Barbakan - Officially The Best Bakery In The Country

CHORLTON-based Barbakan Delicatessen is one of the finest continental bakeries in the UK – and it’s official.  It’s the 2011 overall national champion in the Bakery of the Year awards.

Chorlton’s the reason we’ve evolved into what we are now

Most people in Manchester already admire the wonderful business before the award but now it really has sliced through the opposition to join the upper crust. Confidential reckons it’s secured a whole grain of approval after cereal success in the South Manchester mix.

No wonder owner Stefan Najduch can afford himself a rye smile.

He took over the Barbakan when it was “on its knees” 25 years ago and has expanded the place fourfold. Delighted with their Bakery of the Year Award, Najduch told Confidential, “It’s tremendous, a massive achievement, hundreds entered, the whole of the UK, so we’re really pleased.”

So what it is that makes Barbakan so special?

“The bread, our variety, our consistency, our product,” says Najduch.

The judging process even included a secret shopper who  scored them top marks for almost everything. “They were very impressed with the paper work and marketing side to the business as well as the actual baking – they take everything into consideration.”

Before buying from the liquidator all those years ago, Stefan worked in the meat and delicatessen industry, but soon developed a passion for bread. The initial attraction and reason for investment? “Four excellent bakers who made bread traditionally, they inspired me. And we apply the same principles today. We don’t cheat or use quick starters. We bake on the premises with dough recipes that go back at least 40 years.”

Today the Barbakan bakes over 50 types of bread and supplies “sandwich bars, shops and restaurants in the Manchester area.”

Indeed Stefan has no plans to expand outside Chorlton and dedicates their success to the “cracking community around here. Chorlton’s the reason we’ve evolved into what we are now”.

Barbakan Delicatessen is at 61-67, Manchester Road, Chorlton. It’s the one with the Craft Bakery Business certificate in the window and the award behind the counter…