2024 🥧 Tour
Review no 51
Curcio’s Bakery
(Mareeba QLD)
Sept 2024
My time in the Atherton tablelands area was pretty awesome. It great to catch up with old friends plus visit a few new bakeries. Sadly it was time to head down the range and make my way to Cairns, before that I wanted to stop into Curcio’s drive-through bakery in Mareeba and check the place out.
The bakery sits on the corner opposite the Coles shopping centre complex and features an EPIC drive-thru service. The bakery has been in operation for over 50 years and is owned and operated by Quinto with the assistance of his awesome partner Lexi.
The drive-through service is old school, very unique and during my travels I can count the number of drive thru bakeries I’ve visited on one hand. The young staff running this service are quite remarkable. No pen, paper or electronic devices, these young kids are memorizing orders and doing a great job.
Inside the bakery you are greeted by a impressive cabinet display with all the cabinets filled with every bakery product imaginable. One thing I did find was this place gets incredibly busy and the whole time I was there, the shop and drive-thru was out of control busy. Quinto despite being run off his feet was awesome and showed me around the bakery, introducing me to his team. I still had a bit of driving to do that day and time wasn’t on my side, so with that in mind I made my way out the front to the 🥧 warmer to get things started.
There is a massive selection of 🥧’s on offer here, with over 25 different flavours to choose from. I originally thought my decision was going to be difficult, but for some reason I was in the mood for a good old fashioned curry 🥧. It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a curry 🥧 and I was very interested to see how this one fared.
🥧 THE REVIEW 🥧
1. Value for Money – $6 was very good value !!! This was a fairly deep oval shaped 🥧 and weighed above industry standard at around 280 grams. Great value 9/10
2. Meat/Fill Ratio – This 🥧 was completely full !!! The top bake did rise a fraction but that didn’t matter. You couldn’t squeeze any more fill into this 🥧. 10/10
3. Flavour – Old school mince and curry 🥧. The mince was cooked ok and wasn’t gritty or grizzly. The curry flavour was evident but could have been stronger in my opinion. The overall flavour was more than satisfactory. 7/10
4. Pastry – Shape, stability and top bake colour were all great. This was a relatively heavy pie and when tipped on the side, didn’t move one bit. The bottom bake was underbaked and needed more oven time, while the top and bottom bake thickness was too thick. On a positive note the pastry flavour was excellent. 7/10
5. Serving Temperature – This bugger was a little hot !!! Nothing major but had to wait a minute or so. 9/10
Overall Rating
🥧🥧 42/50 🥧🥧
Overall this was an old school curry 🥧. Nothing fancy about it, but it hit the spot. $6 was very reasonably priced, plus it was totally full. In my opinion, the curry mix could have have had a fraction more kick to it. I’m positive there are 🥧 punters out there that like their curry 🥧 quite mild and that’s ok. The bakes and thicknesses needed a little work but nothing that cannot be altered. If asked would I have another one? Simple answer is yes, and I did !!!
To Quinto and Lexi a big thank you for having me in on short notice and taking the time to show me around. After 50 years this bakery is kicking goals and going gang busters. I wish you both all the best and stay in touch. If your passing through Mareeba or heading up to the Cape 100% pop in, grab your supplies and say gday. This is another little country bakery you need to add to your 🥧 plans.
