If you think about where in the world you’d find the best bagel, most would likely answer, “New York City” – even if they haven’t been there. So what an honour it must be for a humble Brisbane bagel bakery to get a mention in the New York Times.

The feature published on September 22 focuses on self-taught New Jersey baker, Beth George, who helps entrepreneurs all around the world open their own bagel stores.

Brisbanites will be familiar with the NYC Bagel Deli owned by Eddy Tice and his partner Ania Kutek, which has two locations – the original in West End, and one at Chermside.

According to the Times article, the couple “had a disastrous first day making bagels at NYC Bagel Deli, their shop in Brisbane, Australia, in 2016.

“They were only weeks into lessons with Ms. George when their landlord forced them to open the shop, in a new food hall, before they were ready.

“The oven was smoking and the bagels sticking, and the staff was running around not knowing what to do at all because we’d rushed and hadn’t had time to train them,” said Mr. Tice, 36. “It was mayhem.”

Now with two NYC Bagel Deli locations and a new cafe called Superthing, which opened in March and is also located in the trendy West End suburb, things are going much more smoothly for Eddy and Ania, and they’re thrilled with their mention in the world-famous New York Times.

“We wanted a new challenge,” Eddy told the Times.

“We didn’t eat bagels for a few months. And then we went back and went, ‘Oh, we miss bagels. God, they’re so good.’ You forget how good they are.”

On the NYC Bagel Deli website, Eddy and Ania write that “there was quite a lot of experimentation to adapt the bagel recipe to Queensland’s climate. Like all the best things, it took time. Our bagel entrepreneurs started with a market stall and got to know what the locals liked before they unleashed their super bagel on the world.”