Rooms that once brought together powder clay, heat and water to make widely celebrated pottery, now use water, flour and heat to make equally celebrated bread.
Conor Higgins talks to Adhamh Ó Caoimh about how Elliot’s Bakery swapped kilns for ovens while developing an impressive new outlet in a historic space on Arran Street East.
Bread. It’s a thing many people don’t really think about until they’ve had good bread. Many people are delighted with whatever is on the shelves, wrapped in plastic in a huge supermarket, or corner store, or yellow and red packaging pocked with a small novella of an ingredient list, and a suspiciously optimistic use-by date.
That is, until a person tries good bread.
Trends come and go. A decade ago there was coffee, hookah, and raw coconuts, skinned of their furry bark and sporting an environmentally friendly straw. More recently, Boba and Mochi had a heyday. Avocados have always been expensive but there was a weird time there when people didn’t care.
Good bread though, it’s a little like jazz. It may enjoy a moment in the sun, and alongside it, good bread will gather lifelong devotees.
For many, the revelation comes when they find themselves living near a bakery, and with Elliot’s in Phibsborough, this lucky man has been truly spoiled. My local breadfolk have now decided to expand their operations, opening an additional new venture closer to the city.
Elliot’s has seen near universal acclaim from customers and taste-makers as well as close to perfect scores on sites like Gastro Ranking since opening their doors in 2022. They have quickly won over their neighbours with an always interesting, ever changing selection of innovative cakes, head turning pastries and freshly baked bread, often opening until they sell out, which is a near certainty with their avid customer base. An exciting addition to the beloved Oxmantown stable founded by Conor Higgins and Aime Costello eleven years ago.
Named for one of their children, the bakery has served its iconic Jamon Buerres and Reuben Sandwiches alongside some truly exceptional sweet treats for the past two years, and recently opened a new location in Arran Street East. Owing in no small part to serendipity, the former manufacturing arm of the eponymous luxury ceramics company (Arran Street East) has been transformed into a grand bake house along the street of the same name. They have swapped kilns for ovens, knitting for kneading, and developed a truly impressive new outlet for themselves. Rooms that once brought together powder clay, heat and water to make widely celebrated pottery, now use water, flour and heat to make equally celebrated bread.
The very impressive pressure profiling Slayer machine that adorns the coffee bar is evidence to everyone in the know that no expense has been spared in pulling their perfectly brewed shots of Cloud Picker coffee. And the buns. Oh the buns. From blood orange and lemon tarts, pistachio and rhubarb choux pastries to their apricot and elderflower galettes (they’re a bit like a Kouign-amann, which is a bit like an idealised croissant), the fare looks to be as exceptional as the original premises, a stones throw away.
Conor was good enough to give us some of his time as they opened to talk us through Elliots, and how they came to occupy a space with such a rich history.
It’s amazing what you’ve done with the space. How long did it take you to put all this together?
“It’s a happy coincidence how the whole thing came together. Arran Street East had their kilns in here, which had all the electricity that we would need for the ovens, and the extraction and ventilation was already in here. So essentially, they took their ovens out and we moved ours in. We put in some tables and other bits and bobs, the floors and everything else were all here. It really seemed serendipitous. We just built a counter here, and did a little decorating there. Over here, we have the pastry room, and a cooler. No ovens, obviously, which is important for pastry. We don’t know ourselves with all this space.”
The turnaround was relatively quick, and relatively easy. It all just happened off a chance conversation with Laura Magahy, the owner and founder of Arran Street East. I knew she owned this building, and she is a brilliant businesswoman, with great experience. I wanted to buy another building, further down the road, but the landlord was… I don’t know what sort of language I should use. So we had a backup plan, this other gentleman who wanted to get rid of a building didn’t want to rent, and he didn’t want to sell. We would have been able to move the bakery down there, and move Oxmantown into the building, and not lose any customers.
It’s always the landlords…
I had been talking to Laura, asking for her advice on how she would go about doing that, and she mentioned she might have something coming up for me. This would have been last November, and the folks in Arran Street East were still wrapping up here as well. So it was around April when we got keys, and then we got to work.
And the bakeries are named after your young son?
They are! That’s his signature. He’d written his name on the box or something. I saw it and took a picture, so we got it put up here and also in Phibsborough, and on our cups here.
You’ve been involved in the artisan side of hospitality for a decade now. How have you seen things change since you opened Oxmantown in 2013?
It’s wild how the industry has changed in the last number of years. The public eye toward bakeries, which have essentially become the new coffee shops, means that if your cake game isn’t on point, you won’t go far. I think we’re at a point now where everybody, everywhere would want something with this offering on their doorstep. People have gotten very into good bread.”
We had a pizzeria, Cotto, up in Stoneybatter, and when I was there I was trying to get a bread program together to be able to supply the Oxmantown cafes, just to provide more consistency. That’s where I suppose the grain of the idea started out.
What does this unit mean for the OG Elliots?
We’ll be keeping Phibsborough as it is, and seeing what happens here. With the bigger space, the hope is that we’d be able to supply Oxmantown, and we’d like to be in a position to supply one of two other small units somewhere else. That’s the plan, I suppose. If we get good footfall, and we do good business here, that would be a bit of a bonus, but the reason why we’re here is the planning permission that was in place with Arran Street East, which fit us like a glove.
