With a large sign declaring “Bite Me” and “Check out the BUNS!” hanging down as an awning, this bakery is hard to miss. Driving down Marion Road it stands out like a sore thumb, garish and obnoxious in its presentation, yet strangely appealing. Talk about effective advertising – for every time I’ve driven by I’ve wanted to go in and check out their buns. My husband had previously lived in the area and so I asked him how the bakery was. He would shrug and say “they only do bread and pies”. I found it odd that a South Australian bakery wouldn’t do the crowd-pleaser of donuts, but didn’t stop to question his authority on the topic.
This past Saturday was warm, the temperature gauge inching towards the 30’s. We had recently moved reasonably close to the area, and I wanted to check out the local amenities. I drove to the row of shops where South Plympton Bakehouse resides to check out the butcher and also the fruit and veg store. The latter was thriving on the warm Saturday – no doubt the sale of punnets of strawberries for 99 cents drawing in crowds. As I waited in the line, there was a couple ahead of me. As the woman waited patiently for her fresh produce I noticed that her husband, standing beside her, looked particularly fidgety. Nudging her he gestured towards the bakery.
Marion Road, South PlymptonView on Map
“Don’t we need some bread?” he asked.
“No, I got a loaf the other day” she replied.
He looked a bit dejected and started fidgeting again.
“What about lunch?” he asked, “Should we get a pie for lunch?”
“I’ve got a fresh salad here for lunch and some meats at home. Stop fidgeting.” she put him firmly in his place.
Again his face looked downtrodden, no doubt thinking how much more satisfying warm, buttery pastry wrapped around succulent meat and rich gravy would be than a piece of lettuce and carrot sticks.
This man may have been unlucky on that Saturday morning, but it got me thinking, a pie did sound pretty good. I’d gotten up early for a few hours work and had forgotten breakfast. Plus, the day ahead involved painting and renovating our house – high energy work. I was starting to get pretty hungry too; yes, I thought, a pie sounds right up my alley.
Walking into the bakery, past a gaggle of men lucky enough to be allowed a pie, my eyes adjusted from the bright sun to fully stocked shelves of baked goods. And lo and behold, shelves of donuts too! The donuts looked properly homemade (they were), large, delicious and smelled freshly fried in their little bags. Forgetting the pie completely I took them home to enjoy as a reward for our day’s hard labour, no doubt to return every time I go and get my fruit and veg.
