Melbourne-based bakery The Library Bakery has written the book when it comes to creating atmosphere.

The hole-in-the-wall shop, located in Brunswick East, is the brainchild of Aileen Seo (formerly of Maha), her husband Paul Kwon (from The Press Club) and Aileen’s brother Jiho Sur, who has worked in pastry teams at the Park Hyatt and Crown Melbourne.

The trio built a firm following thanks to their successful first business, Baguette Studios. Like at Baguette Studios the trio draw influence from both France and Korea for the product range.

Their signature item, the appropriately names “the book” is a pastry inspired by the South Korean peanut butter bread that Seo loved as a child.

“The book” is a laminated pastry shaped like a book that has been left open, and includes peanut cream, crushed peanuts, salted caramel and layers of laminated pastry that help to mimic the pages of a book.

The yakgwa pastry combines Aileen’s classical French training with a traditional Korean honey biscuit to create a sticky, chewy and pine nut-topped version of a French kouign-amann pastry.

According to Broadsheet Aileen developed all the bread and pastries alongside Paul and Jiho.

The bakery’s name – The Library – reflects the trio’s desire to create a full library of flavours for customers. With this in mind, you will find pretzel baguettes alongside salted chocolate cookies and pumpkin scones as well as classic items like three types of sourdough and baguettes.

Pencils and a notepad are left on the counter too, so that customers can contribute “their story”, whether that’s a compliment about the bakery, a story to pass on or even requests for items they’d like to see stocked on the shelves.

Image: The Book is The Library Bakery’s staple item