Edinburgh food favourite, Bross Bagels has officially opened the doors of its biggest venue to date – a shop, 30-cover dining space and in-house bakery at the former bank building at 177 Portobello High Street.
The new venue sees the brand move from its very first premises in Portobello which opened in 2017, across the road to a venue triple the size, as it expands its offering.
The new bakery has been operating a take-away collection service since February, but finishing touches were made to the interior of the venue, designed by Cuzzons.
Doors opened to reveal a menu and space that transports customers to Montreal, with the tastes, scents, sounds and interiors all reflective of the iconic café culture. High stools and wood furnishings meet metallic finishes that frame an open kitchen and a traditional deli-style counter, all peppered with bold pops of the neon pink that has become a beacon for the brand’s bagel shops across the city.
Bross Bagels’s The Goy bagel
The Portobello bakery will be open from breakfast until early evening – open Monday to Sunday 9am – 5.30pm – and will establish the brand’s first licensed premises. The venue is set to serve up Mama Bross’ take on a Bloody Caesar – ‘The Bloody Bross’, alongside local Leith brewers Pilot Beer and a selection of wine from vegan brand Nice, once hospitality venues are permitted to do so in line with further easing of lockdown in Scotland.
Visitors to the Bross Bakery will be able to watch on as the team of bakers work morning to evening. Featuring the UK’s only bagel baking Morretti-Forni stone fired oven, the open plan space brings to life the passion, craft and care that goes into individually hand rolling and boiling the traditional Montreal bagels that Bross has become famous for.
The new premises will allow Bross to produce all of its own bagels in-house, serving all four of the brand’s other city venues and baking around 15,000 bagels a week. As a result, the new bakery has also allowed Bross to launch a nationwide next day delivery service of fresh, handmade authentic Montreal bagels, starting from £5 for half a dozen bagels, with a wide range of choices including plain, poppy seed and pretzel bagels.
Some of the Bross Bagels from the new bakery
The new menu includes Bross’ classic hot and cold bagel collection such as hot breakfast favourite, The Goy; Bacon, Fried Egg, Latke, Smoked Applewood Cheese & Mama Bross’ Rock Sauce on an everything bagel, beloved lunchtime bagel, The Mama Bross Club (£5.75); Mama Bross’ Famous Chicken Salad, Streaky Bacon, Lettuce, Dill pickles, Buffamayo on an Everything Bagel and The Porty (£5.50); Lemon & Dill Schmear, Hot Smoked Salmon and pickles on a Poppy Seed Bagel, alongside street food favourites with a twist including Hot Dogs (£6.50) – a New York street-style hot dog in a bagel roll, with a vegan alternative also on offer, and Filthy Fries (£6.00).
The bakery opened following an initial crowdfunding phase, with more than £125,600 raised by Bross Bagels ‘Shareholers’, allowing the business to bring the bakery to life, and illustrating the brand’s dedicated following and loyal community across Edinburgh and beyond.
The new Bross location will also become a pop-up hub, fusing the best of Scotland’s food talent with the ‘come one, come all’ conviviality of Montreal Café Culture. A pre-launch pop-up with Michelin Star chef James Murray and his team from JFC, Jimmy’s Fried Chicken, saw queues from the Portobello Bakery to the Promenade, and there are plans to bring more exciting collaborations to life over the summer.
Larah Bross, the founder of Bross Bagels (Photo: Marc Millar)
Larah Bross is committed to keeping the art of hand-baking bagels alive at her in-house bakery, with a true passion and commitment to tradition.
She explained: ‘Before I opened our first Bross Bagels shop, I set out to create authentic Montreal bagels that reminded me of a taste of home – something I just could not find here in the UK.
‘ I had to get my mum to send me bagels all the way from Canada so I could work with our bakers to perfect the flavour and consistency. I’m so proud we’re now producing authentic bagels as good as I could find in Montreal, here in Edinburgh – in our very own dedicated bakery.
‘Teaming Montreal bagels with the best New York deli fillings, made with the best Scottish ingredients is hard to beat, but now we’ve added our own signature Bloody Caesars, beer and Hot Dogs, it’s a summer hole-stuffing stop you won’t want to miss.’
Bross Bagels is also set to open Bross Deli – a brand-new concept and their biggest shop yet, in St James Quarter later this year.
For more details visit www.brossbagels.com.
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