One of the greatest joys in life is visiting a bakery and staring through the glass at all of the exciting treats they have on offer. I remember routinely walking down to the local shops with my mum when I was younger and being paralysed with indecision each time we went to the bakery as I had to pick between a meringue or a neenish tart (usually I went for the meringue). So when I was given the chance to visit Starlight Bakery in Doonside, I knew I was going to have a very good day.

I had already visited Starlight Bakery when I asked if they’d be interested in featuring on Tummy Treasures. A friend of mine took me by and we very excitedly ordered, more or less, one of everything that they had. To my shock (and delight) the entire bag of breads and pastries we walked away with cost us around $11! At first I thought a mistake had been made, but it turned out that for some of the lightest, fluffiest, and most delectable bread you can find in Sydney, that’s all you’ll pay.

Starlight Bakery has been a fixture of Doonside for 20 years now, but it’s more recently that it has become one of the must-visit food destinations in Western Sydney. And the credit for that must go to Jeremiah, the manager, who has turned it into a beautiful, modern, and authentic Filipino bakery. Having a background in interior design, Jeremiah gave the shop a full makeover with $5,000 over one weekend, turning it into without a doubt the prettiest shop on the street.

I spoke to Jeremiah on this episode of Tummy Treasures about how Starlight Bakery caters to it’s Filipino customers, the challenges of working in a relatively small environment, and how he went from a uni student working as a barista to running a bakery that has allowed him to reconnect with his culture.

This episode features the song Emily by Filipino jazz pianist Bobby Enriquez.

For more Starlight pictures you can head to the Tummy Treasures Instagram, and to listen to other episodes click right here.