Highly anticipated Surry Hills bakery Avner’s has opened its doors.

The new bagel ship and bakery from “Fast” Ed Halmagyi – of Better Homes and Gardens fame – opened its doors in February and has already cemented its status as a city favourite.

Ed told Broadhseet that his grandmother was the single worst cook he had ever met in his life.

“My beautiful, amazing, fantastic grandmother is my favourite human being I’ve ever known,” he said.

Ed added despite her lack of culinary skills, his grandmother left him a set of recipes from an old notebook that he believes was written by his great-great-grandmother. In these were the basis for the Transylvanian rye bread that he sells at Avner’s.

“The problem is that in the 19th century people didn’t write a cookbook by saying ‘ take 400g of flour and put it in a bowl’. Instead they write things like ‘look for mother’s favourite cup and fill it almost all the way to the top with the flour you made last week, except if it’s been raining’,” he said.

“And people might say that’s not a recipe and it’s like – no, that’s exactly what a recipe is.”

Ed said his grandmother was also the person who taught him about his Hungarian-Jewish family and culture, and these influences can be found throughout the store and the product range.

The name Avner is Ed’s Hebrew name, and although Ed – and the bulk of the menu at Avner’s is Ashkenazi Jewish, he said he also wanted to ensure elements from the other two major Jewish subdivisions – Sephardi and Mizrahi – were also represented in store.

“They’re three different culinary traditions and all of them are represented in what we’re doing. I think that’s very important,” he said to Broadsheet.

“There’s nothing new about this. I’m paying homage to the incredible Jewish chefs and cooks that have gone before me.”

At Avner’s you’ll find baked products made the old school way: bagels that are slow fermented for three days is stocked alongside a chocolate babka and a less traditional ube and date babka, as well as a rotating menu of treats like rugelach, which is a croissant-coded filled pastry. Challah is also baked on Fridays in time for shabbat.

“Making this and knowing that people are going to be going home, using our bread to celebrate with their family; that means a lot to me,” Ed said.

“That makes me smile.”

Image: Avner’s Bakery Instagram