Pinnacle Family Hotel
After a few solid days driving we decided to have a early day and pull up stumps. I was like a kid in a candy store, as we were camping out the back of the famous Pinnacle Family Hotel.
Situated about 25km west of Mackay this pub is over 92 years old and is well known for its legendary 🥧’s. I’ve had so many people message me over the last 12 months, saying this place has got to be on our travel plans, so to be finally here and about to try these beauties was sensational.
Owners Karen and Andrew have got double trouble. These guys run two hotels !!! Pinnacle Family Hotel and O’sheas Hotel in nearby Walkerston. The Pinnacle is only open Wednesday to Sunday but don’t stress if you cannot get into the Pinnacle the other pub also sells these best selling 🥧’s and they are open 7 days a week. Karen and her staff use actual baking tins to make these 🥧‘s, which I might add are massive. 17 years later they are using the same tins.
After spending most of the arvo at the bar on the sauce, I thought to myself, I’d better get this review under way before things got super messy.
I was here to review one 🥧 only and that was the “Curry 🥧” Countless people have sent me messages over the past 12 months raving about this flavored 🥧. So there was no way I was coming this far not to review the Curry.
🥧THE REVIEW 🥧
1. Value for Money – I personally have no issues with the $8.50 price point. This 🥧 was a meal and a decent size meal at that. Size wise it was huge and weighed a tonne. Awesome price point in my humble opinion. 10/10
2. Meat Ratio – I’m not going to dribble on and on. It’s a easy decision, this 🥧 was FULL FULL FULL. 10/10
3. Meat Flavour – Beautiful !!! This was a very different curried flavor that I was used to. Made with a special Irish curry it has a real savory taste about it and one that’s hard to describe without trying it yourselves. Plus Karen and crew added a smidge of vegetables into the mix just to top it off. Once again the category was nailed. 10/10
4. Pastry – exceptional !!! I tipped and flipped this thing and it didn’t move a inch. The stability was perfect. This 🥧 was very heavy and the pastry didn’t buckle. Plus the flavor was stunning. Great job 10/10
5. Serving Temperature – This was the only negative aspect about this 🥧. It was a fraction on the cold side but only tad.
Overall Rating
🥧🥧 49/50 🥧🥧
I ❤️ed every single aspect about this 🥧. The size, pastry, stability, flavor and price tag were all a massive 👍👍✅✅. The only negative for me was mine wasn’t quite hot enough and a smidge cold and I’m talking a smidge. The absolute stand out was the size and weight of this behemoth !!! It was huge and totally full and I mean totally. It’s no surprise this pub sells over 2000 🥧’s a week. You heard me right 2000 of these bad boys are consumed each week. That’s huge numbers for a country pub.
I know I throw this line around a bit but take this as gospel “This place is AWESOME and is a ABSOLUTE must visit” The food is out of control and everything on the menu is top notch. Apart from the MASSIVE 🥧 I also managed to put away the “Lamb Korma Meatballs and Rice” OMG this was unbelievable and the Parmi was bigger than Clive Palmer. The camping facilities are first class and we had such a awesome time.
I cannot thank Karen and Andrew enough for their hospitality. Karen runs one pub while Andrew runs the other. These guys work their butts and and don’t have time to scratch themselves and yet Karen spent so much time with us sharing her story and the secret behind her EPIC 🥧’s. These guys are absolute legends and we will be back.