There are three quiches in our savoury cabinet — lorraine, mushroom and caramelised onion — at $12 each, and all three are made with no added gluten. Ordering a quiche in Christchurch when someone in your group avoids gluten normally involves a phone call and a hesitant answer. Here it is simply what we make.
If you are the one who chooses where your group eats, that changes the shape of an afternoon. You can bring a visiting colleague, a friend or a parent into the patisserie and hand them the savoury menu without conducting a dietary interview at the door.
The three quiches, and how they eat
A quiche is a savoury custard baked in pastry, and everything rests on the set of that custard: firm enough to hold a clean edge on the plate, soft enough that it gives under a fork. Ours are warmed to order, so allow about ten minutes from the moment you ask.
- Quiche Lorraine — the classic of the three, and the one most people reach for first.
- Mushroom quiche — earthier, savoury rather than rich.
- Caramelised onion quiche — onions cooked down slowly until they turn sweet, which gives the custard a low, jammy note.
They are cabinet items rather than made-to-order cakes, so there is no lead time on them at all — you walk in and choose.
What "no added gluten" actually means
We are careful with this wording because the labelling rules require it. We cannot use the shorthand most people expect here; what we can say is that we have not added any gluten-containing ingredients to the recipe. Our kitchen is small and without exclusive production areas for all of our different recipes, so traces may occur, and nothing we make is guaranteed safe for severe coeliac disease. If your guest is coeliac rather than gluten-avoiding, that is the honest position, and better said before you order.
The same standard runs through our No Added Gluten range, which is broader than most people expect. Worth knowing too: nothing we make is both no added gluten and no added dairy at the same time.
Building a full lunch around one
A quiche on its own is a light plate. The Brazilian cheese scone is made with cassava rather than wheat and arrives warm with hand-whipped butter and guava jam — it also carries no added gluten, so a table can share it. Beyond that the savoury side is wheat-based: the stuffed sfiha, a Lebanese-Brazilian filled pastry, the croque monsieur, and cheese and spring onion potato bread, sausage scroll, creamy chicken bread and ham and cheese bread.
The sweet half of the same idea
Several cabinet desserts follow the same no-added-gluten recipe standard, which means the person who came for the quiche is not left watching everyone else order. The mini lemon tart sits on a shortcrust made without added gluten and is finished with toasted meringue. The Romeo and Juliet mini cheesecake pairs white chocolate cheesecake with guava jam, and the Pudim caramel flan is a slow-baked Brazilian custard under a dark caramel glaze.
To drink, there is a Zealong teapot for one, and most of the hot and cold options on the drinks list can be made with a dairy-free milk.
Bring the person who usually eats around the menu
Everyone has one — the friend who reads a menu twice and then orders a side. Bring them here and order two different quiches between you, then swap halves. It turns a solo errand into a table for two. Our tables move, so groups of four to eight fit, and the kitchen is open to watch while you wait.
Ordering and collection
Quiches and the rest of the savoury cabinet need no notice at all — walk in and we will warm one for you in about ten minutes. Anything made to order, such as a layer cake or a tray of minis, needs two days and is booked through the date picker at checkout. We are pickup only: everything is collected from our patisserie inside The Welder on Welles Street, and we do not deliver or courier. We are open 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 3pm Saturday, and closed Sunday and Monday as a rule.
