Levain is a bakery at 224 White Swan Road in Blockhouse Bay, Auckland, rated 4.5 from 1,082 Google reviews. Reviewers single out the pies — bacon and egg and a jalapeño version come up often — along with the lamb ragu sausage roll, the cheesecake and fresh bread, noting that it gets busy but service is quick. A good suburban bakery lives or dies by its savoury cabinet: pastry that stays crisp rather than going soggy, fillings generous with real meat rather than gravy, and batches baked through the day so the lunchtime rush meets fresh stock. Popularity has a price — the bestsellers tend to be gone by early afternoon — which is why regulars arrive early and treat a queue as a good sign. The sweet cabinet rewards the same timing, since cheesecakes and cream-filled things are at their best the day they are made. For pie lovers in Blockhouse Bay, Levain looks like a queue worth joining.