Bakery Review: Brew & Bake

Wherein I paid 10 euros for a loaf of bread. Plus, the viral salt bread comes to The Hague at Brew & Bake.

My excitement was palpable when Brew & Bake finally opened, advertising plant-based bakes, matcha, and coffee. Located just off of Spui in centrum, Brew & Bake is a Scandinavian and Japanese-inspired bakery specializing in plant-based croissants, Japanese milk bread, salt bread, and Scandinavian buns.

Now listen, I was vegan for many years, way back when. To this day, the majority of my home cooking remains vegan and I carry a soft spot for vegan products. That all to say that I have nothing against plant-based eateries on principle — on the contrary, I’m more excited by it.

Here, I review a selection of signature goods: Brew & Bake’s shokupan, shio pan (salt bread), and croissant. What I found was a bakery fit more for social media and financial slide decks than it was for me.

The 10 euro loaf of bread

I have long loved shokupan (Japanese milk bread) as it keeps exceptionally well for lunches at the office so I was thrilled to see it at Brew & Bake.

The top looked gnarly and the golden sides reveal an attractive swirl. The smell is faint but the tight crumb is soft and attractive. The inside looks quite good.

At first, the bread doesn’t taste of much. It’s not as sweet as I would expect from a shokupan. Rather I get nothing, then at the end, a hint of something bitter like stale donut frying oil followed by a whisper of something rancid. I hypothesize that this is caused by the plant-based butter. I was perplexed and honestly quite shocked.

Eventually, I discover that the crusts are the culprit. Specifically, the white insides are perfectly fine, but where there is brown there is the taste of stale donut frying oil.

I almost want to apologize for having this experience, but ya’ll — this bread was 10 euros. I would expect it to be almost perfect. At least the white insides are edible.

6.8/10 when you cut the crusts

ASMR-worthy salt bread

Hailing from Japan, popularized in Korea yesteryear, the salt bread (aka shio pan) is a viral sensation. The kind worker at Brew & Bake explained it was a Japanese version of a croissant. And a good salt bread is oh-so-satisfying. The crowning jewel being the bottom of the pastry where it fries in butter in the oven.

Brew & Bake serve an enticing looking salt bread with a golden brown crust adorned with salt crystals. Just as I’d hoped, the crispy bottom crackles satisfyingly, shattering like a crème brûlée does when you tear it apart. Inside is meant to be hollow from where the butter sits, but Brew & Bake are (ahem…) generous with the dough and there is but a tiny hole where the salted butter once lay.

Unfortunately, like the shokupan, the bake is marred by the plant-based butter, which is really quite a shame. As the first salt bread in The Hague, it has much potential, but as the pastry is meant to be basically fried in butter, it is the offending plant-based butter that shouts quite loudly here, dominating the taste. I just wish they used another butter.

5.5/10

The plain croissant is for …coconut lovers?

Let down by the milk bread and salt bread, I was more hopeful for Brew & Bake’s croissant as I’ve previously had good vegan croissants.

Truth be told, my first croissant was perhaps a lemon because it tasted like coconut. The top was sticky with a sparse sweetened glaze which caught me off-guard. And I could tell you about how nice it looked, but what I really want to impress without haste is that this croissant, to me, smelled and tasted strongly of coconut. Now, I don’t prefer coconut, per se, and later after I inquire, I’m told there is no coconut at all (perhaps flax?). This first croissant had a crisp outside and ate like a Costco croissant. So long story short, it wasn’t for me. 3.8/10

My second croissant the following day fared remarkably better. Notably, the hue leaned more sunshine than deep brown and the sparse sticky glaze was more sparse. It was laminated better and tasted (and smelled) less like coconut. The layers are laminated nicely and the inside reveals a nice honeycomb structure, telling you this was made by talented hands. And this time, it was also flakey with an ideal squidgy bite. Quite nice. Yes, it still tasted to me like coconut (*even though there is no coconut!) but it was at least edible.

6.2/10

*UPDATE 2/27: Initially in an in-person visit, I was told there was no coconut in the croissant. After posting my review, the bakery DMed me walking back their previous insistence that there was no coconut. There is indeed coconut within the plant-based butter they use.

The Hague Review: 6/10 Brew & Bake is not for me, perhaps great for the two-dimensional world

As the bakery scene crowds, Brew & Bake have found themselves a niche concept that mirrors contemporary viral food trends. With a minimalistic interior, lime wash walls, and white lighting, this spot makes it easy to take pictures in. In fact, from the interior to the assortment of bakes on offer, it almost seems like this place was primarily created to exist on social media.

Undoubtedly, Brew & Bake looks good on camera and I’d bet it looks good on a slide deck too. And for this, I laud the entrepreneurs. It seems like a hyper-optimised investor-friendly concept: high-traffic location near the new university building, plant-based components to cut variable butter costs, white lighting for better pictures, and salt bread and scandi buns because they’re currently trending. On paper, all great ideas. But food is much more than what it looks like — it’s taste, it’s narrative, it’s a way we nurture our souls.

I was warmed to see Japanese milk bread and the viral salt bread on offer here — the first time I’ve seen either of them on offer in The Hague. I was also warmed by the kindness of the staff during my multiple visits. It is clear the bakery has ideas but ultimately, the plant-based butter they use doesn’t suit me. I should hope their matchas and coffees fare better.

As for right now, I ate and left crumbs.

Brew & Bake
Spuistraat 63
2511 BC Den Haag