Morrell’s Bakery Cafe
We were well and truly on the homeward stretch by now and punching out some big days on the road. Our last destination was the quirky town of Lightning Ridge. This was a place we have visited before, but for some reason has drawn us back again. Before we got to Lightning Ridge we made a pit stop into the NSW country town of Bourke.
Our initial plan was the park the van up in town and have a late breaky, but that idea soon changed when i saw the Morrall’s Bakery sign. While Julie made herself a coffee and some toast i jumped out of the car and made a bee line straight over to the bakery.
Morrall’s Bakery is located in Mitchell Street Bourke and is open 6 days a week. The bakery has been operating for over a 100 years and first started baking goods way back in 1908. Current owner John started working here after school in 1983 then commenced his apprenticeship in 1987. Then in August 2014 the opportunity came up for John and Tanya to make this place their own and the rest as they say is history.
The bakery itself is massive and has ample seating inside to escape and summer heat and the cold frosty winters. The place is more than a bakery and offerers a massive range of fresh meals to eat in or take away. The cabinet display once again was very impressive and has all the usual suspects on offer. The day i visited John had some massive issues going on with his coffee machine so we didn’t have much time for idle chit chat and we needed to get cracking.
After taking a sneak peek at the menu, one particular 🥧 caught my attention and that was the “Minted Lamb” This particalar flavor has never been reviewed before and I was super keen to give this one a go.
🥧 THE REVIEW 🥧
1. Value for Money – $5.30 is sensational value for this flavored 🥧. It wasn’t the biggest of 🥧’s but still a very healthy size in depth and diameter. To find a 🥧 under $5.50 is very rare these days. Superb value 10/10
2. Meat Ratio – Excellent !!! Totally full. 10/10
3. Flavour – Slow cooked lamb mince, mint sauce then bathed in a dark gravy sauce. The flavour is this 🥧 was really nice and reminded me of a Sunday roast !!!. The meat was cooked to perfection and the added mint sauce was the exact blend. Too much mint sauce good have ruined this experience but it was spot on. Very basic but beautiful. Great job. 9/10
4. Pastry – The color, shape, shape and shrinkage were all near perfect. The pastry flavor was also very good. Only real negatives was the bottom bake was slightly under done and the base was a smidge too thick. The top was the same story but only marginal. Overall the pastry was more than acceptable. 8/10
5. Serving Temperature – A fraction on the hot side but nothing to get disappointed about. Overall very good. 9.5/10
Overall Rating
🥧🥧 46.5/50 🥧🥧
I could be wrong but this was my first ever minted lamb 🥧 review and I’m giving it a huge 👍’s up. The flavour in this thing was beautiful and what I did love was the added mint sauce wasn’t overpowering and was the perfect mix. The pastry had a terrific flavour about it and the price tag of $5.30 was dirt cheap. Only negatives was the bottom and top bakes were a smidge too thick and slightly underbaked. This was only marginal and something that can we sorted quite easily. Overall this was a sensational product and one that totally surprised me.
To John, Tanya and the rest of the bakery team a monumental thanks for having me in and your incredible hospitality. John your continued passion after 40 years in the industry is something else. This bakery and review totally took me by surprise and I’m so glad we stopped into town and I walked into your epic bakery. This bakery/cafe is a little gem and a place you 100% need to add to your own travel plans. All the best in the future and please stay in touch.
Our stays at Cobar and Lightning Ridge were sensational. Lightning Ridge in particular was something else. This was our second time to this quirky place and certainly won’t be the last. This whole northern NSW area has so much on offer and 100% worth the visit.
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