Otway Artisan Gluten Free

If you're coeliac or avoiding gluten, Otway Artisan Gluten Free is the kind of bakery in Birregurra, Victoria that makes life noticeably easier. It's a dedicated gluten-free bakery and café, so there's no wondering about cross-contamination. Everything is handmade without gluten, wheat, dairy, preservatives or animal fats, and plenty of it is vegan and FODMAP friendly too. The tagline is "bread differenT", and locals reckon the bread backs it up.

The breads and rolls are what people rave about. Turkish rolls and pizza bases come up often, with the pizza bases praised for their crispy edges, and the rolls are said to be made fresh and hold up in the fridge for a couple of days at home. One person who eats gluten happily has said the bread doesn't taste gluten free at all. Some customers order delivery to Geelong and the surf coast, and others plan stops here on the way to Apollo Bay.

The café side is just as popular. The chicken and pesto panini is the one people mention most, alongside a salami version, and one visitor said it was the first decent gluten-free panini they'd found in years. Toasties can be made vegan on request. Coffee, roasted locally, gets plenty of kind words, and so do the welcoming staff. Breakfast is on offer too, and the old bank building it occupies, with historic documents on the walls, is a talking point in itself.

Beyond the counter, they take custom cake orders and do catering, and you can eat in, take away or have things delivered. Prices are described as reasonable, delivery included. There's a wheelchair-accessible car park and free street parking nearby, and they take cards and mobile payments.

They keep short opening days, closed early in the week, so check the hours before you make the drive. One local was happy to travel more than three hours for lunch here, which tells you how much the bread means to people.