In the fabric of our wonderful multicultural Melbourne, the South American community may be a less immediately-obvious thread, but it is no less lustrous than others. Indeed, the South American bakery in North Sunshine is a real sparkler.
There's something about tiny, tucked-away shopping strips that seems to attract South American places here in the western suburbs. Panaderia Sud Americana is nestled in North Sunshine on a quiet backstreet and fills up with members of the Chilean, Argentinian and neighbouring communities getting their sweet fix.
There's a good range of bread that's somewhat reminiscent of French, with stubby baguette-style bread, as well as round, hamburger-like rolls with rustic fork marks on top.
The real drawcard for me, though, are the sweets. They feature lots of pearlescent meringue, whether crisply coating biscuits that in turn sandwich intense caramel sauce or spread gently to enclose huge sponge cakes.
A huge part of the pantheon of Chilean sweets is manjar (known in Mexcio as dulce de leche), a home-made, heavenly, thick caramel sauce. Here it comes swirled in tiny homemade donuts, piped into horns and wedged between shortbread biscuits. Don't try to snaffle these in the car on the way home - you will be covered in crumbs and icing sugar and it will be a dead giveaway!
They make all their own pastry here, including puff pastry that features in some seriously impressive mini danishes. Custard features in sweets too, but I prefer the caramel. Sweet tooths are not the only lucky ones with a small range of empanadas, pastie-like turnovers filled with cheese and/or ham.
DO YOU NEED ANY MORE CONVINCING?
South American Bakery
76 Warwick Road, Sunshine North
Phone: 9364 8302
Hours: Tues-Sat 8am-6pm, Sun 8am-2pm
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Wow, this is awesome. I didn't know about South American bakery stuff :)
ReplyDeleteThis looks Amaaaazzing!!!
ReplyDeleteOf course there's an excellent South American (Chilean I think) bakery in Maidstone too - in the same shops as Los Latinos. Great empanadas.
ReplyDeleteLos latinos is in fact owned by a Salvadorean family and has meals from Mexico, El Salvador, Chile, Panama and others..
DeleteThis looks fantastic - and it's just a few blocks away from my new place that I'm about to move into! (Could be very, very dangerous)!
ReplyDeleteThere are quite a few different South American bakeries / foodie stores in the West.
ReplyDeleteMy parents (my dad is Chilean) make trips to three different ones from our home in Footscray.
One for Chilean wine, another for meat and a third for bread & desserts.
The one that my dad goes to for bread is called Las Peñas, which i s also in Sunshine.
I just showed him this post and he looked rather pleased with the idea of trying a new bakery. I have the feeling that our pantry will be filled with Chilenitos (the meringue covered desserts) by the end of the day!
Also, a possible reason for the bread being "reminiscent of French" could be that Chile in particular, did have a lot of French settlers. :)
ReplyDeleteRuby, can your dad take me on one of his trips?! Only half joking!
ReplyDeleteYes anon very dangerous!! And other anon, cool, I didn't know Marcellano's (sp?) in Maidstone did empanadas!
'Manja' also means acting cuddly in Malay, I'd like to cuddle up to these manjar ;)
ReplyDeleteMarcianos (checked Google maps for the spelling!) do excellent baked empanadas. I think beef, with an egg inside (quail perhaps?). Really delicious. They also do pies I think. Haven't had one for ages as I'm on a diet! Handy to know for lunch as there's precious little around the area if you want something quick, easy and cheap.
ReplyDeleteNO, I don't!! I'm completely sold from the pictures. There's sooo much I want to try if I were to go, so I prolly should! You're such an advocate of the unsung heroes of Melbourne, I swear. Good on you because sometimes, it's really sad when amazing places like these go too unnoticed! Love your posts!
ReplyDeleteOhhh...Ms Baklover...I love how you find these particularly hidden places in the west and share them with us. Honestly...looking at where this one is located, I can't imagine how you found it.
ReplyDeleteI had a look at google maps...there is an interesting looking butcher/smallgoods shop a few doors down...with a name like "Cimera", I wonder if it also sells some Sth American goodies?
This place has the BEST beef empanada
ReplyDeleteOhhh empanadas, how i love you....
ReplyDeleteOh, I love south american sweets! When I was in Argentina I was buying cake by the kilo, literally.
ReplyDeleteNo convincing needed! I love South American sweets and have been missing the bites from a nearby bakery in DC. Now that I know it's here... dessert date?
ReplyDeletePS I had to come back for a second look... at work... oops.
ReplyDeleteSooo hungry right now.
Yes, dessert date! Let's talk soon!
ReplyDeleteCimera is actually a croatian butcher/smallgoods shop. Going there is how i found this sth american bakery!
ReplyDeleteOh, Anon!! The plot and the pot thicken most deliciously! Any hot tips for must-have purchases from Cimera?
ReplyDeleteHi there is it possible to cook the okonomiyaki with just a frying pan? Also could I please have the recipe! Ohsheetson@gmail.com thank you!
ReplyDeleteYes you can definitely cook in a normal frying pan. The shallower the better for ease of flipping. Recipe coming next week!
ReplyDelete