2025 Pyney’s 🥧 Reviews
Review No 40
M & M Bakehouse
(Rutherford NSW)
May 2025
After having a few days off, it was time to jump in the car again and head off to my next review. I was on my way to Rutherford to see the crew at M&M Bakehouse Rutherford. Rutherford is a suburb in the City of Maitland in the Hunter Region and the bakery is located in shop 19/15 in the Rutherford Marketplace. It’s there you’ll find owners Patrick and Melissa.
This 🥧 journey in particular is quite unique and I’ve been looking forward to sharing this with you guys ever since i met them. This December the bakery will celebrate its fifth birthday and the place is going from strength to strength. Patrick and Melissa we’re both in the corporate world in Sydney. Patrick was working as a product analyst for CBA, while Melissa was a lawyer in a Sydney based firm. Melissa’s dad was a baker and floated the idea of this powerhouse couple opening up there own place, and as they say, the rest is history. This is by far the biggest and most left field career change I’ve seen since I started doing these reviews.
From the moment you step into this bakery, you will be struck by the outstanding cabinet display and the effortless flow of the layout. The cabinets boast an extensive array of bakery items, supplemented by products on tables and on top of the cabinets, making the selection remarkably diverse and increasing the likelihood of purchasing multiple items.
One of the star attractions at this joint would have to be the epic Banh Mi’s. These things are outrageous and it would have been rude not to try one before I left. Of course I was there for 🥧’s so I made my way over to the warmer to get started.
Patrick and Melissa have created a fantastic menu here which caters for everyone. All the usuals are on the list, including the “steak & kidney”, which can be hard to find these days. There was no way I was having a steak and kidney, but i did see a “Brisket & Gravy 🥧” on offer. I’ve tried many brisket, cheese, jalapeño, brisket and jalapeño, but not a plain brisket and gravy so this had me pretty excited.
🥧 THE REVIEW 🥧
1. Value for Money – $7.00 was ridiculous value !!! one slow cooked brisket isn’t cheap and secondly this 🥧 weighed in at 308 grams. Was a big pie and it was nearly bursting at the seams. This was an easy score to adjudicate. 10/10
2. Meat/Fill Ratio – Another easy score !!! Totally full. 10/10
3. Flavour – I loved the flavour in this 🥧, It was absolutely beautiful. The brisket was incredibly tender and the dark rich gravy sauce whilst pretty simple was very effective and tasted fantastic. I couldn’t get over the size of the brisket pieces and again how soft they felt in your mouth. Outstanding job guys. 9.5/10
4. Pastry – In my opinion, apart from a minor blemish, the pastry was almost perfect. The shape, shrinkage, colour and most importantly the stability was excellent. This was a heavy 🥧 and needed to hold firm which it did right to the last bite. The top bake was great as was its thickness. The only blemish was the bottom bake was a little thick which could easily be a once off. Overall great job team. 9.5/10
5. Serving Temperature – Perfect serving temp 10/10
Overall Rating
🥧🥧 49/50 🥧🥧
This is as close to the perfect 🥧 as you can get. I loved every minute of it, in fact I loved it that much I smashed two of them. It was just a simple combination of slow cooked brisket and gravy, but it was done exceptionally well. The 🥧 was massive, the price was cheap, the 🥧 was full, the 🥧 tasted sensational, the 🥧’s pastry was almost there and the serving temperature was spot on. Outstanding job guys loved every minute of it, highly recommended.
You’ve got rocks in your head if you don’t add this bakery to your travel plans. I’ve got nothing more to say apart from you’ve gotta get there, try the food and experience it yourself.
This was a phenomenal review and Melissa and Patrick are a phenomenal couple. Everything they have achieved in this place is through hard work, dedication and sacrifice. The passion for this industry and for making quality food for their customers is second to none. I’m so glad I reached out to this amazing couple and took the time to go and visit them, this is an incredible 🥧 journey and one that’s far from finished. All the best guys and you will see me again.
