I was in the Braddon area on a Sunday and decided to stop by Autolyse to get a late take away lunch. At 2.30 in the afternoon, the place was packed with every single outdoor table taken and a few people sitting inside. There was also a long queue to order. The last time I was here, I noticed that they have a variety of sandwiches in their display cabinet. I decided on the salmon sandwich (I think this was $8) which had cream cheese, basil and capers.
The bread, as always, is amazing! I enjoyed this lovely light and healthy sandwich.
Being a huge sweet lover, I spotted the ‘Paris Brest’ ($6) in the sweets window. I had no idea what it was but it looked like a bagel with cream/mousse inside. I had to give this a go. This sat in a cardboard tray with a paper bag over the top so it travelled well in the car. Wikipedia tells me that the Paris Brest was created in 1891 to commemorate the Paris-Brest bicycle race, hence its round pastry shape to represent a wheel. What I thought was a bagel was a sweet hard Choux pastry (that does soften in your mouth) which was filled with a hazelnut mousse and topped off with roasted hazelnuts and pearl sugar. This tasted just as good as it looked. The mousse was light, thick and creamy. Yum!!
This was large and can easily be shared (if you want to share).
On another occasion, I went in to buy a loaf of rye sourdough ($6). I love freshly baked bread with a thick crust on the outside but softness on the inside. This did not disappoint. Even if you can’t finish off this loaf by day’s end (it goes a little stale the next day) do what I do and make some bruschetta and bake it in the oven. Yum!
I also couldn’t resist trying another small sweet – the baked French brioche donut ($5.50). This looked like two pieces of whole donuts stuck to each other and covered in sliced almonds.
I cut it right down the middle to reveal it was stuffed with custard. Mmm. Unfortunately, I found this pastry much too dry for my liking. The custard was smooth and creamy but I ended up throwing out half of it. I much preferred the Paris Brest to this.
Autolyse is one of those places I’m always happy to go back to and try something different. I can’t wait for the next trip there.
Foodgasm 8/10
