• Rustica Sourdough Bakery & Cafe (Brunswick Street, Fitzroy)

Rustica Sourdough started in April 2012. In many ways it is a bakery with a café on the side. Everything is made or baked on the premises. Brenton Lang heads up the baking team and is the owner of the bakery.

Brenton’s passion for artisan breads is what the place is all about. There are a number of breads available for tasting. The one I liked the most was the Seedy Wholewheat. This naturally drove me to order a lunch of Smashed Avocado on Toasted Seedy Wholewheat ($12). This was a simple dish but beautifully put together with perfectly ripe avocado, Persian feta, lemon and olive oil.


This was a meal in itself, but I decided to follow up with the Passionfruit Tart ($5.50). The tart was quite sublime. Lots of places make passionfruit tarts, but this seemed to be in a class of its own with a light and crisp shortcrust pastry and a light but intensely flavoured passionfruit curd. The curd was topped with a thin layer of passionfruit glaze and dusted with icing sugar. I finished off the meal with a piccolo coffee ($3).


The coffee that is served is a Roast Croft which is rich and creamy without any bitterness. Judging by the patrons in the café it appears that word might have got around that this café turns out great food and coffee at extremely reasonable prices.

Rustica is a casual friendly and light filled café. There is a table for 6 and a couple of long benches, but mostly it provides tables for 2 or 4.

The café serves breakfast and lunch daily. It closes at 5pm each day. There is a commitment to serving well-presented dishes using quality ingredients. I suspect all dishes/food on offer would be of the same high standard and value for money that I experienced. If I was within a few kms of Rustica I would be happily lured back for a passionfruit tart and a coffee.

A word about the breads: most of the loaves are priced around $5.60 to $6.20. I took home a loaf of Seedy Wholewheat which is a fabulous bread for toasting, but there are a lot of traditional sourdoughs (including a spelt) and a range of speciality sourdoughs including olive and basil; raisin and hazelnut; fig and fennel.


About the Author
Michael is a food and wine connoisseur.  He also makes a delicious chocolate cake.


Rustica Sourdough Bakery & Café
402 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy 3065
03 9417 7775
www.rusticasourdough.com.au

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