Calle Bakery, North Carlton - Bastille Day specials

I hate queues.  But I also have a daughter who follows some of the latest trends on social media and was very keen to go to Calle Bakery for a Parisian hot chocolate which was only available last weekend to celebrate Bastille Day on 14 July.  I thought it would be a quick cuppa and out of there.  So I was horrified to hear the wait in the queue was 30 minutes.  It was actually 60 minutes but the hot chocolate and croissants were amazing.

This is the crowd.  Calle Bakery is quite small inside but they must have good relationships with their neighbours as their tables outside overflowed onto the pavement outside cafes either side.  It was a sunny morning with lots of passerbys and wonderful North Carlton terrace houses opposite.  Not a bad place for a queue, if queue we must!

As we got closer to the front of the queue we watched the people finishing up their meals and leaving empty tables, trying to identify which one we would be granted.  Sylvia and I talked about our order, even though we couldn't really see exactly what the choices were inside.  We watched groups and couples being served amazing hot chocolate, loaded baguettes and impressive croissants.  Most amusing were a couple of instagrammers who spent a lot more time on photos than me.  Another queue snaked out the door in the other direction of those waiting for their takeaways.  That wasn't even a quick option.

After an hour we were seated and told to order inside with the table number.  As you can see in the above photo, there was a tyranny of choice with the croissants.  Sylvia wanted the plainest and I wanted the fanciest.  It is not every day I get to eat a croissant wheel.  I like the look of the Choc Hazelnut, the Yuzu Honey and Sea Salt, and the Banoffee croissants. 

Our croissants were served first.  Each weekend the bakery offers two different flavours of croissant wheels.  The croissant wheel I chose was a Hazelnut Praline.  (The other flavour of the day was Sticky Date pudding.)  We waited for our hot chocolate before we ate.  I was quite happy to spend a while admiring the beauty of my croissant wheel.  Even Sylvia's plain croissant was a work of art!

The hot chocolate came in a teapot for two with a fancy swirl of whipped cream in a parfait glass.  We each poured half a cup of hot chocolate which was thick and rich like melted chocolate. It was satisfying to stir in a swirl of cream.  We'd been watching others long enough to see that many were dipping croissants into the hot chocolate.  Sylvia found her plain ones were better for dipping than my fancy wheel with a shard of praline, melted chocolate and creamy custard filling. 

 

Both my drink and croissant were so rich that I was really full as I left, 45 minutes late to meet my friend, Kathleen, for lunch.  (I took a lot of my lunch home to eat for dinner!)  I hope we can go back when the queues are much shorter.  

 

One final note: I'd been confused because I remembered going to that bakery a few years back for great bread but no croissant wheels.  Then I found that it was previously Kylie's Slow Dough.   In August 2022 it reopened as Calle Bakery and their European inspired baking has garnered high praise from both the critics and tiktokers.

Calle Bakery

649 Rathdowne Street, North Carlton  VIC  3054

https://calle.com.au/