 'Herb pizza', a flat round of freshly baked bread topped with ample amounts of zaatar, a thyme-based mixture of herbs and seeds. Fresh from the oven this is sweet, soft, tangy and simply delicious. And it is ridiculously cheap to boot: $1.20 for an ample round, easily breakfast for most people. The more luxurious 'meat pizza', topped with a fragrant mixture of lamb and spices and finished before serving with lemon, is $2.80. The big splurge consists of the 'A1 Special', an overloaded bread round topped with zaatar, spinach, haloumy and feta cheeses, tomatoes, sliced black olives and optional sausage, for $6.
Yes, this is breakfast, and there are dozens of people having it at the A1 every day it's open. They are a mix of Anglo-Brunswick types and people from a great variety of Middle eastern backgrounds, not just the Maronite Christians who run the business. During Ramadan the tables are noticeably quieter, although there is still a stream of women wearing hijab carrying bags of khobz bread and other specialty products away.
The other breakfast standard - the coffee - is also worth noting. It is regular espresso coffee rather than Lebanese, but well-prepared, decent if not spectacular (Coffex) and what's more it's cheap. I am not sure where else in Melbourne you can get your latte for $2.50.
After breakfast there are the exotic groceries to pick over, as well as the almost next-door Brunswick Markets and other local specialty food stores. All in all, the A1 is a breakfast pilgrimage site well worth the journey.
Not surprisingly, A1 is about bread, or more specifically Lebanese flat breads with added toppings - something similar enough to pizza for A1 to have adopted this terminology (rather than the more traditional mankoushe). The mainstay of the place is the 'Herb pizza', a flat round of freshly baked bread topped with ample amounts of zaatar, a thyme-based mixture of herbs and seeds. Fresh from the oven this is sweet, soft, tangy and simply delicious. And it is ridiculously cheap to boot: $1.20 for an ample round, easily breakfast for most people. The more luxurious 'meat pizza', topped with a fragrant mixture of lamb and spices and finished before serving with lemon, is $2.80. The big splurge consists of the 'A1 Special', an overloaded bread round topped with zaatar, spinach, haloumy and feta cheeses, tomatoes, sliced black olives and optional sausage, for $6.
Yes, this is breakfast, and there are dozens of people having it at the A1 every day it's open. They are a mix of Anglo-Brunswick types and people from a great variety of Middle eastern backgrounds, not just the Maronite Christians who run the business. During Ramadan the tables are noticeably quieter, although there is still a stream of women wearing hijab carrying bags of khobz bread and other specialty products away.
The other breakfast standard - the coffee - is also worth noting. It is regular espresso coffee rather than Lebanese, but well-prepared, decent if not spectacular (Coffex) and what's more it's cheap. I am not sure where else in Melbourne you can get your latte for $2.50.
After breakfast there are the exotic groceries to pick over, as well as the almost next-door Brunswick Markets and other local specialty food stores. All in all, the A1 is a breakfast pilgrimage site well worth the journey.
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