Central Baking Depot

Fresh, tasty pastries. Love coming here (at the expense of my waistline).

I think that this place has the best beef pies. However, I am only giving it three stars because their almond croissant was very dense and not flaky as we would have expected it.
Seating here is quite limited, but generally the people patronizing this establishment tend to eat quickly so there should be little worry about being able to get a seat. There are a fair number of customers just get their food or coffee to-​go.

Yum!!! The place to go for a croissant and a coffee in the city midweek. Almond croissants are divine. Bread is okay, never had the chance to try a pie or a sausage roll but have heard they’re nice also. Visiting mid morning is best as it’s very busy during lunchtime. Service is lacking– have only ever had good service once and staff aren’t very friendly, they seem very rushed even when it’s quiet.

I keep finding new and wonderful reasons to love Central Baking Depot.
Our relationship began with the pastries. CBD is one of my go to shops to grab a pastry for someone’s birthday– and a few to share amongst my pod mates, of course. The pear and raspberry tart is always a must for our group, complimented by one or two other delectable items from the vast selection.
The sweet pastries alone would warrant a 5 star review, but CBD doesn’t stop there.
The sausage rolls and pastries easily surpass any expectations: lamb and harissa? Brilliant! Spinach and feta? Gorgeous! The cakes aren’t as pretty as the ones you’ll get from patisseries in the area, but both the baked ricotta cheesecake and the gluten free chocolate sour cherry are not to be missed.
I recently used CBD to cater a morning tea for our group. Sticking with our usual budget I was able to supply more food than usual, and in our group of picky eaters, not only were there no complaints– I received nothing but raves.
The sausage rolls, pies, and cakes alone would warrant CBD a 5 star review, but, yet again, CBD doesn’t stop there.
The coffee is surprisingly good. To be honest, I had no expectations for the coffee. I grabbed one because I was picking up a large order and wouldn’t be able to stop elsewhere, but was desperate for even the faintest hit of caffeine. I assumed that since CBD does pastries so well they’d slack a bit on the coffee, but, you know what happens when you assume …

The most amazing pastries and sandwiches. The best cappuccinos and smoothies in the neighborhood for sure. Service is very friendly and the location is very convenient.

My all-​time favourite bakery. In the world.
Tarts, pies, sandwiches, fresh bread, cakes — what more could you want?
Love love love the crème brûlée tart — crisp, crunch brulee on the top, perfect pastry on the bottom. Almond croissant epitomises the naughty, delicious breakfast. My favourite is/​was (it seems to no longer be on the menu!) the ham, cheese, cornichon and aioli/​mayo sandwich. My colleagues and I would trek all the way from the other side of the city during our lunch break just to pick one of these babies up! Please put it back on the menu!!!

Almond croissant: 4 stars (top could’ve been crunchier)

Best pies and sausage rolls ever! Friendly staff as well

Central baking Depot, I would have given you five stars yet your coffee just didn’t do it for me on one given Tuesday morning. Le Sigh. We are still friends. I love your cake and pastry displays… oh dear I salivate. No wonder you have won so many foodie awards including the SMH Good Food Guide. You do deserve it. Your a cute little store with simple milk create like seating, however you won my heart back with the Ham and Cheese Croissants.
I love you toasted, so flavoursome and that quality swiss cheese, fresh ham and well cooked bread. That and a latte only set me back $ 8 and I will content for breakfast. Gees, you do get busy from 8:15am onwards don’t you? Ah ha, that’s right. Beautiful. Trust me, I will see you again real soon.

Let me tell you what… this place is the best. Everything from their coffee to the pastries to the pizza to the sandwiches and salads is awesome. If I wouldn’t get fat, I’d come here everyday.
I think it’s one of the two best coffees in the CBD. For breakfast I get their strawberry ricotta muffin or the goats cheese, tomato and spinach quiche. For lunch, they have good pizza, often their salad is vegetarian but this changes daily, and they make the first egg salad sandwich I’ve ever liked.
The only drawback is one guy yells at you for your order and then doesn’t listen when you tell him what you want.

