Millstone Patisserie

Alice Wright could be sorting out your tax return, but the 25-year-old decided instead to use her powers for good, abandoning her accountancy job to train as a patissier in Paris. For this we should all be thankful. 

After working in Paris' famous Dalloyau patisserie, she returned to Melbourne where she recently opened her own cafe in Malvern. She is now turning out exquisitely crafted pastries, desserts and croissants from which even the local ladies-who-lunch can't abstain.

Wright is both manager and in-house pastry chef, creating at least 90 perfectly formed pastries every day - and they always sell out.

"That's why so many people come in for them, because they know they're made fresh daily," Wright says. "But I'm still really surprised at how well we're going. Even on weekdays we've had people lining up."

It's behaviour usually reserved for hyped north-side eateries, not cafes in leafy, residential parts of the inner-east.

"But everybody loves pastries," says Wright.

It's not all buttery, flaky goodness - the breakfast menu also includes less exotic fare, from Dr Marty's crumpets with preserves ($7) to Woodfrog bakery bread toasted ($7) and a toasted brioche breakfast roll with fried egg, crispy bacon, chipotle mayonnaise and baby spinach ($9.50). Even  although even the porridge -  vanilla scented and served with roasted quince, roasted macadamias and brown sugar ($13.50) - is no ordinary stodgy affair, and neither are the light ricotta hotcakes with vanilla mascarpone, homemade honeycomb, berries and edible flowers ($17).

Baked eggs (with chorizo, capsicum, spinach and Manchego cheese, $16), smashed avo (with sliced radish, Meredith goat cheese, maple chill and seeds, $16) and zucchini and sweet potato fritters (with Meredith goat cheese, house-made beetroot relish and a poached egg, $16.50) all make an appearance as well - but really, Millstone's cake display case at the front of the airy space should be your focus here.

Using classic recipes from her French training alongside her own inventions, Wright's changing line-up of pastries (various prices from $6-$8) includes house-made croissants and pain au chocolat; the best-selling Ali’s salted caramel, hazelnut and rhubarb domes, made from light-as-air mousse with rhubarb inside, sitting on a flourless chocolate sponge; tart tatins; chocolate hazelnut soufflé tart; and the already classic brioche doughnuts.

"The cheesecake also sells well, with vanilla and lime, roasted rhubarb, raspberries and caramelised macadamias. I get bored so I bring out new ones every day," says Wright. 

"I love thinking of which flavour combinations work well. I didn't want to do a lot of things that they have in France because Australians are used to having things less sweet, so I've adapted a lot of recipes to put in a bit of sourness."

And while she says she "can't go past a croissant", Wright herself is not a sweet-tooth.

"It's quite bizarre. I love the taste, and I'll have one bite, but I love salt and savoury. But I've seen people eat a brioche doughnut at 8am." Hell yeah.