2024 🥧 Tour
Review no 34
North End Bakehouse
(Mooroonpa VIC)
To say I was a little excited about this next review was a massive understatement. The thought of smashing a few glorious 🥧’s wasn’t the only thing that got my blood pumping. It was the classic “Vanilla Slice” or “Snot Block” that got me a tad excited. This bakery has been crowned 🇦🇺’s best vanilla slice for 2023 and 2024. The bakery I am referring to is North End Bakehouse Shepparton & Mooroopna.
North End Bakehouse is owned and operated by an amazing young couple named Matt & Kiah. This was a double review as I planed to visit their original store at Shepparton and their newly opened bakery at Mooroonpa.
Their Mooroopna bakery first opened in 1974 as Mooroopna Hot Bread, after various owners it changed to Billy’s Bakehouse in 1996
Almost 10 years later Matt started his apprenticeship as a fresh faced 16 year old and stayed there until 2014 when he opened up the North End Bakehouse in Shepparton.
Late last year Matt and Kiah bought the then Billy’s Bakehouse, did a full renovation and re-named the place North End Bakehouse Mooroonpa. This year is the 50 year anniversary of the original bakery opening, with Matt and Kiah being the 10th owners over a five decade period.
The shop is located 52 McLennan Street right on the main road at Mooroopna. The new reno has come up a treat and the cabinet display is ultra impressive. Every classic bakery item is on show and looks amazing especially the vanila slices. This classic bakery treat is the focal point of this bakery. Back to back 🇦🇺winners in 2023 and 2024, plus crowned 2024 best hot cross bun. The look of those vanilla slices had my mind racing all over the joint and had me massively distracted. So I suggested to Matt that we get started smashing a couple of 🥧’s sooner rather than later.
Matt has come up with a great selection of 🥧’s on the menu and regularly creates a new gourmet 🥧 that’s runs for a few weeks depends on its popularity. Speaking of gourmet 🥧’s, I decided to run with Matt’s “Cheeseburger 🥧” for this review. A few 🥧 punters out the front mentioned this particular 🥧 was a little beauty and well worth the try.
🥧 THE REVIEW 🥧
1. Value for Money – $7.10 represented really good value for this 🥧. Decent shape in size and diameter and a cheeseburger 🥧 would be categorized in the gourmet section. 9/10
2. Meat & Fill Ratio – Another 🥧 that was totally full. No room left at all. 10/10
3. Flavour – Tasted exactly like the real thing. Mince, cheese, pickles, onions, mustard and tomato sauce. Every ingredient was the perfect amount particularly the cheese that melted perfectly. Matt and the team have done a cracking job with this one. Loved every bite. 9/10
4. Pastry – The color, shape, shrinkage and stability were all terrific, while the pastry had a really nice taste to it. As far as the bakes go, both top and bottom were a little underbaked however the thicknesses were almost spot on. A few things to work on but nothing major. Overall very good. 8/10
5. Serving Temperature – No issues here this pie was a perfect serving temperature. 10/10
Overall Rating
🥧🥧 46/50 🥧🥧
This was a great product and one I thoroughly enjoyed. As mentioned earlier, the flavor of this cheeseburger 🥧 was sensational and tasted like the real thing. The overall standard of this 🥧 was very good, with only a few minor points here and there to work on. All the scores right across the board were very consistent, it’s not surprising either as Matt’s pies have won many awards across the years.
Add these two locations to your own 🥧 journey. The cheeseburger pie is 100% worth the try and the vanilla slices are to die for, how do I know well I had about 6 !!!! To win best vanilla slice one year is good but to win it back to back is sensational. Winning is one thing, but
maintaining the quality over a 12 month period is something this bakery has done and that’s why people flock to the 2 locations.
To Matt and Kiah, I cannot thank you guys enough for your amazing hospitality and the time you took out of your crazy world to show me around. You guys run an incredible business whist remaining so humble. Your willingness to help and share your ideas with other bakers and owners in the industry is amazing. You guys deserve every success that comes your way, all the best stay in touch, and I will be back that’s for sure.
