Ruby Assembly @ Candied Bakery

As a fan of baked goods and having breakfast out as often as possible, I set the GPS and girded my loins to leave the inner-north I know so well and make the journey to Candied Bakery in Spotswood. After I safely made it to Dynon Road and began gliding along the water past silos and federation houses in various states of disrepair – an older kind of Melbourne architecture and urban layout began to refresh my eye. Watching as the Westgate Bridge loomed above me like a giant, concrete-spined dinosaur and the city glittered in the distance over a shipping channel, I regretted avoiding this side of town simply because it was unfamiliar. Today, come with Ruby Assembly on a journey to Spotswood and Candied Bakery – both places that we’re sure will be part of a ‘new big thing’ for stylish young things in the inner-west.

Candied Bakery is the brainchild of Toula Ploumidis and Orlando Artavilla (below), a husband-wife team best know for their boutique bakery Sugardough in Brunswick East. Having gone on a whirlwind culinary journey around the US, the two came back re-invigorated and primed to create a new kind of culinary experience in Candied Bakery, which is a blends the classic Aussie bakehouse with Americana.

The fitout is quite unlike the vintage, ‘Frankie-Magazine’ feel of Sugardough – instead Candied Bakery offers its punters an aesthetic of clean polished concrete, a large communal table with sexy seating, and huge windows onto community hub Hudsons Road. As you sit and eat, you enjoy easy vision to the industrial kitchen and wall of freshly baked breads and cakes – including the Nutella croissant that is my favorite! Although I didn’t try it on my first visit, I’m also aching to give their Apple Pie Shake a whirl.

I enjoyed a Croque Monsieur and cute pot of lemongrass and ginger tea while catching up with my dear friend J (who also took the outfit post images below – thanks!). The Croque was rich and tasty, made with brioche and featuring pancetta and an egg inside.

Hudsons Road (where Candied Bakery is located) feels like a mixture of postwar and country Victoria streetscapes. The shopping strip also features a beautifully merchandised florist and popular coffee haven ‘The Duchess of Spotswood’. Unlike the inner-north venues I normally haunt, this Spotswood hamlet had a quiet energy to it – a peaceful pedestrian quality. It also had a lane filled with happy purple flowers and tall bamboo shade which made a great backdrop to my comfortable outfit for the day- a cheeky ‘Toile’ tee from Threadless, Gorman pants and shoes plus Dinosaur Designs resin accessories.