On TM Soundararajan Road in Mandaveli, there is a 70-year-old building with fading yellow paint and blue windows. On its facade, is a bright yellow signboard that says Verghese Bakery. Below, is a glass door and whenever it opens visitors are met with a gush of cold air swollen with the warm aroma of sugar.
Displayed in refrigerated glass shelves are red velvet cakes, doughnuts and Japonaise cakes — a rare find. “They are fresh and made today,” says Chrisma Rachel, daughter of the bakery’s current owner, Alex Verghese.
In the kitchen, amidst commercial-grade mixers, there is an electric oven that can bake around 10 trays of puffs or almost 40 loaves of bread at once. Verghese Bakery made the shift from wood-fired ovens in the 1980s. At the sound of a buzzer, PR Paul, the master baker pulls out a fresh batch of flaky, golden puffs, then arranges them on a cooling rack. “They will all get sold out today,” he says with a proud smile.
