‘Things disappear quickly’: Set your alarm for bakes and bevs from this old-school charmer

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Stanmore’s Ard bakery serves a drink I haven’t seen in Sydney before: iced yensoon tea. The name translates as “anise” in Arabic, and the main ingredient gently co-exists with cinnamon, brown sugar, lemon leaves and a nutty flourish of crushed almond shells. “That’s my grandfather’s traditional recipe,” says owner Christiana Daaboul. She recalls visits to Lebanon, where she watched aunts de-husk the nuts.

Daaboul has converted her grandfather’s hot winter-friendly version into something that combats Sydney’s sweltering days: the icy citrus-spiced sips might temporarily stop you from wilting. They also riff nicely with the generously sweetened pastries Daaboul preps and frosts at this leafy inner-west corner shop.

During the week, Ard operates as a takeaway window, with the day’s “bakes and bevs” handwritten on a doily nearby. You’ll see people on the footpath, waiting to collect drinks (iced plum pistachio matcha, tahini caramel cold brew, iced maple matcha) or snackable carbs (sesame focaccia, gluten-free matcha cookies, strawberry and cream cake).

The seasonal menu – and space – truly opens up on weekends, when you can enter the bakery and load up on Earl Grey banana bread, mango cardamom buns or rainbow-speckled “gayke” that totally got the ultra-colourful memo about Mardi Gras season.

The line-up is charged with fun, but you must make tough choices (ie, ignore your snooze button!) in order to fully appreciate Ard. Things disappear quickly: I’ve mistimed visits and been greeted with “sell-out” signs next to pistachio banoffee and practically every other cake on the ever-changing menu. When I’ve gone early, I’ve been rewarded with date shortbread and lemony spinach triangles (fatayer) made by Daaboul’s mum Marie – a key character in Ard’s story.

Although the bakery’s doors first opened in December, Daaboul started selling baked goods via Instagram in 2021 and made her Sydney Vegan Market debut the next year with Marie. Her mum is also pivotal to Ard’s baklava. “That was the first thing she taught me,” says Daaboul.

Baklava itself has a long history: Sufi author Kaygusuz Abdal mentioned it in a poem in the 1400s and the densely layered pastry varies throughout the world. It’s sweetened with honey in Greece, while the Lebanese version isn’t as syrup-drenched: the crisp shards, carefully applied at Ard, are bricked in with rich cashew rubble. Daaboul says it’s traditionally made with ghee, but she’s collaborated with Marie to finetune a plant-based version.

It’s ace, and family members used to conventional baklava (like her non-vegan sister, who is “very picky about her desserts”) also approve. Like the creamy, lush pistachio tiramisu at Ard, you’d never guess it was dairy-free.

In fact, everything here is plant-based. Vegan baking has evolved massively from the era when everything tasted heavily coated with coconut oil and Daaboul’s menu will successfully convince any doubters. As a teen, she tinkered with raw caramel slices and was baking dairy-free long before her current decade-long status as a vegan. So her cakes are rich and full-volumed without needing standard butter or cream – there’s a magic-show wonder to how she does it.

Daaboul is proudly vegan for ethical and environmental reasons, but she’s conscious not to brand Ard that way. “I really would prefer it not to be mentioned in a way where it’s, like, loud,” she says. Instead of people wondering why they can’t get full-cream milk with their coffee or pre-judging Ard for its plant-based focus, she hopes people concentrate on the sweets. Daaboul is the kind of person who loves making a vanilla sponge for breakfast, and you feel that joy-first attitude when at Ard.

There’s old-school charm in the frilly-curtained space, too, where you might see Marie or other family members helping out. Drinks are good fun, from the Cold Fashioned (booze-free cold brew modelled on her favourite cocktail) to the iced cinnamon latte, both fuelled with beans from Headlands in Summer Hill.

I’ll be back for plum pistachio baklava cake – I just need to set my alarm first.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.