One can
easily imagine the parade of drunken broke punters scratching around in their
pockets for loose change at 5.30pm on a Saturday afternoon… to provide them
with enough sustenance to make the arduous trek to The Hammo for the last 20
rum and cokes of the day; while girlfriends Courtney, Tiff, and Summer sway and
screech at the passers-by outside whilst clutching high heels in one hand and
bummed durries in the other. It’s not a big stretch, is it?
Having
never been in this position, I ventured in on a weekday. The store itself is
very nice, airy, and the lady behind the counter is very friendly and welcoming.
The sign outside proclaims that the preservative-free bread is their specialty,
along with award-winning pies. You can even ‘Like’ them on Stalkbook, should
you be so inclined. I’m not sure when the bakery opened its doors, but I believe
it hasn’t been there all that long. Perhaps the awards were won at a previous
location – I’m not sure.
 |
| Thorobread Curry Beef |
Rimmer and
I had a curry beef, a steak bacon & cheese, and a steak and kidney. I had
already tried a curry beef and wasn’t impressed with the filling – everything
else was pretty good, but it just didn’t have enough curry flavour for me.
Rimmer was in agreement, and was sorry he chose it. His words: ‘fail’. Doesn’t
mince words, our Rimmer.
The pies
come in a little foil nest with holes punched into the bottom, which allows the
base to cook through. Too many bakeries don’t do this, and you end up with a
doughy, sloppy bottom….and I don’t need to tell you how undesirable that is.
Similarly, the lid has been cooked out really well, and is nicely brown without
egg wash.
Overall,
the pies have a homey, slapped-together-in-a-sheltered-workshop look
which I find pretty appealing. The cost was about $4.50, which is OK,
but these were nothing more
than your basic standard size; perhaps slightly smaller, as they weren’t
overly
thick through the middle.
 |
| Steak Bacon Cheese |
My steak
bacon & cheese looked great in the mounting yard, and came out of the gate at a million miles an hour, with a nice
scattering of cheese on top, accompanied by more cheese and bacon throughout.
The filling was mainly chunks of steak that were generally well cooked and
overall it was pretty good without being great. In a horse race, this would
have settled three wide at the turn and never kicked on. A reasonably solid
performance, but not enough to become a black booker. Score is a shaky 7/10,
helped along by the casing top and bottom.
With a
slightly disappointing first leg, the steak and kidney blew out in the ring, as
the punters were not overly enthusiastic about her stablemate. She was a feisty
little filly however, and it immediately became apparent that she had the
potential to go the distance. The filling was a pretty good consistency being
mince through a thick gravy, and there was plenty of kidney flavour apparent
straight out of the blocks.
 |
| Steak & Kidney |
 |
| Nice base |
I
was happy
with the amount of kidney chunks scattered throughout, although some
more
seasoning wouldn’t have gone astray. It was hands and heels to the line
for the
place. Score again is a 7/10; but it’s a solid 7. I probably could have
awarded
7.5 - 8/10 if both pies were thicker – the photo of the steak and kidney
especially
makes it look thicker than it really was because the pie is tipped up a
bit. I probably could have eaten three without too much trouble.
 |
| Steak & Kidney Innards |
Thorobread
Bakery
probably needs a fair bit of encouragement with the jigger to turn it
into
the Black Caviar of bakeries, but it’s safe from the glue factory for
now…and if you happen to be one of those poor souls who had the house on
your mate's roughie tip
in the last (which stopped as if shot at the first furlong), then I
daresay the pies at The Thorobread will go a long way towards easing
your pain.
Until next time, take care.
Pieologist.
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