The Two Minute Review: Bakeology In

Ronan Doyle
Aug 5
2 min read

What should we know about Bakeology In?

Argentinian café Bakeology grew out of Argentinian couple Benjamin and Florencia Pugliese’s pandemic passion project delivering empanadas and alfajores. Four years of fast-paced mornings and delighted crowds of Latin American and Irish eaters alike later, they’ve outgrown the original space and snapped up a long-vacant one across the road for location #2 and a beefed-up brunch offering.

What did you have?

A spell standing in the sun in an out-the-door queue had us gasping when we finally got into Bakeology In – lemon and basil water (€6) was just the ticket. The cutesy ceramic penguins it’s served from are one of the many nostalgic nods to Argentina around the place – they host a different house lemonade each day.

Anyone who’s been to Bakeology will know to make straight for the empanadas. These crunchy, hot crust hand pies (€3.80) are essential, with seven fillings to work your way through. The beautifully browned crust with its smart (literal) branding goes someway to explaining the Insta-envious queue. The most interesting was bacon, prunes and cheese, with the deep sweetness of stewed fruit playing off the meat and mozzarella saltiness for a complex mouthful.

Ham and cheese plays it straighter and strikes a balance with its steaming sea of molten mozzarella hiding heaps of ham – biter beware, these were hot. The spiced shredded chicken with bell peppers and onions is a stalwart for good reason, with the juicy veg base ensuring tender meat throughout.

We skipped the three veg options given they all riff on the same filling found in the wild green medialuna (€12.50) – spinach, bechamel, onion and mozzarella. This pastry (also available smaller and unstuffed at €2.50) is often called the Argentinian croissant, but the similarity is in shape only, with a more brioche bite. Topped with goat's cheese, toasted walnuts and a honey drizzle, it’s the kind of loaded brunch dish that’ll see you through to dinner.

The same can't be said about the choripan (€12.50). For all the lightly-spice of beef chorizo, the basic, under-baked bread was gone in three bites, barely beefed up by solid but samey chimichurri and salsa criolla. A little basket of small, soggy chips took more from things than it added – of all the plates to plant an Argentinian flag in, this was not the one.

Praise be for a pristine bombon helado (€6.50) to salvage what could have been a sad ending. This pretty picture of a dessert sandwiches strawberry ice cream between chocolate alfajores, all shrouded with dulce du leche and sealed in a case of dark chocolate far too hard for us to cut through as neatly as they did. It’s sweet, sharable, and a sight to behold.

Why should we go?

We’ve grabbed an empanada or alfie in passing from Bakeology more times than we can count. To have the chance to sit and take our time over them across the road is just as welcome as the new lease of life Bakeology In brings to a previously-shuttered corner. If they can sort out that choripan, the D8 brunch scene might just have some hot new competition.