It’s all happening in Dennistoun. After a flurry of activity, including several new cafes and brunch spots, the latest news from the east this morning is that there will be a new neighbourhood bakery opening on Duke Street.
Laurie MacMillan owns Cafe Strange Brew on the Southside. She has a partnership in Mesa on Duke Street with Andrea Bartolini. They’ve both been chefs for around 16 years.
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An opportunity came up to take a unit across from Mesa, and they had the idea to open a neighbourhood bakery. Enter mutual friend John Meechan, who will be head baker and a shareholder. Andrea and Laurie will apply their own experience in the kitchen to develop new bakes.
John’s background is pastry chefing at Ottolenghi and NOPI – he was head of pastry there. He also had a brief stint at E5 Bakehouse, and a bakery in Berlin.
John runs his own pop up restaurants under the guise of The Mustard Spoon, but the reason he became a chef in the first place is that he was trying to become a baker.
Together they are joining forces to open the bakery on Duke Street, to be called Sweet Jane, a nod to The Velvet Underground. They will open around March, with a full refurbishment in process. The unit will retain antique tiles and original cornice while being kitted out with everything a modern bakery needs.
As first evidence of the Sweet Jane collaboration, there will be a pop-up at Mesa – an alternative Burns Supper with a Middle Eastern food theme on 25th January, £30 per head. Book your place here.