Canterbury Lebanese Bread

For a bakery in Canterbury, New South Wales, Canterbury Lebanese Bread is the kind of place people drive to for one thing and leave carrying a few extra bags. The Lebanese bread is the draw: soft, chewy, and fresh from the oven. Locals will tell you it's baked more than once a day, so what lands in your bag has barely had time to cool.

Their own line is that they've been producing Sydney's finest Lebanese bread since 1977, and the neighbourhood talk backs up the confidence. People who grew up on this style of bread say it tastes just like they remember. One customer has been buying it for years, and some call it the best Lebanese bread going in Australia. One local suggests buying a few bags for the freezer, saying it defrosts just as soft as the day you bought it.

It isn't only plain flatbread, either. The zaatar and cheese style pizza bread gets a good word, and so do the wholemeal mountain bread and the biscuits and nuts on display. The shop also supplies stockists around the region. One local needed a very large order of Lebanese bread at short notice and found the team reliable and helpful.

Another thing people mention is the welcome. Staff are friendly and quick to help, the bakery has a clean feel, and the value is a regular talking point, with prices that are affordable. We've heard one small grumble from a long-time regular who wasn't happy about a change in pack size, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

It's a takeaway operation, with free parking right outside. There's a wheelchair-accessible car park and entrance, and they take cards and mobile payments, so you can pay however suits. Check the hours before you head over, as weekend trading is shorter than weekdays. Next door there's a pizzeria that one regular is keen to try on their next visit.