At these seven remarkable restaurants, bread is elevated to an art form.
Bread is one of life’s great pleasures – and across the restaurant scene, it’s boldly reclaiming its rightful place at the table. At London newcomer Oma, the laffa bread is a standout, not a side, slathered with velvety dips, while in Vienna, Steirereck’s bread trolley is the stuff of culinary legend. At each of these very different restaurants, the bread is a thing of beauty: a sustaining staple that slyly steals the show.
Oma, London
@oma.london
There are few hotter tables in London than this Greek-inspired address, whose breads caused an overnight sensation when the restaurant opened on the edge of Borough Market. First up is the wild-farmed laffa, a pillowy, slightly scorched flatbread delivered straight from the grill. “We’re also very generous with the olive oil and salt,” says owner David Carter. “Against hot bread, that’s pretty hard to beat.” Their second bread is also world-class: a looped açma verde, seamed with emerald-green wild garlic butter. Order both, along with some luscious spreads (smoky baba ghanoush, say, or salt cod and labneh dip).
Need to know Can’t get a table? Then feast on wood-fired flatbreads at Agora, the restaurant’s more casual ground-floor sibling.
Cura, Lisbon
@curalisboa
Forget about bread baskets and side plates: at Cura, the breads score a standalone course midway through the tasting menu. Like all the dishes, they’re rooted in the Portuguese soil – so the signature bread is made with millstone-ground barbela wheat, grown in the region since the seventh century. Complex, beautifully structured and some 26 hours in the making, this is a loaf to be savoured. The restaurant’s milk bread, meanwhile, is feather-light and miraculously fluffy (the chefs use the Japanese yudane method, with boiling water added to the flour).
Need to know Don’t skimp on the accompaniments: vivid green, cold-pressed olive oil and butter from Ilha do Pico, aged for two weeks at room temperature for a serious umami hit, then finished with toasted yogurt powder and cocoa.
It’s all about fire and ferments at chef Mat Lindsay’s Sydney eatery, from the small plates to the flame-charred burnt pavlova. No surprise, then, that its fermented potato bread comes straight from the wood-fired oven. It’s served with kefir cream, dashi jelly and salmon roe – a genius combination first dreamt up as a late-night, post-service snack. The taste is a revelation, thanks to those potatoes, fermented for five or six days before breadmaking even begins.
Need to know Don’t worry if things get messy, that’s the idea, says manager Honor McGrath. “Just break it apart with your hands, and spoon on the jelly, roe and kefir-fermented cream.”
Indian Accent, New Delhi
@indianaccent
This New Delhi restaurant is known for its audacious riffs on the classics, whether we’re talking pulled-pork phulka tacos or its hundred-layer paneer. The breads are equally creative, baked fresh every morning or to order in the tandoor oven. Expect the unexpected: a parmesan chur chur paratha, perhaps, deliciously crisp and flaky, a side of puffy little Kaffir-lime pao or a kulcha stuffed with applewood-smoked bacon. Look out for the iconic blue cheese naan, often served as an amuse-bouche.
Need to know Order the black garlic naan, a favourite with executive chef Shantanu Mehrotra: “It draws a beautiful bridge to the West, with the simplicity of a butter naan, the complexity of black garlic, and French butter to add a different dimension.”
Nura, New York
@nurabrooklyn
Proof that carb-avoiding has had its day? The dining room at Nura, where every table’s intent on a bountiful basket of bread. Brunch brings a selection to share (good luck with that), while at dinner, you get to choose its contents a la carte. Every option is elevated into something truly special, from gently crumbling cornbread to Parker House rolls, spliced with green peppercorn and sage. The tandoor-baked naans are the bestsellers, says co-owner Michelle Lobo, and everyone orders the dips: currently green chilli houmous, home-made yoghurt and date syrup-swirled roasted carrot.
Need to know The team also run a bakery a few doors down, which moonlights as a wine bar. Drop by at lunch for an epic sandwich on the sesame-flecked house focaccia.
Cloudstreet, Singapore
@cloudstreet.sg
Drawing on chef-owner Rishi Naleendra’s roots in Sri Lanka and Australia, this acclaimed Singapore eatery is a real one-off. Its signature bread is a fixture on the freewheeling tasting menu: an addictive little molasses-glazed loaf made with Sri Lankan stout and liquorice. Slightly denser than a yeast-based equivalent, it’s more like a soda bread – “somewhere between a cake and a bread”, says Naleendra. Fragrant with liquorice and star anise, it’s best devoured with whipped French butter and a soupçon of sea salt.
Need to know That molasses crust is sticky – and while you’re given an oshiburi (towel), don’t stand on ceremony: you’re very much allowed to lick your fingers.
Steirereck, Vienna
@steirereck
Steirereck’s team wouldn’t dream of relegating its loaves to a basket. Here, there’s an entire trolley, stocked with up to 27 different breads. At the helm is the heroic “captain of the bread cart”, Andreas Djordjevic, who’ll talk you though the options then cut the perfect slice, wielding just the right breadknife. It can be overwhelming: how to choose between a honey and lavender-laced rye or a hunk of double-baked sourdough? If in doubt, opt for the famous blunzenbrot, studded with black pudding and baked in house. On the side, there’s linen-pressed raw milk butter and finely-ground Carpathian salt, delightfully referred to as “salt snow”.
Need to know A top tip, if you’re angling for seconds: Djordjevic and his trolley will only trundle back once you’ve finished your first helping.
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