Bertinet Bakery

I had high hopes, but never got to try.
We came in on a Sunday morning, to not be greeted by an employee who definitely did not want to be there. The bakery was empty, and poorly stocked (no Bath buns at 10am… wtf?).
The café was closed with a sign saying it was full. We queried this and instead of being told cheerily that it was a 10 – 15 minute wait only a monosyllabic answer from the surly shop girl — «it’s full».
Fine. Whatever.

What could be better than a loaf of fresh bread, warm from the oven, smelling divine and mouthwateringly tasty? A whole shop full of the yeasty little buggers, that’s what!
I have to admit I’m a bit of a bread snob; having a mother who bakes the most scrumptious bread I grew up on a three or four times a week flour-​fest and I spent many a glorious hour watching her kneading dough, sneaking tastes of sugary fresh yeast, prodding freshly proven and silky soft doughy goodness and enjoying the fruits of her labours slathered in butter that melted down my chin…(she still bakes bread twice a week 35 years later!) I like good bread, preferably hand made organic artisan bread, crusty and floury on the outside and tasting of bread. Be it sourdough, spelt, rye, studded with olives, sweetened with honey, multiseeded or plain, baguette, bagel, cob, pave or bloomer, I LOVE BREAD!!!
Anyway you get the message, I need a good bakery and now I want to move to Bath to be near Bertinet because I love their bread… not that bread is all they do, no, they do cakes too, and donuts and pasties and sausage rolls and quiche and meringues and so many other baked bits of joy that I could almost weep with happiness.
Let me explain, we were in Bath for a weekend trip and my mum (also a bread nerd) found this little gem of a shop whilst I was exploring the Roman Baths, she was lured in by the window display of lemon tarts subliminally beckoning her to the door, on purchasing one and seeing the vast array of treats on offer she decided we must come back to sample some more in the café upstairs. The lemon tart was sublime (she didn’t get me one so I’ll have to take her word for it) and the next day after waiting a suitable time from breakfast, we wandered in to a small but adequate room upstairs. There was only one table for 4 left unfortunately right by the door to the toilets which was a bit of a pain but we settled in to peruse the menu. We ordered teas and coffees and selected soup of the day (carrot and coriander) a cheese platter of Homewood’s Old Demdike ewes cheese, Neston Park’s Baronet and Trethowen’s Gorwydd Caerphilly and a toasted teacake which was unavailable so we went for toasted brioche instead.
After a 10 minute wait we got our drinks but to be honest it didn’t seem that long as we were chatting and then a further 15 minutes passed before the food arrived and it was glorious. The soup came with a large slice of sourdough bread which you could toast yourself in the tabletop toaster and it was delicious to the extreme. Sweet carrotty goodness with a lemony blast of coriander in a soup the texture of the softest fur you can imagine. The bread was perfection, chewy and dense without being tough and doughy with the hint of sourness you’d expect and went so well with the soup. The cheeseboard also came with sourdough slices, the cheese pieces were generous and utterly gorgeous and the salad and tomato and onion marmalade were an ideal partner to the cheeses.
We indulged in a couple of desserts, cloud meringue with berry compote and an intriguing salted butter caramel tartine which was explained as toasted sourdough with a caramel topping. The tartine was simply fantastic, just enough of a salty tang to cut through the insense caramel sugar rush and combined with the sourdough was an experience I crave for again, preferably on a weekly basis. The disappointment came with the meringue. It was solid. We expected at least a chewy centre or better still a featherlight mousse of airiness but sadly no, the ice cream was good and berry compote was fine not too sweet, not too sharp but the meringue gets a big thumbs down… change the name from cloud meringue or buy them in from M&S cos they’re better!
I also took home a sourdough loaf (it didn’t last the evening), a pecan pie for me and mr z and a cinnamon brioche with salted caramel and walnut glaze which were pretty darn good too.
The website has a mailorder shop… can I have a regular delivery please: D