Husband and wife duo John and Martina Demetrios are set to open the doors to Malvern neighbourhood bakery Butter Days on Thursday 9 October.
The ethos is simple: “At every point, flavour comes first,” says John. “More butter, more better.”
John, who won Australia’s 2024 Dessert Masters, brings a wealth of experience from some of the world’s most acclaimed kitchens, including leading the pastry teams at Pierre Koffman’s in London and Stockholm’s two-Michelin-starred Oaxen Krog, and later as executive pastry chef at renowned Melbourne institution Vue de Monde.
Martina’s Scandinavian heritage has shaped the bakery’s menu, which features a range of Aussie bakery staples and Nordic classics, crafted with traditional French training.
“Butter Days is our way of combining those influences into something fun, nostalgic and unmistakably us,” says John.
The menu will be seasonal, but taking precedence is the bakery’s signature dish, the sunshine buns. The pastry is enriched with butter and malt and filled with lemon-cinnamon custard.
Alongside the buns are brown butter bickies made with browned culture butter and fruit custard centres, and a revolving array of sweet, fruit-driven pastries.
John says the menu is about baked goods that make customers want to keep eating.
“There are no rules and we’ll use that to our advantage. No one says we can’t flood the room with trays of boozy sweet buns, caramelised apple pies or those cardamom-infused Scandinavian treats Melburnians have come to love.”
Savoury options include ‘BMOs’ – Butter Days’ take on Danish morning buns made with salted butter and comte; sandwiches with a variety of breads – like the potato pretzel buns with egg salad, hot mustard, pastrami, and pickled green peppers; pizza slices; and savoury scrolls.
An array of international pantry staples will also be available, including Pepe Saya butter, Karma Cola, Long Paddock cheese, Hepburn Springs mineral water, and Chooks at the Rooke eggs.
The duo designed the space in collaboration with Blackmilk Design Studio, taking cues from the “timeworn beauty” of a flour mill with whitewashed walls and pale timbers.
“We want the space to feel calm and inviting, never stiff or intimidating – somewhere you want to come back to,” says John.
Photography by Pete Dillon
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