Dear Dairy,
Today I had a total and utter carbfest. It started with the morning where I heard howling and outside doors banging hard from the wind. It was freezing when I got out of bed (must learn how to set the timer on the heater so that I am woken at a more civilised temperature) and didn’t get much warmer. Even though I knew we were going out to eat shortly, it didn’t stop me from heating a bread roll, smothering it with butter, stuffing it with ham and swiss cheese and devouring it just before we left for a bakery to have brunch.
And so the day went on and we had our carb and pastry filled lunch and finished with creamy pasta with roasted pumpkin, peas and pinenuts. And I only need now to describe to you the lunch in which I stuffed myself full of bread.
Love,
NQN
xxx
I’ve rung ahead to find reserve myself a pie. Yes I know that sounds mad but I had heard that the pies at Sonoma were good and if I am to brave the crazy howling winds outside, I need to know that the trip will be worth it. We walk into their small shopfront, a bakery that churns out lovely sourdough for many of Sydney’s top restaurants along with a happy public trade. There are 4 small wooden tables inside along with some stools outside. My husband takes a seat inside by the window and grabs a copy of Gourmet Traveller (who knew he was interested?) while I order. I choose a Reuben sandwich (toasted) $8, the Lamb and Rosemary pie that I ordered ($6.50), a Chocolate Croissant ($2.80) and a cappucino ($3). For good measure I also buy a round loaf of the Olive bread ($6.00). It’s lucky I did reserve the pie as there is only one lone sausage roll in the warmer, the rest of the pies having sold out.
Lamb and Rosemary pie ($6.50)
I take our spoils to the table and I cut the top off the pie, something of a compulsion I have to do, not only for pictures but to see what the filling looks like inside. There are large, soft chunks of lamb and the gravy is a perfect consistency, not too runny and not too thick. The top is a browned very flakey pastry and the bottom is soft, almost at the brink of collapse. After snapping away I dive into the pie. It’s delicious and the perfect antidote to the day.
Food porn close up of inside the Lamb & Rosemary pie
The lamb is wonderfully soft and the gravy and pastry go gorgeously along with it. There are actually quite a few large chunks of meat which I like although my husband says that he doesn’t like the big chunks. I like it as I know they use real meat instead of gristle but his personal preference is for more mince. No matter, that always means more for me 
Reuben sandwich $8
The Reuben sandwich with pastrami, swiss cheese, baby spinach, sauerkraut and garlic aioli comes on toasted bread slices. The sauerkraut is an interesting addition, not one that I would normally go for and I don’t know if I would order it again. Not that it was bad but it was a bit more unusual than I would like. I could also not taste the garlic aioli. The bread however is gorgeous and worth ordering just for that.
Chocolate Croissant $2.80
The chocolate croissant is next. It’s not warm which is how I like my croissants but it is gorgeously puffed and golden. There is just a small piece of chocolate inside but it feels like just enough chocolate. I love the crunch that I hear when biting into this and the layers of buttery pastry and air collapse with every bite. My husband, not usually a croissant fan likes this too.
Cappucino $3
The cappucino, with organic raw sugar is not as good as we’d hoped. We’d heard that the coffee depends on the barista working at the time. Looks like we were out of luck with this.
Olive bread loaf $6
As for the Olive bread, it was generously studded with olives and delicious untoasted but really comes into its own when warmed. At home, I warmed a slice, spread it with butter and proceeded to eat 3 large slabs of it, the butter melting into it and the warming giving it a spongey crumpet-like texture. My husband thought that it would benefit from some olive tapenade also swirled through it to increase the olive flavour and I wouldn’t say no to that.
And after all of that lovely breadness, it was back to the heater and indoors away from the barbaric winds. And I will break the rules today and allow food to be eaten in bed, the warmed bread with butter and cheese of course.
Sonoma Bakery Café
215 Glebe Point Rd Glebe
Tel: +61(02) 9660 2116,
Opening hours 8am - 3pm Monday-Saturday, 8am-1pm Sunday
Also at:
24/198-222 Young St Waterloo,
Tel: +61(02) 9690 2060
Opening hours 8am - 3pm Monday - Saturday
20 Comments | Add your own
yum, my dad will love this post - he is always in search of the Perfect Pie - and that Lamb one lookd pretty darn good!
Ooooh yeah Sonoma. I LOVE their raisin & walnut sourdough. It makes the best toast. Looks like they’ve finished the renovation which prevented me from eating in last time (although you can sometimes get Sonoma at the neighbouring IGA, or else try DJ’s food hall).
Oh yeah forgot to say - Konichi-wa Lorraine! Very impressed that you’re managing international travel AND possting. Can’t wait to see the posts from the trip, although I’ll be completely jealous. Seems like everybody but me is going o/s right now. Sob.
I love sonoma breads too.
Funnily enough, whilst picking up breads yesterday, I grabbed my lunch from Sonoma @ Waterloo - a sopressa, olive, lemon sandwich on olive bread toasted, with some greens, etc., in it. It was absolutely delicious. I can’t say the same for my coffee which is usually excellent - perhaps he was distracted?
The Soy & Linseed with identifiable soy beans is a favourite and wonderfully versatile, from vegemite, toasted with butter and of course sandwiches for hubby to take to work.
Today we are eating the wholemeal spelt loaf - nice and soft in the middle and perfect for slopping up stews, soups and delicious juices.
The miche is also a standout although all of the breads are wonderful.
