2024 🥧 Tour
Review no 43
Hudaks Bakery
(Mildura VIC)
Over the next few months I will be bringing you a series of reviews from my current 🥧 tour. This tour started back in early July in Victoria and then saw me venture into South Australia, Northern Territory, and up over to Queensland where I’m currently visiting bakeries in and around the Cairns area. First on the list is the legendary Hudaks Bakery
situated in Mildura.
Hudaks Bakery started back in 1947 by a young Czechoslovakian baker named John Hudak. His first family holiday in Australia was Mildura and that’s where he purchased his first pastry shop on 8th Street. The bakery he wanted to buy was not for sale and on the last day of his holiday it came on the market and he snapped it up.
In 2017, Andrew and Rebecca took over the bakery which now has two locations in Mildura. Rebecca first started here as an apprentice at the age of 17 and has never left, while Andrew has had many years sales experience in the beer industry.
I visited the Deakin Ave store and apart from the impressive cabinet display I was taken back by the bright colors and the exceptional branding. The shop looked alive, vibrant and not cluttered. One thing that I noticed was the product placement and the cabinet lighting was first class. Andrew has done a sterling job with this aspect and I could tell it wasn’t his first rodeo.
Another thing that caught my attention was how clean the place was including the baking area. This is Rebecca’s domain and her work space is spotless and has some of the best baking equipment I’ve seen. I need to give their “farmers loaf” a massive plug it was simply sensational and I’ve never seen anything like it before. After drooling over this loaf of bread I headed over to the warmer to get things stared.
Heaps of varieties to choose from with all the usual bakery favorites on the menu. After looking at what was on offer I eventually went with the old school favourite the “ Beef and Pepper” it’s been a while since I had a mince 🥧 and this bad boy looked pretty impressive.
🥧 THE REVIEW 🥧
1. Value for Money – $6.40 is fantastic value for a 🥧 of this size and quality. Diameter and depth was more than satisfactory and a top it off the 🥧 was completely full. Great job and well priced 9/10
2. Meat & Fill Ratio – Totally full !!! End of story. 10/10
3. Flavour – Sensational !!! The flavor of this 🥧 was terrific. The mince was of the highest quality and was cooked to perfection. The scattered peppercorns were the perfect amount and gave this 🥧 a little extra kick. If you like you pepper 🥧 on the hot side, you are going to enjoy this one. 9.5/10
4. Pastry – The overall quality of this pastry was excellent with only a few minor issues to tweak and work on. The colour, shape and shrinkage was very good, while the stability was spot on. Both the top bake and bottom bake was slightly underdone, but I need to express the word slightly. The the pastry flavor was superb and could not be faulted. 8.5/10
5. Serving Temperature – No issues with the serving temp it was spot on. 10/10
Overall Rating
🥧🥧 47/50 🥧🥧
Old school bakery, old school quality 🥧. Overall this was a really good product and one I thoroughly enjoyed. Apart from a slight wet line on the top and bottom bake. This was a near perfect 🥧. The scores across the 5 categories was very consistent. The flavor, particularly the pepper corns was outstanding and the 🥧 packed a little punch which I loved. If you like your pepper 🥧 a little bit 🔥er side, your going to froth on this one. The 🥧 was completely full and the price point at $6.40 was very well priced. The color, shrinkage and stability all of the highest quality. Rebecca and her team have done a wonderful job with this pie. Well done guys. Hudaks is a Mildura baking institution and 100% worth visiting. Add this place to your 🥧 list and you won’t be disappointed, don’t forget to grab a farmers loaf while your there.
As always these reviews would not be possible without the support of the bakery owners and staff. So a huge thanks goes out to Andrew and Rebecca for their incredible hospitality.
This dynamic duo are one of the hardest working couples I know. After all these years Rebecca still has the passion and strives for baking perfection, while Andrew is coming up with new marketing and branding ideas for the front of shop. This was an epic visit and one I learnt a hell of a lot from. You guys run a sensational business and deserve all the success that comes your way.
