2024 🥧 Tour
Review no 48
NT Bakery
(Alice Springs NT)
Farina was an epic experience, but it was time to leave and make my way towards Uluru, Kings Canyon, West Macdonald Ranges, eventually lobbing into Alice Springs. This part of the country is simply spectacular but unfortunately bakeries are few and far between out this way. I’ve been out this way a couple of times in the past, but sadly missed the NT Bakery at Alice Springs.
NT Bakery is located in the heart of Alice Springs and is owned and operated by a ripping fella named Darren and his partner Kate. Darren’s been in the baking game for many years. They opened the bakery back in 2020 and before that they ran a cafe in town for over 5 years.
The bakery is open 6 days a week and has an impressive selection of products scattered through the cabinets. If your after 🥧’s and 🍩’s you’ve come to the right place as these were the first two items that caught my attention when I walked in the door. For a country bakery this place gets unbelievably busy and the queues are often out the door. After meeting the crew and getting a coffee to help the hangover it was time to get stuck into a couple of 🥧’s.
Darren mentioned his best seller was his “Steak, Bacon and Cheese” plus about 5 locals told me the same story. So with that in mind my decision was a relatively easy one and off to the 🥧 warmer we went.
🥧 THE REVIEW 🥧
1. Value for Money – $7.20 was very reasonably priced considering the location, freight costs, and the fact you cannot get a 🥧 either side of Alice for about 700 odd km. Depth and diameter we’re both more than acceptable as was the weight of this 🥧. 8.5/10
2.Meat/Fill Ratio – As full as it could be, in fact it was almost bursting at the seams. 10/10
3. Flavour – Excellent !!! This old school cheese and bacon 🥧 really hit the spot. Every ingredient was the perfect amount and tasted great. The meat was cooked really well and the bacon had an excellent flavour to it. Great job Daz !!! 9/10
4. Pastry – Not much wrong with this one to be honest. The shape, color, stability, and shrinkage were very good, which could hardly be faulted. The top bake was superb with the bake and thickness spot on. The only negative was the bottom bake and the sides were slightly under done, could’ve done slightly longer in the oven. Apart from this, the overall flavor and the pastry was great. 9/10
5. Serving Temperature – No issues the temp was perfect. 10/10
Overall Rating
🥧🥧 46.5/50 🥧🥧
This cheese and bacon 🥧 was an absolute ripper. I absolutely loved the top bake, and the huge pieces of bacon popping through the top of the 🥧. The 🥧 was full, priced well, and the overall pastry flavor was excellent. Only negative was the bottom bake and this can be easily fixed. As mentioned earlier, you gonna be hard-pressed finding a 🥧 or one of this high quality between Coober Pedy and Katherine so stopping in to the NT Bakety is a must. Great job guys.
A monumental thanks to Darren and Kate for the amazing hospitality. Sadly, this bakery has been broken and smashed up 56 times in the last three years, but Darren and Kate keep trucking on each day and continue to produce outstanding products for their beloved community. Most of us would have packed up and left, or closed the doors but these two legends have stayed on and are the most resilient humans I’ve met. I’m not going to lie Alice Springs has had and continues to have its fair share of trouble at the moment, so if you are not staying in Alice, still pop in to say G’day to Darren and grab your supplies, you won’t be disappointed.
The whole West Mac Rangers area is 100% worth exploring. There are truck loads of camps, gorges, hikes and water holes to explore. The camp at Finke River 2 Mile $10pp was insane. Heaps of room, peaceful and right on the river bank, highly recommended.