2025 Pyney’s 🥧 Reviews
Review No 44
Howlong Country Bakery
(Howlong NSW)
May 2025
With the world barbecue championships over it’s now time to get stuck into a truck load of reviews from my recent tour of NSW & VIC. After leaving the G-Rodge Hotel I started making my way towards Lake Mulwala where I planned to spend the weekend relaxing by the beautiful lake. Along the way I decided to stop into the beautiful town of Howlong to meet Steve from the Howlong Country Bakery.
Howlong is a town 28 kilometres west of Albury, and is situated on the Murray River which separates NSW and VIC. The bakery itself is located right in the main street and cannot be missed. Owner Steve has been in the baking game all his life and has been at the helm here for almost 5 years. The bakery itself has been here for over 25 years and Steve has worked in the place for 10 years before taking charge. This place is sensational and Steve has done an incredible job since taking over the place. It’s open seven days a week and employees whopping 45 staff.
The public space is huge and has a massive seating area to sit and relax. The huge cabinet display is ultra impressive with every bakery product imaginable available. If you think the cabinet display is impressive, you should check out the baking area out the back. This workspace area is absolutely massive and one
of the biggest I’ve ever seen. After chewing the fat with Steve and getting the grand tour, it was time to hit the warmer and choose a 🥧 to review.
Steve and his team have a huge variety of 🥧 on the menu here. As you can imagine every single bakery favourite is available. One flavour in particular caught my attention and that was Steve’s “Mexican 🥧”. It’s been a long time since I’ve reviewed one of these, and I was super keen to get cracking.
🥧 THE REVIEW 🥧
1. Value for Money – $8.50 for a 🥧 of this quality was really good. The 🥧 was a very healthy size in both weight and diameter. The combination of ingredients was extensive and in my opinion, making this 🥧 well worth the money. 8.5/10
2. Meat/Fill Ratio – About 90% full, with a small air pocket between the cheese and lid being the only blemish. Overall great fill. 9/10
3. Flavour – Absolutely fantastic !!! This Mexican 🥧 has every ingredient imaginable plus way more. Warning it does contain jalapeños, chili flakes and chili powder but the sour cream counters the spice factor. This is your classic chill con carne dish placed in pastry. Great job guys outstanding flavour. 10/10
4. Pastry – The colour of this 🥧 caught my attention straight away, the golden color was a real eye catcher. The shape, stability and shrinkage were all first class. In my opinion, the bake thickness on both the top and bottom were fantastic, but both bakes were slightly underdone (pic will show) and it needed a smidge more time in the oven. Overall not much wrong with this pastry apart from that, plus the pastry flavour was fantastic. Excellent job on this one guys. 9/10
5. Serving Temperature – Perfect serving temp 10/10
Overall Rating
🥧🥧 46.5/50 🥧🥧
I know it’s a big call, but this is probably the best mexican flavoured 🥧, I’ve experienced. To be honest, there wasn’t much wrong with it, just a few minor things here and there to tweak. The combination of ingredients the team has used worked an absolute treat, and i have to say it was a well balanced 🥧. All the scores across all the categories were very consistent, but for me, the flavour was the best. The pastry also tasted fantastic and the color of these 🥧’s will get your immediate attention. Outstanding effort guys you’ve done a wonderful job with this one highly recommended. 100% add this bakery to your travel plans. This place has everything plus more and you won’t be disappointed.
A massive thanks to Steve and his incredible team for having me in. Since taking over Steve has done an unbelievable job at this place. The amount of awards this place has won is countless, and this clearly shows through the amazing products on offer. You wouldn’t meet a better bloke than Steve, what a fantastic fella. All the best mate we will definitely stay in touch.
If you’re looking for a sensational place to camp up for a few days, make sure you check out Kyffins Reserve at Lake Mulwala. It’s a cracking spot and close to town, check it out on Wiki Camps.
As always thanks for the ongoing support and keep supporting 🇦🇺 bakeries and don’t forget to invite all your friends to the page.
