Since 1992, Sydney Road institution A1 Bakery been setting the bar for Lebanese baked goods in Melbourne. Now the family-run business is bringing its satisfying pizzas, pies, pita and falafel to a third location: Brunswick Street, Fitzroy.

“We’ve been looking [for a new site] religiously for a year. This one caught our eye. It was a different feeling, so we had to sign the papers before it was too late,” co-owner Daniel Raji tells Broadsheet.

Raji’s parents (Elias and Nadia Raji Farah) and aunt and uncle (Nouha and Chafic Choueiri) founded A1. Now in the hands of Raji and his brothers, the business has two locations: Sydney Road, Brunswick, and Station Street, Fairfield.

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The Fitzroy store will open at the former Tora Dumplings site midyear, serving many of the usual A1 stars. Expect perfectly salted spinach and cheese triangles, piping hot shanklish pies, za’atar manoush (Lebanese pizza) and falafel trays piled with crisp falafel, crunchy salad, pickles and house-made pita. As at Sydney Road, everything will be baked on-site, and there’ll be a few pantry items to take home.

“Brunswick street is full of great people and it’s a great environment, so we knew it was going to be right,” Raji says. “We’re hoping to invite a lot of other cultures in.

“It’ll be more of a takeaway business [than the Sydney Road store]. But people can still grab a seat as there’ll be around four or five tables.”

A1 Bakery Fitzroy will open at 295 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, in mid-2023.

a1bakery.com.au