There are no pies at the waterloo cafe, but there are beautiful looking soups, quiche and tart type things, and for the sweet tooth the sugar lips filled with lemon curd are sensational!
what’s the verdict? do you prefer this to bourke st bakery?
Hello! Mmmm… that pie looks good!! Just reminded me, my friend was talking about Pie Face, and i didn’t believe her until I had one - they are actually pretty good too (unless I was just really really hungry!)! I had a chicken mushroom.
Perhaps you could review one as well
i’m usually all about the sweet stuff, but that lamb and rosemary pie is gorgeous! i have severe baby-sheep-eating issues and it STILL looks enticing. hooray for carbfests!
do you reckon the chocolate croissant was a zumbo one? when i was in there the other day, there was a tray full of sugar lips.
i bought a spelt fruit loaf that day — really good. but i think my favourite is still the soy and linseed sourdough with the whole soy beans.
That’s the oddest Reuben I’ve ever seen! I’ve NEVER seen one with greens on it, and they usually have Thousand Island or Russian dressing, not mayonnaise or aioli. Then again, the only restaurants in Canada that really serve them are diners, and they don’t tend use baby spinach and garlic aioli.
That pie and the pain au chocolat look amazing.
This place is very near my house…last time i passed by and it was closed for renovation…I thought that i gonna go try there and totally forgot…thanks for reminding me…I gonna go now lol
Hi Kyle-Great, well I think he’ll really like it!
Hi SydneyGal-Mmm their bread definitely makes excellent toast
I saw the sign that you could buy the bread next door-although I wish you could also get the pies next door too! Thanks! I’ll start publishing them soon at the end of the week. It’s very exciting stuff, I really loved Tokyo, such a crazy city! 
Hi grocer-what a pity the coffee wasn’t as good as the sandwich.
The sugar lips sound superb and I must make my way through the other breads! The olive loaf was sensational down to the last crumb-unshared of course, I became very possessive and selfish with it.
Hi lyn-I tried different things from at BSB but I would definitely say Sonoma’s bread and pies are amazing whereas BSBs tarts and sausage rolls are fantastic. So a bit of both!
Hi Carolyn-Oh cool, I’ve seen the store but never tried one. Will try and have some when I get back
Hi grace-LOL Yes baby sheep are cute but this pie is cuter
I was in a bit of a happy carb coma afterwards
Hi bowb-I haven’t yet tried a Zumbo croissant but I think they would make their own. Wow, whole soybeans, that sounds great. Their bread could convert any carb phobic!
Hi KatyBelle -I don’t have a lot of experience with Reubens but that’s interesting to know. Yep perhaps they were doing their own interpretation of it, the Reuben is not a sandwich often offered here so I never even picked up the difference!
Hi Bean Sprout-definitely give it a go and let me know what you think!
i went there but the Lamb pie has already finished, i tried the beef pie instead…Unfortunately, beef one wasn’t good..I have to say there were big chunks of beef but tough and dry…the puff was soggy…hurr..maybe it is not my day…
But I have tried their olive sourdough at the italian festival…so good !! maybe next time i will try toasts there ^ ^
on the rueben theme, I always thought it was corned (salt) beef, emmentaler (cheese), sauerkraut & horseradish on rye. Pickles optional…
oh, and danks st depot does a great rueben. It’s also VERY LARGE!
Hi Bean Sprout-Oh not good! The lamb was definitely soft and not dry. Maybe it had been in the heater too long
It’s good warmed but as toast, the bread is heaven! 
Hi grocer-I’ve yet to try Danks street depot. I’m not a huge fan of tangy sauerkraut, although there is a less tangy variety that I just adore!
The innards of that pie look *wonderful*! The pie seems expensive to me.. but the croissant seems very reasonable!
I first became familiar with the Ruben through an American YouTube friend. She even ordered one while dining out and filmed it for me..dedicating it to me
She seems to think mustard is the condiment that’s supposed to be on Ruben sandwiches. The one I’ve eaten here locally did have wholegrain mustard. I wasn’t impressed with the sandwich much though I do really like saurkraut.
I couldn’t help but note my Ruben and your Ruben are nothing like American Rubens that are much larger (you may already know that)? I wanted to include a couple of links to show you:
An example of the Ruben sandwiches my American friends are used to:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/144/325743439_689006eb8d.jpg
And here’s a place in the U.S. that calls this the ’small Ruben’ sandwich, there is a large one too:
http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Photo.aspx?RefID=1344&PhotoID=7572
I once saw a massive one from New York’s Carnegie Deli.. but can’t find the pic for that now. How on earth people can eat all of these in one sitting I don’t have a clue!
Your carb-fest sounds similar to ‘fests’ I experience.. so you’re not alone! Your honesty is refreshing!
Typo!! Sorry it’s Reuben of course!
Hi Maria-Thanks for those links! Those American sandwiches are crazy filled with meat-it’s like a wall of meat!
I couldn’t eat one, in fact I had a pastrami on rye in NY and left most of it, as much as I love meat, not that much 
Have you tried the huge Miche loaf that is baked fresh in the afternoons on Thursday and Friday at their Waterloo bakery? I think its the best bread I have ever eaten. You have to ask for it at the cafe as it sells out almost immediately and I think its baked around 2pm. Sometimes there is also a Date and Hazel Nut loaf baked fresh as well. I love Sonoma!!!
Hi Allan-I haven’t actually. I’ve never been to the Waterloo branch but thanks for letting me know! I’d love to compare it to the Poilane miche
Mmmm date and hazelnut loaf…
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