And what are your plans going forward? Can we look forward to wine bars and supper clubs, or something more conservative?
We’ll have a couple of different types of sandwiches, perhaps even as far as soup! Depending on how things go, we may look into doing something very simple at night time. We’re very happy with what we have here at the moment, though there are a few bits and pieces in the pipeline. Things like the pies and savoury options we have in Phibsborough, and some lunch offerings.
Was Oxmantown your first venture, with the noble intention of serving the best sandwich in Dublin?
We just wanted to do a good job. I had worked as a chef for some years in various places and hotels. Soon after my daughter was born, working weekends and nights was tough going. I didn’t want to work those hours at the behest of somebody else, but I needed an income, so I took a punt on that. Then we opened Cotto, a pizzeria in Stoneybatter, and after that Oxmantown in Smithfield. There’s a scene in ‘Intermission’ with Cillian Murphy and Colin Farrell, which was shot there, and another film called ‘Adam & Paul’, which shot a scene there. Maybe that could be a headline, “Handbag Robbery Inspires Cafe”. The neighbours there are brilliant. I’m always saying we should just stick a hole through the wall. Save them some time.
It would be fair to say that your delectable confections are the most widely shared thing about Elliots.
That would have been part of Amie’s side of this. I don’t know where she comes up with ideas like sesame cream. Generally, our inspirations come from eating out in different places, on holidays and that kind of thing. Also, of course, following inspirational people on Instagram.
And how did you both learn to create these things? Inspiration is one thing, but the skill to achieve it is another.
A lot of what I do would have been influenced by my background as a chef. Aime only really started baking with Elliot’s. That would have been her first time baking. I suppose she started from baking stuff at home, but she would have no experience in restaurants or bakeries. She’s done a really incredible job by any standard. She’s running and producing and creating all the pastries, which are arguably the most interesting aspect of the whole thing, and certainly what gets the most attention. With no formal training whatsoever, and being entirely self taught, she’s done a brilliant job.
The aesthetics are on point, she has a background in fashion so she has a great eye, and a great palate. Very good at putting flavour and combinations together. Sometimes I never get to taste the things we serve, because they sell so quickly. The other day, we had someone who gave us a two star review because we had sold out of stuff by 12 on a Saturday!
Did you start Elliot’s start because of bread or because of cake?
Going back to the beginning of Oxmantown, there were occasionally issues with bakeries. You’d be left with stuff sometimes of inferior quality, or not enough. Ultimately, it was born of frustration and having a little background with bread myself. That’s where the seed originally germinated. When we ran the pizzeria, we had tried but never got to a point where we could supply the cafes. When I saw the bakery in Phibsborough, we jumped on the opportunity to get in there and start doing our own. Little did we know it would be as successful as it has been, so everything we make there keeps going out the door. Even now, we’re still buying stuff from two other bakeries while we get Arran Street to a point where we’re producing everything for ourselves.
Does bread scratch that creative urge, as a chef?
I think delving into sourdough in the pizzeria, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole. When you get into sourdough, it’s really addictive. It’s one of the most satisfying things you can do in a kitchen. You have three ingredients, flour, water and a bit of salt, and you can produce something incredible. It’s the closest thing to real alchemy you can find in a kitchen.
It’s partially dictated by the local yeasts and bacteria. They can be specific even to different parts of Dublin, and can impart different characteristics to the bread. And how you treat your starter, and manage your starter too. You can use the exact same flour and the exact same water on this side of the city as somebody on the other side of the city, and it’s colonised by the wild yeast specific to this location, it may taste notably different.
Can you tell me about your reaction to the recent budget announcements? It seems to me the only people who suffer are independent businesses like yourselves and the Fumbally. It doesn’t matter to people with large backing, but places like Milo’s and Wuff have closed in the wake of the budget.
You’ve hit on an important point. I feel passionately that there should be a distinction between them. I think that the media like yourselves should have a much bigger emphasis put on the fact that some places are independently owned. There’s a lot of places that give the impression that they are, but if you ask the question of if they have an investor…
I have seen more than a few of those.
As soon as you know there’s a partner you know that there are arbitrary targets that need to be hit, and arbitrary margins. They’re dictated by an investor, and obviously there’s a scale, when you get into places like chain places, Press Up Group or any of those behemoths. They only exist to make money. To meet numbers.
And Oxmantown has always been an independent venture.
I worked as a chef, and I did the hard hours. I managed to put a few quid together to get the first place, which had been a cafe already, so it was a little more affordable. We’ve never had a backer, never had a partner, or anyone we had to answer to. It’s a drop of poison, to an extent, if society wants a vibrant, independent, forward looking and creative dining experience.
How do you think it would be, opening a first business in this climate?
It’s still possible. It’s harder for sure. It’s still possible for somebody with passion to do it. And that want and desire to share stuff with people, the things that you’ve discovered, the things that you’re passionate about. That’s the best kind of motivation to start something. And I think from a customer perspective, that’s what makes the best experiences
Words – Adhamh Ó Caoimh
Photos: Norma Burke
Elliot’s Bakery & Cafe opens Tues – Sat 8.30am – 3.00pm
43-44 Arran Street East, Dublin 7.
