Breaking Bread

Breaking Bread is a Mount Gambier bakery built around handmade bagels, deli-style sandwiches and specialty coffee. We've heard of travellers detouring through the Limestone Coast just for a bagel, and one visitor made the drive from Adelaide a second time because the first visit had stuck with them.

The bagels are the main event. Locals will tell you they come fresh, with a good chew and seeds and sesame toasted just right, and the fillings are piled on generously. Bacon, egg and cream cheese is a popular order, and a slow-cooked brisket bagel and a salmon and cream cheese version with pickled onions and capers to cut the richness have both earned praise. The themed seasonal bagels, the hot cross bun one especially, feature flavours people enjoy. There are also cookies at the counter for anyone with room left over.

The coffee holds its own too, from a straight flat white to seasonal lattes, and people describe it as creamy and hot. The word is that it's good value for what you get, with a bagel and a coffee coming in at a fair price.

What diners point to, though, is the welcome. The staff are friendly, chatty and happy to suggest something if you can't decide, and it often feels more like a catch-up than a transaction. It can get busy in the morning, but people say the wait is worth it.

Beyond the counter, Breaking Bread takes custom cake orders and does catering, with a team of chefs available for events and bagels and sandwiches supplied for breakfast, brunch and lunch. Takeaway is available, and the cafe has a wheelchair-accessible entrance, car park and seating. It's women-owned and LGBTQ+ friendly.

The bakery is closed some days of the week and closes early afternoon on the days it's open, so check the hours before you head in.