Phelan’s Pies Ayr
Monto and Cania Gorge were epic but unfortunalty both of us got pretty sick with the flu which hampered our next 7/10 days on the road. After we left Monto we spent a few nights exploring Finch Hatten Gorge, Airlie Beach, Proserpine then eventually lobbed in Townsville.
Before we got to Townsville, I wanted to stop into the town of Ayr and visit the famous Phelan’s Pies Ayr. This place has been on my rader for many years, but for various reasons I hadn’t got there yet.
Phelan’s 🥧’s is located in Graham Street Ayr and is open 6 days a week. The bakery has been around since 1966 and has been in the same family name ever since. Peter is the current owner/operator, but it was his father Sean who originally opened this place almost 60 years ago.
Sean was a barber by profession and one day after cutting hair he walked past the old bakery and nec minute he ditched the scizzors for oven mits and became a Pieman. With zero baking experience he self taught himself to make 🥧‘s and that’s how the famous Phelan’s 🥧’s was started.
Then in 1974 Sean’s son Peter entered the business. Fast forward 49 years later the 🥧’s and this business is still charging ahead. Nothing has changed since 1966 with these legends making the same 🥧’s they did way back in 1966.
This is a old school bakery and I mean old school. 5 varieties of 🥧’s, cash only and best of all the bakery offers a drive through service for its customers. This place is like stepping back to the 80’s and gee wizz those days were awesome. I was so excited to get stuck into a few 🥧’s as the last 7/10 days my 🥧 appetite was busted up after having the flu.
This weeks choice of 🥧 was quite simple. I had numerous people message me saying I’ve had to give the “Pepper Beef” a crack. They also warned me about the peppercorns and mentioned they give a pretty decent kick too !!! I love my pepper pies and hotter the better too, so I was super keen to give this particular flavoured 🥧 a crack.
🥧 THE REVIEW 🥧
1. Value for Money – $6 was reasonable value. This 🥧 wasn’t massive, but still a fairly decent size. Also it was a mince 🥧 not chunky steak. 8.5/10
2. Meat Ratio – Totally full !!! No more words needed. 10/10
3. Flavour – Beautiful !!! The mince was cooked to perfection and the peppercorns hit the spot. The pepper ratio was up there with the hotest I’ve had for a while and for me the hotter the better. If you love a 🔥pepper 🥧 your going to enjoy this flavoured 🥧. 9.5/10
4. Pastry – Color, shrinkage, shape and stability were all very good. The top bake was excellent and baked right through. The pastry also had very good flavor, with puff used on the top and short crust on the bottom. The only real negatives was the side bakes were a little thick and the bottom bake a smidge unstable. The negative points were only very minor. Overall the pastry was very good. 9/10
5. Serving Temperature – Pretty good but a tad on the hot side. Nothing the worry about though. 9/10
Overall Rating
🥧🥧 46/50 🥧🥧
Overall this was a classy product. Nothing fancy about this 🥧 and all the scoring categories were very consistent right across the board. The flavour in this 🥧 was pretty awesome, but beware it was up there with the hottest pepper 🥧’s I’ve had. The mince tasted great and I could taste the peppercorns with every bite. The $6 price tag was reasonable considering the 🥧’s size and it was jammed packed full. Only negatives was side bakes were a little thick and base a tad unstable but this was only minor. Everyone knows pepper 🥧‘s are my go to and this one was right up there with the best ive had. Highly recommend !!! Great job team.
To Peter and the staff thanks for having me in and allowing me to share this bakeries incredible story. Phelan’s 🥧’s are a North Queensland institution and now I can see why. As mentioned earlier this is an old school bakery built on old school values. So when you’re passing through the town of Ayr, don’t miss this place pop in and try one of these these famous 🥧’s first hand, you won’t be disappointed.
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