First Look: Idle Hands Brings Milo, Custard Tarts and Brid-Inspired Cookies to the CBD

Cast your mind back to 2020. The world was shut down and globally, people with idle hands started searching desperately for hobbies. Like many of us, Lewis McDonald reached for a sourdough starter kit.

Post-Covid, things returned to “normal” for most, but not for him. He was absolutely hooked on baking. Eventually he took his newfound love to the next level, starting a business selling homemade bread to friends, then eventually to establishments like Thelma and Loc Bottle Bar, which he managed from March 2024 until it closed.

“It turned into a habit that essentially got really out of hand very fast,” he says. “It became an obsession.” 

Opening a bricks-and-mortar home for Idle Hands had been on his mind for some time, so when Lolly Heaney and Ben Golotta of House Warmers put the feelers out for a hospo business to join the creative hub they share with photography studio Common Uncommon, the baker jumped at the chance – and brought his sister, Ella McDonald, along for the ride.

“Within about 30 minutes of that post going up on Instagram I had about four friends independently message me saying ‘hey, you should do this’. Right place, right time, right people, you know, it was just meant to be,” says Lewis.

At Idle Hands’ new shop, you’ll find his signature breads, pastries like sourdough cardamom buns and custard tarts, and dark chocolate rye cookies, which were lovingly inspired by the bickies at Brid. Ella is also on the tools baking different cakes on rotation. So far there’s been a rich chocolate cake with ganache, with Lewis teasing that an apple tea cake is next on the line-up.

There’s a pared back drinks menu of coffee (Wood and Co and Kindred are his beans of choice), builder’s tea and hot or cold Milo. A tight edit of natural wines will also be available from late March.

What’s not on the menu? Alternative milks, matcha and chocolate-dusted cappuccinos.

Lewis cut his teeth managing Exchange Coffee in an era that “pre-dated oat milk as an alternative”. His time at Exchange has formed the foundation of how he runs the Idle Hands drinks program. It’s the same reason there’s no chocolate on the cappuccinos. “When my Italian friends come in, they give me a little nod as if to say ‘thanks for your good service’.”

As for the lack of matcha? Having lived and worked in Japan, “I’ve had it in its proper environment where it’s as good as it’ll ever be,” he says. Serving it in the way Australian cafes often do, “with strawberry jam and oat milk in it”, just didn’t feel right.

When the liquor licence comes through, Friday evenings will be wine nights with local drops from Manon Farm, Jauma, Lucy Margaux, Limus, The Other Right and Scintilla Wines pouring from 5pm till 10pm.

There’s also a tight edit of “simple little wine bar snacks” like comté, locally made salume, fresh baguettes and Lewis’s show-stopping sourdough focaccia.

“Seeing the smile on people’s faces when they come in and see Milo on the menu, or a good old ham and cheese sandwich in the cabinet … for me, that’s what hospitality is all about at the end of the day.”

Idle Hands

100 Gilbert Street, Adelaide

No phone

Hours:

Thu & Fri 7am–2pm

Sat 8am–2pm

Sun 9am–2pm

Evening service starts in late March. 

@idle.hands.adl