Waited for more than half a year! The new shop opened by Charlie, the pastry chef from the original Small Batch, is finally officially open.
Since I don’t live in the city I’ve never tried Small Batch before, but Daybaker opened and I found out it’s only a 10-minute drive from my place. Someone like me who normally wakes up at 12pm actually forced myself to stay up all night, changed straight out of pyjamas, and went to queue at the door. Luckily I didn’t go on the weekend — I arrived on a weekday morning around 8am and still queued for over 10 minutes.
Many pastries are basically sold out around 10am, and lunch menu (sandwiches, pizza slices etc) starts from 11am.
But as the star chef from Small Batch, Charlie’s pastries are seriously top tier (I’m not even that into pastries, so I only eat the really good ones and his stuff always impresses me!).
Daybaker Reviews
On a weekday morning, plenty of items still available and still a lot of people lining up. Besides plain croissant and cookies, I tried almost everything. My absolute favourites:
- Chocolate Tart
- Chocolate Wattleseed Croissant
They use house-made, stone-ground chocolate. Their tiramisu and chocolate sesame tart from Small Batch were already amazing before, so I think their chocolate work is the key. Rich but smooth, perfect balance between bitter and sweet.
Chocolate tart + buttery crunchy biscuit base + cultured cream + super thin chocolate shard on top — just go eat this.
The items below are also really great
Cracked Corn, Bomba Calabrese
Corn + milk + cheese all blended really nicely. Not much filling, just a simple (but tasty) pastry scroll with corn cheese cream.
Whiskey Canelé
Really nice — crisp outside, soft inside, caramelised crust texture is great. I don’t even eat canelé that often (maybe 3–5 a year) but still enjoyed it.
Salt Beef, Comté, Kraut
Tastes a bit like Hector’s Deli beef sandwich with spicy mustard tomato sauce vibes. Only one slice of salted beef, lots of sauce. Not bad.
Pear, Pistachio
Very pretty. First time trying their pear danish. Middle pistachio frangipane layer is similar to their blood orange danish filling before. Decent.
Morning Bun
Cinnamon sugar style, quite sweet. Butter inside is smooth and soft, but nothing too special.
Lemon Meringue Olive Oil Fingerlime
Lemon filling is a bit too sour for me, and I’m also not a big fan of meringue texture (foamy + coating mouthfeel).
Daybaker
Address – 66 Nicholson Street, Abbotsford 3067
Overall they are not cheap, but the pastry quality, lamination, and the vintage-style shop vibe all feel really solid. A very sincere and well-made bakery — definitely worth waking up early for once.