Bohemian Bakery is a Christchurch bakery that opened in June 2016, founded by Maka Angyalova, who set out to create a village bakery bringing food production back closer to customers. All baked goods, bread, pies and rolls are made on the premises using ingredients the bakery describes as ones your grandma would recognise.
Their sourdough is made the old-fashioned way, using starters fed twice a day, every day, followed by a long cold fermentation for complex flavour, longer shelf life, and improved digestibility. Croissants and other morning pastries are made fresh daily using a labour-intensive technique the bakery says is worth the effort for the final result.
The bakery is led by Head Baker Lex Roh, who trained in his father's bakery in Korea and has won gold medals in the Farmers Mill NZ Bread Bake Off for Baguette, Ciabatta, and Plaited Bread, plus silver for Pretzel. Iveta Šota oversees operations, marketing and sales. What started as a small three-day-a-week operation in Sumner has grown into a bakery employing more than 20 people across multiple Christchurch locations, including Sumner, a City bakery cafe, St Martins, Cashel Street HQ, and Merivale, alongside supermarket stockists. The bakery also offers catering and dedicated catering boxes.
Bohemian Bakery opened in June 2016 with a simple idea: bring food production back closer to the people eating it, in a village-bakery style where customers can see how their food is made and get to know the people making it. That idea has grown from a small beachside operation into one of Christchurch's best-known bakery names.\n\nThe bakery was founded by Maka Angyalova, who missed the good bread she grew up eating in Czech and Slovakia and decided to give a little beachside bakery a go. The original plan was modest — bake everything herself and open the shop just three days a week. The response from the Sumner community was so positive that the bakery now employs more than 20 people. Maka studied business and worked in account management and research roles before training as a baker at Bellbird Bakery and continuing through self-study, eventually becoming the bakery's founder, owner, food taster and baker.\n\n## What They're Known For\n\nEverything at Bohemian Bakery — the bread, pastries, pies and rolls — is made on the premises, with an ethos built around using only ingredients customers would recognise. Sourdough breads are made the old-fashioned way, using starters that are fed twice a day, every single day. The dough then goes through a long cold fermentation, which builds complex flavour, extends shelf life, and improves digestibility.\n\nCroissants and other morning pastries are made fresh daily using a technique the bakery notes isn't common anymore because it's so labour intensive — but one they consider well worth it for the final result.\n\nHeading up the baking is Lex Roh, who learned the craft in his father's bakery in Korea before training and working at an international bakery there, gaining experience across bread making, cake decorating, and pastry production. He moved to New Zealand in 2015, originally to study English, and stayed for the country's beauty and relaxed lifestyle. Lex has won gold medals in the Farmers Mill NZ Bread Bake Off for Baguette, Ciabatta, and Plaited Bread, along with a silver for Pretzel — credentials that back up the bakery's reputation for serious bread craft.\n\nRounding out the leadership team is Iveta Šota, who oversees operations, marketing, sales and more, bringing baking, cooking, and sales and marketing experience from Latvia, Norway, and England.\n\n## The Range\n\nBohemian Bakery's product range spans bread, pastry, tarts, cakes and desserts, sandwiches and toasties, pies and rolls, and other sweets. On the drinks side, the bakery serves Allpress Coffee, Wildwood spiced hot chocolate, and Hakanoa spiced chai and turmeric latte. Beyond the counter, the bakery also offers catering and dedicated catering boxes for larger orders.\n\nThe bakery works with a long list of local and specialty suppliers, including Milmore Downs, Farmers Mill, Prima Coffee, Anchor Dairy, Peter Timbs, Mediterranean Food Company, Thulani Free Range Pastured Eggs, Merchant of Venison, Karma, Almighty, Chia Sisters, Born & Raised Kombucha, Heathcote Apiaries honey, White Heart, Service Foods, Davis Trading, Three Boys Brewery, Impacked Packaging, Hakanoa, and Wildwood.\n\n## Where to Find Them\n\nBohemian Bakery has grown from its original Sumner site into multiple Christchurch locations: Sumner, a City bakery cafe, St Martins, a Cashel Street HQ, and Merivale, alongside supermarket stockists around the city. Each location can be reached directly by phone — Sumner on 03-326 3357, the City bakery cafe on 03-365 0456, St Martins on 03-331-6109, Cashel Street HQ on 03-365 1335, and Merivale on 03 355 0576 — or via email at [email protected].\n\nFrom a three-day-a-week solo bake in Sumner to a multi-site Christchurch institution, Bohemian Bakery's growth has been built on a straightforward philosophy: simple, good ingredients in the hands of passionate craftspeople, resulting in food with true, pure flavour.