Braking for Breakfast

For someone who is intolerant to most wheat flour, I have a bizzare obsession with bread. After several months of looking six months pregnant every time I ate bread (eight if it was Turkish bread) and spending the rest of the night rolling around in pain, I finally gave in and gave up bread several years ago. Giving up the bread and pasta was relatively easy (as long as I didn't frequent Italian places too much) and after a while I didn't miss it. Occasionally I opted for gluten-free bread but found the majority of it incredibly inferior to regular bread and unsatisfying. I also resented paying up to $3 extra to substitute amazing sounding in-house baked bread for a smaller slice of nothing that appeared to be straight off a supermarket shelf. The other thing was that most gluten-free breads don't absorb sauces and egg yolks as well as standard bread so I'd end up with a soggy mess. Ok, that's probably enough of a rant...#firstworldproblems Anyway, more recently I've become a lot less stringent with avoiding gluten-ised bread and have tried sourdoughs and non-wheat-flour (e.g spelt and rye) breads after hearing that some intolerant people can handle them and have had mixed results. I've also started regularly making my own rye, spelt and buckwheat breads which I seem to be fine with. And when faced with amazing sounding options (hello oatmeal stout sourdough) taste sensation opportunity beats potential pain. So now with so many amazing artisan bakeries popping up around Brisbane, I'm not as inclined to straight out avoid them as I once was.



Which (finally!) brings me to my recent visit to Chester Street, a bakery by day and bar by night, in Newstead which opened late last year. The concept was developed by Damien Griffiths of Alfred & Constance (and several others) and Jocelyn Hancock of Jocelyn's Provisions fame. Jocelyn's involvement was enough to get me interested. A year later, after planning a breakfast date with my old friend C, I finally got there. Chester Street is located on its namesake street, which is a quiet street not far from James St but in an area which is rapidly growing in popularity for new and upcoming food and bar spots. From the front, the building looks rather nondescript with a large parking lot out front, with the exception of the large sign placed up high. We parked in front of a lovely hanging wall garden of herbs, which I was instantly jealous of when I compared it to my half-dying lot at home.



We arrived around 9am on Sunday morning and there were already several customers enjoying breakfast but it was hardly busy. Ordering is done at the counter so after marvelling at the delicious looking baked treats on the counter, we picked up a menu from a nearby table and perused our options. The Chester Street brunch menu is split into four sections: cooked, griddle, just baked and cereals. The savoury mince with poached eggs ($19.90) off the cooked menu sounded particularly appealing given that it was a chilly morning and the ricotta, cinnamon and buckwheat pancakes ($16.90) sounded like a great sweeter option but then I saw the  in-house hot smoked salmon ($5.50) on the extras menu and was sold. I'm a sucker for anything smoked in-house, especially salmon. Then it was a matter of deciding whether to pair it with the avocado toast ($12.90) or poached eggs ($13.90). I've been eating avocado on toast every morning so I opted for the eggs and was happy to discover that the gluten-free bread (which I assume is baked in-house) was no extra charge. Although the somewhat surly looking waiter who took my order answered that 'today it appears to be no extra charge' so it sounds like that may change sometimes.

Long black with milk on the side

I don't like beer. Well, I thought I didn't like beer - experience had told me that beer was bitter, made me feel icky and my face bright red (damn Asian genes). Altogether it was not something I would choose to drink if I had a choice. Then microbreweries started to pop up around Brisbane and craft beers began appearing on drinks menus and being the sucker for trying new things that I am, I gave beer another try and discovered that not all beer was completely awful. Still makes me red and I'm tipsy after half a glass so I'm not rushing to down pints of it but I like to try them in places like Green Beacon,  Fortitude Brewing Co. and even visited several when I was in Bangalore. I'm especially a fan of the places that offer small tasting glasses - perfect Gabi size! Anyway when Brisbane hosted Brewsvegas in March this year, I was intrigued and looked into the events that were on. While I didn't get to any of them, I discovered the Beerkary Bakery which is a concept bakery combining beer and baked goods, developed by Ben Devlin (Chef at Esquire and recently awarded the Good Food Guide's Young Chef of the Year) and Yen Trinh. So despite the fact that both beer and bread don't generally agree with me at all, it really appealed to my love of combining unexpected flavours and ingredients. During Brewsvegas they created Beercarons, beer-flavoured macarons, and some delicious sounding beer-infused baked goods at Bosc one morning. I was disappointed to miss out and so when I heard that they were doing another event at The Scratch at Milton last Sunday, I knew I had to be there. I roped in beer lover I, who is a big fan of The Scratch, to accompany me. 

Line on arrival outside The Scratch

The event began at 10am, which is brunch time in my mind. I ate a light breakfast in anticipation but a busy morning cooking meant I didn't actually arrive at The Scratch until close to 11am. When I arrived, there was already a line of about fifteen people. 



The Beerkary was setup outside in front of the bar with a long table displaying freshly baked treats and loaves of bread. The menu was written on a large chalkboard and there were takeaway menus in the form of Beer Bingo. Four Brewtal beers were featured and each were incorporated into a savoury and sweet item. The savoury items were essentially sandwiches and included hot smoked beef on oatmeal stout sourdough, Welsh rarebit (grilled cheese) on brown butter brioche, pork jowl on sprouted grain and honey sourdough and cured trout on a hopped-up croissant. Chocolate oatmeal brioche with caramelised milk, brown butter grilled pear and caramel scroll, honey sourdough croissant with spiced custard and a lemon and wild flower layer cake rounded out the sweet options. 

Beerkary Bingo

By the time I arrived the cake had sold out and the croissants and brioches were selling quickly. The Welsh rarebit was the next item to sell out and I was starting to worry that there wouldn't be anything left by the time I made it to the front! The meats were cooking on Baby Webers and the smoky scents were doing nothing to sate my growing appetite. I was torn between the smoked beef and pork jowl sandwiches and in the end decided to go with the smoked beef and then share a pork jowl sandwich with I. By the time I made it to the front of the line, the line had doubled and since I had no intention of lining up again we also ordered a brioche to share. I was tempted by the sweet croissant as well but restrained myself knowing I wasn't quite that hungry!

Meats cooking on BBQ

The sandwiches were made to order so while they were being prepared we went inside to find seats and get some beers....it was close enough to lunchtime that it didn't feel too early. The friendly bartender allowed me to sample all of the options and while I really liked the Brisbane River Brown, I ended up getting a small glass of the Bloody Good Stout which seemed appropriate given that I had ordered both the matching savoury and sweet items. Plus I actually really like stouts. 


After choosing, our sandwiches arrived and I eagerly took them and carried them to one free table that we found at the back of the bar. The sandwiches looked small but it was all deception. The bread was sliced thick and stuffed with meat and the accompaniments. I bit into the smoked beef in hungry anticipation and was hit with a flavour sensation. The freshly baked bread had a crunchy chewy crust and a strong almost-rye-like flavour which married perfectly with the tender smoky rare beef. The stout flavour was present without being overwhelming. The menu said that it came with pickles but I tasted something creamier and there were some spinach or similar leaves poking out. Whatever was in it was absolutely delicious and it was absolutely the best sandwich I've ever eaten! 

Oatmeal stout sourdough, smoked beef and pickles

Sprouted grain and honey sourdough, honey glazed pork jowl, apple and mustard seeds