Crumbs Organic Bakehouse in North Melbourne is the newer sister bakery of a larger operation in Ascot Vale that has been around for a couple of years. A whirlwind trip into the city on Saturday morning gave me the chance for a visit to Crumbs to stock up on some goodies to get us through a busy weekend.
Crumbs also serves coffees and has a small bar for eat-ins. All of their baked goods are vegan and organic which meant tough decisions for me. After much deliberation, I ended up buying some chocolate iced and jam-filled donuts ($3.50), pizza slices ($4) and a loaf of olive sourdough bread ($5.50).
The chocolate iced donuts were impressive in size and delivered in taste yet it was the jam donuts that were my favourite. They were filled with a lovely raspberry jam that left the generic "jam" normally used in these types of donuts for dust.
One of the pizza slices was topped with red onions, tomatoes, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and herbs and the other slice had mushrooms, tomatoes, capsicum and sun-dried tomatoes. Although we normally tend to enjoy pizzas with vegan cheese, I didn't miss it at all on these slices as the chewy sourdough crust was just as enjoyable as the toppings.
The olive sourdough loaf had a crunchy crust, with a soft and airy interior and a mild sour flavour. I enjoyed it fresh and even more over the following days, lightly toasted and smeared with Nuttelex. I would be stopping in to Crumbs regularly for loaves of bread if they had a bakery in my neighbourhood.
Crumbs Organic Bakehouse was brought to my attention recently by American bloggers NutriDude and NutriWife who spent some time in Melbourne on their trip to Australia. The Good Hearted also posted about Crumbs last month and rated it highly. Where's the Beef visited on the same day as me and have also posted a complimentary review.
There were a few other veg*n blogs that mentioned sampling Crumbs foods at various places a few years ago - vegan about town, In the Mood for Noodles and Eat More Veggies.
Crumbs Organic Bakehouse
16 Errol St, North Melbourne
Monday to Friday - 6:30am - 6pm
Saturday - 8:30am - 3pm
Sundays - Closed
Oh yes! It's technically impossible to walk past a vegan bakery and not come out with a million things. Love the look of those donuts!
ReplyDeleteYes, definitely and given I was buying for 3 people I did a good job of restraining myself!
DeleteWe were there on Saturday too! What a shame we didn't run into each other. At the very list I can add a link to you in our post, which is due to go up tomorrow. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt was a shame we weren't there at the same time! I'm very keen to go back and try the lemon curd donuts next time after reading your review.
DeleteThis looks like a fantastic place, and I am impressed you restrained yourself to what you bought. Everything looks fantastic and I rather like that they didn't use vegan cheese on the pizza slices. I really need a visit to Melbourne!
ReplyDeleteIt was difficult to be restrained! I'm sure you would love the pizza slices (and the food in so many other places) if you ever make it over to Melbourne.
Deletenever heard of it but it does sound an impressive place - we had excellent jam doughnuts at afternoon tea today but I suspect they weren't vegan
ReplyDeleteI had only heard of it recently and it seems to have slipped under the radar a little. Jam donuts are wonderful treats but it's not easy to find vegan ones.
DeleteJust sending the son and heir off to test out this vegan treat in the city. Living in Tassie sometimes has knobs on!
ReplyDeleteHope they enjoyed some goodies at Crumbs! We are spoilt for choice in Melbourne but Tassie sounds like a great place to live.
DeleteAhh, this brings back fond memories and cravings for those chocolate donuts! Your selections look quite restrained compared to what we walked away with, but I suppose a return trip isn't quite as difficult for you, haha. I'm curious to know what type of selection is available at the Ascot Vale location. Thanks for the mention!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure for the mention, thanks so much for pointing Crumbs out to me! The Ascot Vale store is larger although not all of the baked goods are vegan so Nutriwife did a great job with her research. It's not very close to my house but I'll definitely be back for more.
DeleteYUM! I was SO excited when I saw your blog this morning! Crumbs was one of my absolute favorites and I have been dying for vegan goodies but vegan bakeries are just not easy to find here in the Midwest. Glad you were able to make a trip and try a variety of sweets and treats!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad I was finally in the area! Crumbs had been on my radar ever since reading your posts and drooling over your photos. It was fantastic planning on your part to stock up on so many goodies for your trip!
Deleteoh yum... I've got to get down there. The eastern suburbs seem far too far away.
ReplyDeleteIf you ever make a trip to the Vic Markets, Crumbs is just around the corner! It really is worth taking a quick side trip from there.
DeleteI can't believe there are so many people that don't know about crumbs!
ReplyDeleteThey supply cakes and treats to a lot of cafes/restaurants around melbourne.
I highly recommend the apple, zucchini and walnut muffins, as well as the spelt bread. They are amazing! All the staff at north melbourne can make a pretty good soy late too.
Hot poppy across the road on Errol street even started using some of the bread from crumbs once they opened up.
While the north melbourne shop is completely vegan, the ascot vale one is not (or wasn't a few months ago anyway), but the staff are always in the know with what is and isn't. If you make the trip out to ascot vale, a mister nice guy bakery has also opened up there!
I'm glad to have spread the word a little! Thanks for the recommendations, I haven't tried spelt bread before but it sounds interesting and the muffins sound great too. I think I'll be going there with a full shopping list before I walk through the door!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads-up on Mr Nice Guy in Ascot Vale too!