To say we were famished would be an understatement. Sure, we’d eaten throughout the course of our 6,000 km road trip across Australia, but none of the meals we shared rose to any level of enjoyment beyond sustenance and for a couple of foodies, that’s as good as not eating at all. That is, until we found ourselves in Fremantle and stumbled upon Bread in Common.
Bread in Common is a shared-plate, farm to table concept located in an 1898 heritage listed warehouse building. The design is industrial chic with all the classic indicators – bare bulbs, brick, wooden tables with metal components. However, they do a great job of bringing some organic elements into the space with the green shoots of herbs sprouting from planters all over the place.
A wonderful capture of the space by Sabine Albers, photo from Bread in Common.
As the name indicates, a major focus of the menu here is on their house-made breads paired with dips, spreads, and meats. The bread is outstanding due to the long ferment and slow mixing technique they employ before depositing the loaves into one of their two hand built ovens (nicknamed Hansel and Gretel). However, don’t sleep on the dips and spreads. We went with the house churned salted butter and smoked tomato butter with onion ash and still think about them fondly.
The restaurant has a good mix of veggie, seafood, and meat-focused dishes ranging from roasted sweet potatoes with artichokes and macadamia nuts to roasted pork belly with kohlrabi, pear, radish, and mustard.
Some of the beautiful, and delicious bread they are known for.
We opted for a grilled corn dish redolent of elote from Mexico with avocado subbed in for the traditional mayo and topped with jalapeño, garlic, and chives. That was followed by a dish of roasted mushrooms with an incredible depth of flavor brought out by the addition of shallots, miso, soya, mustard leaf, and to our surprise, blue cheese! Our final main was a slight spicy squid dish that was beautifully acid and salty given the contribution of green olives and capers.
I am confident we could eat at this place for the rest of our days and be content. Probably 300+ pounds, but content.
While Sarah is the sweet tooth in our traveling twosome, I can’t recommend the desserts from Bread in Common enough. The flourless chocolate cake with berries and burnt toast ice cream was easily one of the best desserts we’ve ever had.
So, if you find yourself hungry (whether or not it’s at the end of a 6,000km road trip) and happen to be in Fremantle, do yourself a favor and head to Bread in Common for a meal. It just might be exactly the nourishment you need.
