Bakemono Bakers

In a city obsessed with coffee, brunch, and the competitive art of queueing politely, Bakemono Bakers has managed to create genuine cult status around laminated dough. The small Fitzroy bakery opened in 2022 and quickly became one of Melbourne’s most talked about addresses for viennoiserie with Japanese precision. Founder and pastry chef Ryne Hasegawa trained in fine dining before turning his attention to croissants, which may explain why every tray leaving the oven looks as if it has passed a quality inspection worthy of a Swiss watchmaker.

The bakery itself is compact and sharply designed. Pale timber, brushed steel and clean lines give the room the calm confidence of a Tokyo espresso bar. Outside, people gather on the pavement with trays balancing black sesame pain suisse, yuzu danishes and impossibly crisp croissants that shatter dramatically onto dark coats. Melbourne winters have probably never seen so many elegant pastry casualties.

Bakemono means “monster” in Japanese folklore, though the only frightening thing here is the possibility of arriving too late. Their laminated dough takes three days to produce and the best items disappear with astonishing speed. The curry croissant has become something of a local obsession, combining buttery French technique with deeply savoury Japanese comfort. It sounds gimmicky on paper. It absolutely is not.

Fitzroy already had excellent bakeries before Bakemono arrived. Few, however, feel this precise, this contemporary, or this distinctly Melbourne in the best sense: ambitious, multicultural and faintly obsessive. Which, frankly, is exactly what you want from a city bakery.