Chefs’ Warehouse, in the inner-city suburb of Surry Hills, is one of my favourite places to shop in the whole world. Last time I was there, they kindly let me take photos to share with you.
They’re only open Monday to Friday, and if you live in Sydney and you’ve never been there, take a half-day off work and go. Make sure you take plenty of money with you, because you’ll need it!
This is Sydney’s premier hotel, restaurant and catering supplier, and the cheapest source I’ve ever found for Callebaut Belgian chocolate. It’s available in 5kg blocks, or in callets (choc chips) in 2.5kg or 10kg bags (they’re the huge sacks on the bottom shelf).
My friend Dot insists that this is the best vanilla extract in the universe. As we make our own, I’ve never tried it…
…but I can vouch for their vanilla beans, which are always plump, juicy and ridiculously cheap when bought in bulk. 500g gives you well over 100 vanilla beans, making them less than 75c each. I bought a packet last year and gave half to Maude for her birthday.
There is a wonderful assortment of unusual food items (on this visit I found French hazelnut oil)…
…and more bakeware than you can poke a stick at.
All the best cookbooks are there, at great prices…
…as are top of the line kitchen machines. This is just a small sample; there are also slicers, icecream makers, pasta machines, sauce makers and much more.
Up high, an array of copper pots and pans glow…
…contrasted by this large selection of black paella pans and burners.
As well as the hazelnut oil, I came home with a Spanish terracotta plate (see the photo at the very top), some Australian sea salt and a tub of fabulous fondant patissier from France. Can you see why it’s one of my all-time favourite places to shop?
PS. Don’t be put off by the “Trade Only” sign at the front door. They do sell to the public, but trade get an additional discount.
. . . . .
Chefs’ Warehouse
111-115 Albion St
Surry Hills NSW 2010
(02) 9211 4555
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
It looks like a good foodie heaven for me,….
Lovely materials & grand pictures,..I could visit that place for more then 1 hour…
I’ve always meant to get there but their opening hours aren’t very user friendly (closing at 5pm and closed weekends) . Good to get a glimpse inside! :D
Ooh I was tempted to get one of those terracotta plates as well the last time I was there. I will have to look out for that vanilla extract next time…..gosh, you have just given me another excuse for yet another visit. I always seem to come out of that shop with a large box of “stuff”….thanks BIC!
I might knock off early today – am sorely tempted.
What’s the story with the burners – are they for paella?
Pete V
Sophie, I’ve been known to spend an afternoon in there!
Lorraine, the hours aren’t user friendly, but the staff certainly are! :) I hope you get to pop in, it’s like Aladdin’s Cave. They honestly seem to have everything there. When I was trying to find canele moulds, this was the only place that sold them locally – and they had them in copper, stainless and silicone!
Spice Girl and Pete – sorry, I know I’ve just made you both spend more money there now. :) SG, Dot swears by the vanilla extract, and she’s former head chef at a hatted Sydney resto, so her opinion is always worth noting! And Pete, yes, the burners are for paella – when are we going to get to taste yours, btw? :)
might be worth emigrating for!
oh, you’re just trying to get my hopes up… :)
Wow, I’m so jealous of you, I can imagine spending hours and thousands in a shop like that! Perhaps it’s for the best that I’m half way around the globe!!!
I always have to take cash, because if I go with a credit card, it really gets out of control! :)
We have a chef’s supply near our house. Best deal, mini metal tongs. They were cheap and we use them all the time!
The baking sheets are also a good deal, as are a good pair of kitchen scissors.
There is a huge one up in LA, Surfas, that has been there for ever… http://www.culinarydistrict.com/
Nom nom nom!
Marilyn
Marilyn, isn’t it funny how it’s the little things that you end up falling in love with? For me, it was a $3 glass measuring cup, which looks like a shot glass. I used it until all the markings wore off!
Celia
Gosh yes! also… small pizza pans, I use them for my vegetarian food when I cooking the guys meat in the oven. They fit in the dishwasher better that cookie sheets.
Wow. That place is like Aladdins cave, isn’t it! Treasures galore!
Gillian, it would blow your mind – they have bulk Belgian chocolate in milk, white, dark 54% and dark 70%, both 5kg blocks and callets; as well as tubs of cocoa butter, 44% cocoa baking sticks, French hazelnut paste, vanilla beans and extracts, glucose syrup, fondant, dutch cocoa in 1kg and 5kg bags, and more. If you ever make it to Sydney for a visit, we will have our own Willy Wonka moment there.. :)
Three origins for the vanilla extract, did Dot say which one is best, I am sure the staff will not tell me one is better over the other. I usually buy in Brisbane at Executive Chef but they only have one they rebottle under their name. Going down to Sydney tomorrow and might stay long enough to catch their opening hours after Easter. Roz
Roz, I’ll check for you, but personally I’d recommend you pick up their vanilla beans and make your own! It’s much cheaper in the long run, and I’ve now got extract over a year old, and it’s magnificent. I wrote a post about making vanilla extract here – it’s very easy.
