Updated: January 2, 2026

In Bengaluru, the festive season is not just about lights and music—it is also about smell, taste, and memory, especially in the city’s old bakeries. Long before malls piped in “Joy to the World” and artificial trees stood glittering in store windows, the aroma of plum cakes, hot cross buns, and traditional sweets would mark Christmas in the Cantonment areas of the city. For many residents, stepping into bakeries like Thoms, Alberts, All Saints, and Fatima Bakery is like walking through a portal of family memories, connecting generations through taste.

Bakeries as Anchors of Festive Memories

Vivek Chandy recalls his family’s tradition of taking homemade plum cakes to All Saints Bakery in the weeks leading up to Christmas. “Many people didn’t have ovens at home,” he says, “so bakeries would bake dozens of cakes daily, including ones brought in by families who prepared their dough at home.” The community aspect of this tradition—families pooling resources, sharing recipes, and contributing their own rum-soaked dry fruits—made the bakeries centres of festive life.

Similarly, Deepak Pinto remembers his Mangalorean Catholic family preparing Kombi Mutlee, a dish of small rice dumplings in chicken or cockle curry, in tandem with festive baking. “We were equidistant from Alberts and Thomsons on Mosque Road,” he says, “and bread delivery by bicycle was an everyday magic. The meats, sourced from local piggeries run by priests, were always fresh.”

The Legacy of Cantonment Bakeries

Many of Bengaluru’s iconic bakeries have been around for decades, sometimes over a century. Alberts, founded in 1902, still produces its famous khoya naan, a flaky, creamy delight best enjoyed hot. Thoms in Frazer Town remains a hub for Christmas plum cakes and kuswar platters. All Saints and Fatima Bakery continue to supply families with mince pies, cookies, and seasonal cakes, carrying forward traditions that have become inseparable from festive celebrations.

Even smaller, lesser-known bakeries preserve their wood-fired ovens and traditional techniques, adapting their offerings for festivals like Christmas and Ramadan. Shops like S.R. Bakery on Robertson Road sell andey ki mithai(egg sweets) and dumrote (ash gourd sweets), alongside savory treats like mutton and chicken puffs, demonstrating how culinary heritage is intertwined with community life.

Koshy’s: From Parade Cafe to Cultural Landmark

In the heart of the city, near M.G. Road, Koshy’s—originally the Parade Cafe bakery—serves as both a culinary and cultural landmark. Run by brothers Santhosh and Prem, it draws a diverse crowd of writers, professors, bird watchers, and artists, illustrating how bakeries in Bengaluru are spaces of social gathering and memory, not just food. As Ramachandra Guha has reflected, “Life without Parade’s is impossible to contemplate.”

The British Influence and Knowledge Transfer

The origin of these bakeries traces back to the British Cantonment era, when European residents found Indian bread substandard. British memsahibs taught locals the art of baking, a knowledge transfer that has endured. Today, this legacy lives on in Bengaluru’s bakeries, where traditional recipes, seasonal specialties, and the skillful handling of dough continue to delight new generations.

A Feast for the Senses

What sets bakeries apart from malls and supermarkets is the olfactory experience. The smell of baking, from plum cakes to khoya-based pastries, evokes nostalgia in a way piped-in music or artificial decorations cannot. Visiting Thoms, Alberts, or Koshy’s during the festive season is less about shopping—it’s about reconnecting with family, childhood, and community traditions that make Bengaluru’s Cantonment life so unique.

For the city’s residents, bakeries are more than food outlets—they are living museums of memory, where the aroma of freshly baked bread and sweets binds generations together, and every bite tells a story of tradition, family, and festive joy.