Holden’s Bakery
After a few days in Townsville sorting out some business duties, we started to make our way west towards to NT border. We pumped out about 360km that day through Charters Towers and eventually made camp at the town of Hughenden.
Hughenden is a small town west of Townsville with a population of just over a 1100 and of course the town has a bakery. When we were planning this NT trip this was a bakery I wanted to visit. See 35 years ago I had a cricket carnival in Hughenden and was billited out with a local family. That family happened to the the Holden family and then owners of Holden’s Bakery. From memory, the 🥧’s I consumed easily exceeded the total runs I scored for the week. As as 12 year old I was in 🥧 heaven.
Sadly the owner Rob passed away 10 years ago and that’s when Rob’s nephew Ash and his partner Brooke bought the bakery and took over the place. Ash has been in the baking game for over 30 years working at various bakeries across QLD. This stay was part a 10 year plan and the 10 years is almost up.
Hughenden isself isn’t that big so the bakery is fairly easy to find. It was a short walk up from the RV camp we were staying at. The day of my visit was a Saturday morning and the place was a little busy, so we had to make this a short review as Ash still had plenty of baking to get through.
Easy choice for this weeks review. Old school bakery means old school 🥧 and nothing is older than a plain meat 🥧. I had one of these old school 🥧’s back in 1988 and it’s been a long time between drinks, so I was keen to rip and tear in.
🥧 THE REVIEW 🥧
1. Value for Money – $6 was reasonable value for a 🥧 of this size. Diameter was fairly decent, while the depth wasn’t massive it was still more than acceptable. 8.5/10
2. Meat Ratio – Overall pretty good. Maybe a little bit more could have been squeezed under the lid, but still faily full. 8.5/10
3. Flavour – Really good to be honest. The meat was fine and cooked well and the dark gravy sauce was beautiful. For a plain mince 🥧 it had more than its fair share of flavour. Great job. 8/10
4. Pastry – As photos show the color, shrinkage, shape and stability were all very good. When tipped up side down the 🥧 didn’t move one bit. The flavour of the pasty was great both top and bottom. Sadly the top and bottom bakes were both underdone. The top bake wasn’t that bad, but the bottom had a very evident wet line right through. 6/10
5. Serving Temperature – Zero issues !!!! Perfect temp 10/10
Overall Rating
🥧🥧 41/50 🥧🥧
The score may not reflect it, but this was a nice product. The value for money, meat ratio and flavour scores were all pretty consistent. The pastry bake did let the overall score down. The bottom bake in particular had a very evident wet line right through the bottom, while the top was also underbaked. The bake issue in this review isn’t the first I’ve seen and won’t be the last one either, it’s been a common trend with a lot of the reviews I’ve done over the last few years. Overall this 🥧 was more than acceptable and i would have no hesitation having another one.
To Ash and Brooke a huge thanks for having me in and for taking the time to show me around. It’s been 35 years since I was in this bakery and nothing has changed. Sadly Ash and Brooke have made the decision to sell this place and move on. If your looking for a cracking business in a cracking county town, get in touch with these 2 legends. Or if your passing through town make sure you pop in to this bakery and say gday.
Our overnight stays in Hughenden and Julia Creek were really good. Both camps were free (donation) and 100% worth the stop in. Particularly rhe Julia Creek one. If you can jag a spot on the waters edge it’s pretty awesome.
🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧
