It is enticing to walk into a bakery or café and get a waft of freshly, baked goodies. A perfectly baked loaf of bread exudes warmth and love. The perfect bread needs to have the right texture and flavour. We picked these five bakeries in town to satiate your good bread cravings.
Old Madras Baking Company (Outlets across the city)
This one is a no-brainer. Launched in 2014 by Sandesh and Mansi Reddy of the popular eatery Sandy’s Chocolate Laboratory, it has opened numerous outlets in the city. There are about six outlets in Chennai including those in Alwarpet, Harrington Road, Anna Nagar and Adyar. In addition, they have now launched a doorstep delivery service of breads based on subscription model. They have close to 20 varieties of bread. You can pick from varieties like country, wheat, gluten-free, cereal, panini, focaccia, sourdough and more.
Tryst Café (Nungambakkam High Road and ECR)
The Tryst Café has been extremely popular choice among the expat population. The beautifully-renovated place serves delicious food and also stocks up on freshly baked bread varieties. The place is run by Samia Sait and she is often spotted in attendance at the café, interacting with clients asking about their preferences. They have a range of breads like kraftkorn (malt-rye bread that has least serving of maida) and baguettes. They also have gluten-free and vegan varieties.
Nicky’s Café and Fine Pastries, Egmore and Mylapore
This stylish café is a hard to miss on the Ethiraj Salai, Egmore and is a family-run place by Nicky Mahboobani, a management degree with a passion for cooking. The vegetarian café (they only use eggs) serves Continental fare and also sells a range of freshly baked breads. Their bagels are really nice. You can sip on cold coffee, have a quiche and then buy your bread of choice.
Smith Field Bakery, Vepery and Anna Nagar
This one is city’s oldest bakery and is situated on Perambur Barracks (PB) Road in Vepery. It continues to hold its ground and has been enticing food lovers for more than 125 years. The place is known for its delicious biscuit varieties, fresh sweet breads, buns, plum cakes and ‘T’ cakes and it uses traditional medium for baking, the natural wood fired ovens. The bakery was established in 1885 by S P Ponnuswamy Naicker and it was named after the first ICS Commissioner of Madras Corporation, E Conran Smith and is now run by S. Rajesh, the great-grandson of Ponnuswamy. He will happily tell you what to pick from the breads available.
Winner’s Bakery, Alwarpet
Prominently located just as you get down the CP Ramaswamy flyover on the left side, it is hard-to-miss. Launched in 2005, it is a joint venture of Chennai Corporation, Rotary Club of Madras East and Chennai Culinary Institute. The bakery has some amazing variety of breads and you can take your pick.