Cheers, Celia
It’a a good thing (maybe) that I live so far away…. :-)
Oohhh that place looks fantastic! You got my hopes up at the start because I was already thinking about visiting but then I realised it was Surry Hills Sydney…. Sorry to say that I live in Melbourne – do you or any of your readers know of a shop like that down here… :)
I don’t, Cath, but hopefully someone else can chip in here…
Thanks for stopping by!
LOVED it! just managed a lightning quick visit today and still spent FAR too much. however, i have 500g of vanilla beans so off to try my hand a vanilla extract now.
thanks so much Celia!
Hahaha…you’re in trouble now, Anne, visiting there is quite addictive! :)
Have fun with the vanilla – the Intolerant Chef left me a comment on the duck thread about how having stock stashed in the freezer made her feel rich, and I completely agree with her, but there is absolutely nothing like having half a kilo of vanilla pods to play with to make you feel really rich!! :)
For sure it’s too good. . . They even had a new cover for my cake stand to replace the one I’d broken!
Plus, there’s all things i really NEED like a complete range of Loyal piping things and all those fab little tart & moulds. Stacks of things I had no clue what they would be used for.
Quick question – how do you store the vanilla pods. I am splitting (pardon the pun!) with friend, but I will still have an awful lot of plump & juicy pods that I want to keep in prime condition. . . any tips?
Anne, I have a little dinky vacuum sealer, so my surplus ones get sealed up. Some people put them in the freezer, but I’ve read that that can be quite bad for them. If you don’t have a vacuum sealer, I’d suggest keeping them in an airtight glass container and storing them in a cool, dark spot. I gave half of my packet to Maude for her birthday, and I put them into a glass bottle which used to be filled with tomato passata (the imported Italian ones have a screw top metal lid). I put the bottle through the dishwasher to get it all clean and odour-free. It was a perfect size, and with a custom label, made a great foodie birthday present.
Isn’t it amazing how many you get in the 500g? From memory we had well over 100 pods.
Many years ago, Maude and I were watching a Jamie Oliver cooking programme where he was making vanilla sugar, and he had a kilner jar on his bench filled with what must have been 300 pods. We were both astounded by that – so it was nice when we were able to have our own packed jars to play with – as I said, made us feel rich! :D
LOL – that’s what I did. I left out a few out for immediate-ish consumption in a press-seal bag, but I have vacuumed packed the rest.
I have also read that chill can be bad for vanilla pods, so tempting as the fridge/freezer is I have given it a miss.
INCREDIBLY good value for money. there were around 95 (give or take) but some were VERY wide, say about 4-5mm.
There were some you could buy from NQld at what I had previously thought were quite reasonable prices, but nothing compared to this!
Having a bit of a chocolate phase this week – kid’s are so excited as there’s already chocolate slab cake, but I just had to play with my callebaut goodies, so am making choc chip cookies as well. However, I might freeze half as we really can’t eat ALL the chocolate stuff in one week!
Luckily our girls have started laying again and there’s eggs to be had for this baking frenzy.
Oh, you got the really fat pods – they must be gorgeous! Sometimes they have shorter ones as well. I keep trying to buy more, but Pete won’t let me, but it’s just such a bargain I have trouble passing them by!
Hope you liked the chocolate slab cake. Choc chip cookies freeze brilliantly, although they can be a little too easy to eat frozen. Did you find the Callebaut bake-stable sticks? I love those – most of our cookies are now a combination of melty callets and bakestable sticks, broken up. Must stop now, or I’ll have to go in tomorrow and spend more money. :)
Choc slab cake was huge hit! and so easy. As soon as the mix was done and it was so smooth & creamy I knew it was going to be great. And that was even before I had the Callebaut cocoa too, :)
Definitely got the Callebaut baking sticks – they were such a bargain for the quality – $18/kg. considering supermarket choc bit things I usually use for choc chip things are $4 ish for 250g, getting that great quality for the price is awesome.
The Callebaut baking sticks are a treasure – they’re perfect for rolling into sweet bread dough for baby pain au chocolat. Now that you have all that cocoa and chocolate, you might enjoy the hot chocolate mix we make – Small Man has a mug every night! :) Recipe is here:
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2009/03/22/hot-chocolate/
Thanks for the photos! I had forgotten about this place as was never able to make it during their opening hours. Another benefit of maternity leave is that I can now go and stock up on vanilla beans and choc! Taking my little guy this week to check it out. Might play it safe and just take cash :)