Go Local: Blind Finch bakery offers winter treats in Ohakune

A tempting range of tasty treats has been selling like proverbial hotcakes in Ohakune.

Blind Finch owner Derek Allomes worked for a straight 36 hours to stock his new bakery before the opening on Wednesday.

"I started at 6am and finished at around 6pm the following day," he said.

"It was worth it because the community were very supportive and we have had people waiting for our pies to come out of the oven."

The Blind Finch Bakehouse opened on Wednesday, June 24, marking the fourth anniversary of the opening of Allomes' popular hamburger restaurant on the same site.

"We are baking two varieties of sourdough bread every day and they are selling well along with the sandwiches we make with them," Allomes said.

"I'm also making fresh, hand-rolled croissants and danishes with lots of butter."

The bakery has been established in the former dining room of the Blind Finch Hamburgeria which had a maximum seating capacity for 40 diners and was not worth reopening due to Covid-19 distancing restrictions.

Allomes had to close his Rotorua restaurant due to the Covid-19 lockdown and said he came back with a passionate drive to boost his Ohakune business.

Wanting to make ensure the business would be able to continue trading if there should be a future lockdown, Allomes decided to return to his first career as a baker and run the hamburgeria.

Allomes and his assistant Josh McKinnon are baking pies with traditional fillings like mince and steak, as well as gourmet varieties lamb shank with kumara and orange, beef cheek and truffle as well as a range of chicken varieties.

"One of my staff, Diana, is from Makassar in Indonesia and she is making a delicious beef rendang variety which is proving to be popular," he said.

"We also make pork and fennel sausage rolls in two sizes and we're looking at the possibility of making a mussel pie and a muttonbird variety because why not?"

Also on the menu is a range of tempting cheesecake varieties with flavours like lemon meringue, apple crumble, chocolate mousse and salted caramel presented as delicious little domes on round biscuit bases.

While the bakery is pulling in plenty of daytime customers, the Blind Finch Hamburgeria managed by Myriam O Courtemanche is busy with evening trade.

"It is looking like it will be a busy winter in Ohakune so I anticipate that I will need to take on another pastry chef or someone I can train," Allomes said.

The Blind Finch Bakehouse is open from 7am Tuesday to Sunday at 29 Goldfinch St, Ohakune.