Inner West Swedish Baker — Restaurant in Melbourne

The Inner West Swedish Baker’s pie warmer was broken at the Ballarat Farmer’s Market so I didn’t get to try the meatball pastry or liquorice flavoured sausage roll. Opted for sweets for breakfast (which is never a good idea FYI). First up a spiced pear Danish that I’d read on Google was not too sweet. It was overly sweet. Was it cooked with sugar? A bad move. Should have tried the custard and berry for the tartness but honestly thought a spiced pear would be less sweet than a custard one! Pastry super crunchy and delicious. The dry bites without any filling (or much glaze) were the best!

Cheesecake brownie for the win! Lovely dark chocolate brownie that wasn’t too sweet (thank Woden). Tried a bite with just cheesecake. Not very tart, on the sweet side with a pronounced vanilla flavour, and creamy-yet-dense, like a New York style baked cheesecake. Very good on its own. But paired with an impressively bitter, rich and fudgey brownie, the combination was greater than the sum of its parts. Well done, Swedish pastry chef!

Feeling slightly unwell after two sweets on an empty stomach, I had to go back and order something savoury to recover. Opted for the cheese stick that I’d also read good things about online. Not a great cold pastry experience. Lovely crunchy exterior but wished I’d tried a plain croissant instead. Good flavour but not a nice texture - would have been sensational reheated in the oven to bring that buttery dense pastry back to life. Fixed it by eating a sprig of rosemary with each mouthful (having just been to Spring Creek...

Popped by on a whim last Saturday morning to grab a coffee and stock up on weekend road trip essentials. This was my first visit, but my companions have been before, and one just lives around the corner - they highly recommended many of the pastries, especially the brownies and croissants. I love frangipane tarts and I will always try it whenever I see the opportunity and after my first bite I totally regretted not buying more! It was not too sweet which meant I could eat more without feeling nauseous. My friend's brownie with the berries, raspberry I think, was sublime, it went really well with my oat latte. But I think my highlight was the sourdough rolls....I ate those on their own as they were delicious as is, I usually require my bread soaked in olive oil or chunks of cultured butter, but these rolls were perfect on their own. The staff were so super lovely and were literally glowing.... like it sounds weird to say but I was thinking to myself, how are these striking humans not strutting the catwalks of Milan or gracing the covers of Vogue magazine, anyway I digress. I cannot wait to return and stock up on the sourdough rolls and raid the pastry display and try...

I had read about @InnerWestSwedishBaker which sells fika, Swedish pastries that are eaten with a cup of tea (several cultures have something for that time to relax and socialise with tea), as well as a range of breads. Fortunately they also appear at the @NorthEssendon_FarmersMarkets which has a heap of stalls.

I got the kardemumma kanel buller (cardamom & cinnamon scroll) which is a traditional Swedish pastry knot with the crunchy chunks of sugar on the top. This is very tasty and thoroughly enjoyable. I also got a cheesecake brownie which is well balanced and very yum, and I couldn't go past the savoury flaky pastry filled Swedish meatballs, which are really yum. I particularly loved the mixed berry frangipane tart which was fantastic.

#SwedishFood #fika #pastries #Swedishmeatballs #brownie #cheesecake #frangipane #tart #sweettooth #dessert #foodcoma #foodie...