If you have spent any time in Greece, you already know bougatsa. It is the thing you eat first thing in the morning from a bakery counter, still warm, dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon, with layers of crisp phyllo wrapped around a filling of warm semolina custard cream.
It is one of the most popular pastries in the country. Walk into any bakery in Thessaloniki, Athens or Crete before 9am and you will see trays of it on the counter, still warm. People queue for it. They eat it standing up. It is not a dessert. It is breakfast.
What goes into a bougatsa
The pastry is built from layers of fine phyllo. Not the dry, packaged filo you find in supermarkets. Proper phyllo, thin enough that you can almost see through it, layered to create that shattering, flaky texture.
The filling is a semolina custard of milk, sugar, eggs and fine semolina flour, thick and smooth, wrapped inside the phyllo so the outside stays deep golden and the inside stays soft.
It is served warm, cut into portions and dusted with powdered sugar and a generous amount of cinnamon. That contrast between the crisp pastry and the soft, creamy filling is what makes it.
Savoury bougatsa too
In northern Greece, bougatsa also comes in savoury versions. The most common is filled with a mixture of feta cheese, or with seasoned minced meat. Same crisp phyllo, completely different experience.
The cheese version is simple and sharp. The meat version is richer, almost like a Greek take on a sausage roll but with layers of flaky pastry instead of shortcrust. Both are eaten the same way: hot, from the counter, with a coffee.
Why it does not exist in Newcastle
Real bougatsa is hard to find outside Greece. It needs proper phyllo, the right semolina custard, and someone who knows how it should taste. It is not something the average UK cafe has ever offered.
That is why you do not see it in Newcastle. There has not been a dedicated Greek bakery bringing it to the city. Until now.
That is changing
New Greek Bakery is opening on Clayton Road in Jesmond. It is a dedicated Greek bakery cafe from the team behind New Greek on Chillingham Road in Heaton.
Bougatsa will be one of the signature items. Crisp phyllo, warm semolina custard, served warm and dusted with sugar and cinnamon. The way it is meant to be eaten.
Alongside bougatsa, the bakery will serve spanakopita, baklava, sandwiches, Greek desserts, freddo espresso and proper Greek coffee. A full Greek bakery cafe experience, the first of its kind in Newcastle.
Be the first to know when we open.
Sign Up for Updates