I want to really like this place because it’s an offshoot of Bourke Street Bakery and it just looks really cool (lots of space and seating, kind of industrial-​looking) and busy and it’s up to its bazooka with slick city folk inside. This could be San Francisco, you imagine. Or perhaps Singapore. Or Hong Kong. But the point when you go to this bakery/​café is to buy food and drinks. And that’s where it falls slightly short for me. Let me clarify. There is actually nothing wrong with the food. There are a lot of really yummy and various croissants on offer, breads, muffins, pies, sausage rolls, quiches, pizzas for 1, sandwiches and on and on. And yet more often than not I walk out of there with my hands in my pockets (if I have pockets) and my purse untouched. I have two theories for this and they’re not mutually exclusive. The first is that not everything is within eyeshot and whatever is I am never, at the said time, in the mood for. The other is that more often than not I walk in there looking for a sausage roll but it’s never lunch (on who’s watch??) yet. So there it is — my two slight problems with this place. But definitely check it out, for, as I had mentioned, there is actually nothing wrong with the food and coffee here.

This is the MOST fantastic bakery, not only offering some of the best and widest selection of baked goods (my favourite of all foods ever) which is busily made right infront of you, but they allow you to sit in and watch the magic unfold as you eat your breakfast or lunch.
So much better than your average meal on the go, this place almost belongs in some European-​artisan-​edgy district, but no, it’s smack bang in the middle of the very convenient old CBD!

It’s little wonder this city side bakery is cousin to Sydney’s famous Bourke Street Bakery in Surry Hills — their delectable sweet and savoury baked goods recall a similar selection at the original outlet, while swarms of people pack out the little shop throughout the day.
They’re open pretty early on weekdays and have a small sit-​down area for quick breakfasts — the massive almond croissant, rhubarb danish and strawberry and ricotta muffin were my go-​to choices when working downtown. During lunch, you’ll be even less likely to score a table, but thankfully they’ll heat up items for you in no time — like my favourite cherry tomato, parmesan and rocket pizza — to carry with you. If you’re stopping in for afternoon tea, make sure you try the bittersweet pear and chocolate frangipane tart with a buttery, flaky pastry base.
For anyone on the east side, the former Baker Friday shop (once run by an ex-​BSB chef) is now also a CBD outpost.

Ok this place doesn’t need another review of how great it is, because everyone is in agreement that it’s the bomb. No convincing needed. But I just had to write a quick note of what I ate the other day that really blew me away.
I was sitting at Wynyard park and looking at my empty paper bag, took a deep breath and said a silent «whoa, that was gooood». It was the pork and fennel sausage roll (the lamb and harissa also has the same effect) and the AMAZING raspberry and chocolate brownie. Can’t believe I never discovered this before! You gotta try it, best brownie I’ve had in a long, long time. Even go so far and say it is the best brownie I’ve ever had!
Go get one now before they change the menu. I think its on there because raspberries are in season at the moment. Delicious!

Delicious sandwiches, fantastic bread, and oh-​so-​yummy pastries that are only a hop, skip, and jump away from Sydney’s corporate offices. Central Baking Depot is a small bakery and café, its extremely popular and more often then not a huge line extends out of the door. It’s a place that will delight your senses and make your waistline cry. The chocolate ganache tart is utterly delicious and their coffee is nothing to scoff at (strong creamy cappuccino anyone?). While enjoying their food, you can actually watch them make their bread in their baking area which is set apart from the dining area by big bags of flour (how cute is that?). Perfect ambiance, fantastic treats, and did I mention affordable prices? You definitely have to visit this place. You won’t regret it.

The smell of a good bakery always sucks me in and the Central Baking Depot (CBD) on Erskine Street in the city is no exception. It’s a fresh morning and the streets are still quite scarce although there are a few people already getting their daily CBD fix.
I go in with the intention of just grabbing a coffee but the aroma of fresh baking bread makes me salivate. It’s early but I could quite easily hook into any of the sausage rolls, pies, pizza, cakes, sweets or baguettes on offer. I look at what other customers have on their plates although I can’t go past the Lamb and harissa sausage roll. Ok, my health kick starts tomorrow.
I also grab a fresh loaf of sour-​dough bread for later although walking out and hugging it, it keeps me warm and smells fantastic. I’ll be back!