Its windows housed tulumbes, kourabiedes, coca-cola and kadaifia. But also cheese and spinach pies, chocolates, baklavas, Turkish delights and milk pies, like those from Greece. In the center of Melbourne, in the heart of the Greek quarter, the “International Cakes” bakery has been a reference for expatriates and beyond for decades.
A sweet stop for a quick trip to the flavors of the homeland, from the 1950s, when it began operating as a Greek cafeteria.
Its last owner, Vassilis Batzogiannis (Bill Batz), on the last night of September, when leaving his store, he locked the door behind him as he has done every day for the last 55 years: “I put the key in, turned it, smelled it and it didn’t work. came back to look back”, he said visibly moved to the expatriate newspaper Neos Kosmos, as he left behind not only the pastry shop, but his entire life.
