The Sydney Morning Herald logo
Advertisement

Niche cafes and pop-ups find their sweet spot

Annabel Smith
Annabel Smith

Knafeh bakery specialises in the sweet cheese and semolina pudding.
Knafeh bakery specialises in the sweet cheese and semolina pudding.Supplied

Ultra-niche cafes are attracting attention in Britain, with the opening of London's all-day breakfast cereal cafe, Cereal Killer, and Simply Crispy, a Belfast pop-up specialising in potato crisp sandwiches.

In what has to be the (chip) butty of all jokes, Simply Crispy was inspired by a parody news article and sells potato crisp sandwiches, with 35 flavours to choose from. The concept taps into the childhood guilty pleasure of opening your lunchbox and pouring the contents of a chip packet into a standard issue white bread sanger or roll.

The cafe concept is yet to go stale, with news it will remain open until March.

Sweet scrolls at Pop Up Scroll.
Sweet scrolls at Pop Up Scroll.Supplied
Advertisement

But can a food business sustain itself with such a stripped-back offering? From caramel apples to caramel scrolls, these four local cafes have tapped into a niche and developed a loyal following.

Pop Up Scroll

Regularly selling out of his signature cinnamon and cream cheese scrolls at his former cafe spurred Julian Chew to take the plunge and open his Melbourne 'scroll boutique'.

A chip butty at Belfast cafe Simply Crispy.
A chip butty at Belfast cafe Simply Crispy.Reuters

Pop Up Scroll specialises in sweet scrolls, with flavours referencing Chew's childhood, with the nostalgic peanut butter and banana proving popular.

Advertisement

Chew describes a scroll as a "vehicle". Since opening in December, he has expanded the menu to include savoury buns, made using the same brioche dough as the scrolls, to help combat the lunchtime lull.

The pop-up will move into permanent digs later this year.

Caramel apples at Love Dem Apples.
Caramel apples at Love Dem Apples.Sahlan Hayes

Pop Up Scroll, 86 Smith Street, Collingwood, eatascroll.com.au

Knafeh

Advertisement

Sweet baby cheeses! The knafeh cheese dessert at Shisha Bar & Grill in Sydney's Croydon Park proved so popular that the owners branched out into a stand-alone bakery.

Kate and Cameron Reid at the Lune hole-in-the-wall.
Kate and Cameron Reid at the Lune hole-in-the-wall.Chris Hopkins

"We had people ringing up asking, 'Do you guys do takeaway?'. It escalated to a point where we were doing that many knafeh it was slowing the restaurant down and taking up all the oven space," says Knafeh and Shisha co-owner Ameer El-issa.

The portable bakery is housed in a converted shipping container and specialises in the dessert: a cheese and semolina pudding. The traditional Middle Eastern dish ($8) is topped with a crumble mix and baked to order, finished with crushed pistachios and self-serve sugar syrup.

Knafeh's "bearded bakers" have gained a loyal following around Sydney, with the container popping up at various locations and baking up to 3000 serves a night. East Coast expansion plans are also in the works, with two more shipping containers being customised and fitted out in Sydney. El-issa says he is scouting for Melbourne and Brisbane locations, plus a permanent Knafeh HQ in Sydney. Stay tuned.

Advertisement

See knafeh.com.au for details.

Love Dem Apples

Love Dem Apples has found its niche, and is sticking to it, literally, with apples dipped in caramel.

Founder Joe Dunn stumbled across the sweets in the United States and tested the concept at Sydney markets for a couple of years, before opening his Surry Hills shopfront five months ago.

Granny Smith apples are stabbed with a stick and dipped in soft caramel (not the hard red toffee you'd associate with traditional toffee apples) before being rolled in a range of textural toppings. To eat, each apple is segmented into four and served in a bowl.

Advertisement

Dunn keeps things crisp, shuffling the chocolate bar- and biscuit-inspired toppings regularly. Previous specials include the Fraggle Rock with smashed Smarties.

The window display of decorated apples ($7-$11) draws the eyes of passers-by. "It's a bit of a niche market. We're just all about getting the product out there and see how we go," Dunn says.

454 Cleveland Street, Surry Hills, lovedemapplez.com

Lune Croissanterie

Melbourne croissant queen Kate Reid's flaky pastries draw pre-dawn queues at her retail window in Elwood. Reid sells croissants and coffee direct from the petite bakery window, which is only open to the public on Friday-Sunday mornings, until sold out.

Advertisement

The Paris-trained baker's croissants and signature 'cruffins' (croissant-muffin hybrids) have a fiercely loyal following. Reid mixes up Lune's menu with dessert-inspired twice-baked croissant specials - perhaps banana split, tiramisu or Snickers - and various cruffin flavour combos.

Lune Croissanterie is expanding operations this year, with plans to open in Melbourne's northside.

29 Scott Street, Elwood, lunecroissanterie.com

Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.

Sign up
Annabel SmithAnnabel Smith is deputy digital editor for Good Food.

From our partners

Advertisement
Advertisement