Butter Days Bakery

Overview

Malvern welcomes a fresh new bakery this week, located in the heart of Glenferrie Road, from Dessert Masters winner John Demetrios and his wife, Martina. While Melbourne-born Demetrios brings Aussie classics to the table, Martina's Scandinavian heritage will imbue the space with unexpected, cardamom-scented surprises. 

The opening of Butter Days is a big tick off the bucket list for John and Martina, who have long held the dream of opening a bakery. John won the MasterChef Australia spinoff, Dessert Masters, in 2024, beating a previous winner of MasterChef and dessert aficionado Emilia Jackson. Demetrios sharpened his skills in some impressive kitchens, including a two-Michelin-star restaurant in Stockholm and the renowned Vue de Monde, where he held the title of Executive Pastry Chef. With his first independent venture, John will use his classical training and refined skills to create carefully considered pastries that are playful, joyful, and above anything else, full of flavour. As John says, "more butter, more better."

The luminous, airy space, designed in collaboration with Blackmilk Design Studio, is influenced by the weathered beauty of a flour mill, with pale timber, whitewashed walls, and an enviable green and blue marble bench. That's all background noise, though, compared to the sweet treats that can be found inside the cabinets, showcasing both nostalgic Aussie staples and classic Nordic pastries. 

In a space as cheery and pleasurable as Butter Days, with its bright, crayon-green facade and smiley face logo, it's only fitting that the hero pastry should be named the Sunshine Bun. The sure-to-be-favourite golden, crisp and flaky round pastry, which is a blend of both John and Martina's backgrounds, is filled with a lemon-cinnamon custard. Other sweets to sample include biscuits made with browned cultured butter, macadamia swirls, chocolate-coated profiteroles and fresh-fruit custard pastries. 

Butter Days will make your mornings better with their signature savoury offering, the BMO (bolle med ost, meaning 'bun with cheese'). Demetrios' take on a Danish morning bun sees sourdough rolls, spread thick with salted butter and layered with quality Comte cheese. So thick, in fact, that there is actually a Danish word which translates as 'teeth butter', referring to butter spread so thick that when you take a bite, you leave tooth marks in it. Other savoury delights include ham and cheese pinwheels, pastrami sandwiches, and njuja, ricotta and honey pizza slices. 

"At the end of the day, it's about bakes you want to keep eating. There are no rules and we'll use that to our advantage. No one says we can't flood the room with trays of boozy sweet buns, caramelised apple pies or those cardamom-infused Scandinavian treats Melburnians have come to love," John says, "We want the space to feel calm and inviting, never stiff or intimidating — somewhere you want to come back to." 

Images: Pete Dillon.