The details
Baked at Ancora is attached to PLB Group’s waterfront wedding and events venue Ancora on Wharf Street (formerly fish and chippery Higher Ground), and adjoins a leafy public green space that overlooks the pristine Terranora Creek. The doors softly opened earlier this week with coffees, pastries and artisan bread, with the official opening pegged for Wednesday December 12, kicking off Baked’s full a la carte breakfast and lunch offering. The pastries and breads are well and truly the heroes here, crafted continuously throughout the day at the hands of Gavin Rudd and his team. Walk in and you’ll see the baristas pouring the goods from beans by Tweed Heads roaster Ground Control, but your eyes will soon gravitate toward the viewing window that encases the temperature-controlled pastry kitchen – that’s where the real magic happens.
The pastries, breads, doughnuts and more
Baked is more or less a playground for Gavin Rudd – there’s a real-life ‘kid in a candy shop’ situation going on here and it’s all for our eating pleasure. The pastry cabinet will rotate regularly with Gavin’s creations – we’re talking eye-popping treats like the chocolate praline tart made with chocolate short-crust pastry with a smooth dark-chocolate filling drizzled in caramel cremeux and milk-chocolate glaze, and the apple breton tarte tatin topped with a salted-caramel chantilly cream. If you crave simplicity as well as sugar, go for the brioche buttermilk glazed doughnuts – which are actually square, not round, because Gavin said (Dad-joke warning) that he doesn’t cut corners. The back wall is lined with rustic loaves of bread like sourdoughs, fruit loaves and hand-shaped olive and rosemary rounds, as well as flaky sausage rolls and grab-and-go baguettes with simple fillings like Bangalow ham and butter. The soon-to-launch breakfast and lunch menu is set to feature everything from Japanese-style okonomiyaki omelettes to marscapone scrambled eggs with spicy ‘nduja, and crispy pork-belly milk-bun burgers with green apple and sriracha mayo.
The space, the fit-out and picnics in the park
The cafe’s timber-clad fit-out, complete with giant barn doors, rope-swing seats and sun-kissed outdoor picnic tables, is the handiwork of local creative OJ Thompson (who is behind a raft of local fit-outs like Iku, Etsu and Aloha). Baked is certainly buoyed by its waterfront and park-fronting locale – its bustling inside area seats around 40 pastry fiends, with its neighbouring green space doubling as a picnic spot for patrons. Picnic rugs are on offer (or you can BYO set-up) and perch yourself on the water’s edge for the ultimate riverfront picnic.
Keen to get baked? Head to our Stumble Guide for opening hours, location and contact details.
