Parked in a
former workshop just off upper Cuba Steet, behind the Floridita’s is Al Brown’s
latest venture – Best Ugly Bagels. This is the Wellington version of his
successful business modeled on the legendary bagel bakeries in Montreal Until recently the site had provided storage
for a second hand bookseller. Gone are
the shelves and ephemera and instead the space has been increased to a
cavernous size incorporating a 12 tonne wood fired oven. In homage to it’s former life, the restaurant
sparsely decorated in an industrial style, walls painted but not fixed. Even the toilet still looks like a garage WC,
albeit much cleaner and no grease stains on the hand towel. The bagels are made
by hand, boiled in honey water and laid out to cook in a massive stone oven like
pizzas being paddled into a basket and sold almost immediately. Fresh is key. To get the technique just
right, Brown and team actually legged it all the way to the St Viatuer, a store in Montreal,l to train
with local bakers and learn the craft. 
Brown got
the idea for these sweeter styled bagels from an early OE visit to his Aunt in
Toronto many years ago. The story goes
that the Jewish bakers of the city could not get hold of enough kosher salt,
essential in the baking process. The
result is a slightly more cake-like texture, softer on the inside, than the
traditional chewy New York style bagels, but with a crunchier exterior. Brown knows his market, too, and as a point
of difference off a number of ‘Kiwi’ toppings including organic peanut butter,
hazelnut butter, jams and Marmite alongside more exotic offerings such as banana,
nuts and maple mars alone or cream cheese, tomato and lemon fennel oil (known
as a White Rabbit).
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