Emilia review a local and affordable New York-style bagelry in Carnegie

Click PLAY to hear Emilia’s full review

Inspired by New York’s simple bagel shops, their menu is marked up like an old paper menu you’d expect to find in the streets of Brooklyn. The difference is that alongside a New York feel they serve proper Melbourne coffee from AllPress Roasters rather than the percolator coffee you might expect from a US bagelry.

Huff wades in the hoards of sandwich shops that seem to be taking over Melbourne. Opening in Carnegie first and working their way to the Inner North to compete with the fiercest bun connoisseurs, with them they bring a cult following. The stand out for me though was the affordability, despite the now fancy fit outs and bespoke signage at their new locations the prices have remained at ‘corner store prices’. The cheapest bagel sitting at $12 and the most expensive $14.50, amongst the rising costs and $21 sandwiches that are filling suburban streets, Huff remains a lunch pick up that you can rely on.

You have the difficult choice of 10 regular menu bagel fillings, 4 specials or you can build your own. If you like a simple bagel you can choose your bagel, (toasted or not) from $1.60 and add a spread for between $4-6.50; vegemite, honey, nutella, peanut butter or cream cheese, even a vegan cream cheese to keep everyone happy. There’s not many places around Melbourne where you can get a coffee and breakfast for around $10, so I was impressed by that. 

For $12.50, I may have accidentally created the best bagel on the menu. They have a herbed feta spread & fresh tomato bagel on the specials menu at the moment, whack that with the pizza bagel and you’ve got yourself a utilitarian but moreish breakfast, lunch or snack. 

It started there and the options past there were solid. A #03 with a simple chicken aioli, lettuce and avocado consisted of poached chicken aioli, I would’ve liked to have had a slightly more seasoned chicken or mayo but it embodied the ‘simple but effective’ kind of bagel. 

#09 is a hard one to pass up, speaking directly to the ‘pint and a parma’ kind of person. They fashion that love for a classic into a chicken schnitzel bagel with red pesto, rocket & mayo. They keep the chicken thick, being sure to not skimp on the main attraction. 

I gave their gluten free bun a go too on a simple avocado, ham cheese and hollandaise, ‘Summer Brekky Bagel’. Doing what I quickly learned that they do best; simple, local ingredients the way you want it to be when you order it. They load up the ham, the hollandaise is balanced and oozing, as it was designed to do from the moment of its inception.

They also do lots of chopped egg options, smoked salmon of course, roast veg, homemade meatloaf, tuna melt. What you won’t see is slow cooked pork, metres mortadella, brisket, meatballs, etc.

Whilst there’s plenty of space for those kinds of sandwiches around Melbourne, the simple New York bagel with an accessible price point certainly has found its place in the food scene from Bayside to inner north. 

Huff Bagelry

112 Koornang Rd

Carnegie