West Melton’s French bakery and patisserie: Les Delices Bakery
The sweet smell of warm butter, baked pastries and fresh bread envelop this true artisanal French bakery in West Melton.
A nchoring Sophia and Shane Smedley’s craft is a commitment to real ingredients and no shortcuts. Inside Les Delices Bakery, the owner-baker duo create pastries with real butter and not the easier pastry margarine, custard squares with real cream and milk, gourmet filled rolls with fresh ingredients, and European delicacies with authentic recipes (thanks to their Austrian head baker). “Our standard is to make everything from scratch,” Sophia says.
After purchasing the bakery from its previous French owner in January 2026, Sophia and Shane fell in love with the artisanal authenticity that underpinned every item in the cabinet. With a background in restaurants and bakeries from Wānaka to Kaikōura, the pair saw Les Delices as an opportunity to lean into a made-from-scratch ethos. In a world where more of what we eat is processed, Sophia says she’s seeing other bakeries and hospitality operators shift back to homemade and from-scratch food.
Inside the cabinet that tastes like a trip to Paris, find a range of exquisitely beautiful tarts, buttery danishes, fresh European breads like baguettes and sourdough, premium filled rolls for lunches and on-the-go snacking, flaky gourmet pies, creamy custard squares, and traditional sweet or savoury croissants.
Visit Les Delices at 736 Weedons Road on your next trip to West Melton, call 03 421 6559 or find them on Facebook.
