2025 Pyney’s 🥧 Reviews
Review No 48
Rochester Bakery
(Rochester VIC)
June 2025
This next review was meant to be posted a few weeks ago, but due to a family tragedy, I decided to postpone it. Karen’s mother passed away after a long illness and i’d like to pass on my condolences to her, Phil amd the rest of the family ❤️
Before arriving in Maldon, I passed through the beautiful town of Rochester. Rochester is located between Echuca and Bendigo is known for its vibrant Australian Silo Art Trail, particularly the GrainCorp silos painted by Jimmy Dvate. Very close to that silo art is the Rochester Bakery established in 1978 and is currently owned and operated by a awesome couple Phil and Karen.
Phil has been in the baking game for a tick over 44 years, now that’s insane. What’s even more incredible is that his 🥧 journey started as an apprentice in Rochester itself all those years ago. After a few brief stints away at other bakeries the couple returned to Rochester and purchased the bakery roughly 33 years ago.
The bakery has since moved from its original location and its current location and building is absolutely beautiful. There is plenty of room inside and out to sit and relax and enjoy quality food. The cabinets are jammed packed with every bakery favourite imaginable. All the items look amazing and even after 44 years Phil’s products just keep getting better and better. Speaking of products it was time to make my way out the 🥧 warmer and choose a 🥧to review.
As you would expect with any old school bakery, there is a great selection of 🥧’s on offer. Plain mince and pepper mince are the most popular here, but this week I wanted to try something a little bit different. I decided to try the “mince, cheese and tomato” this was a very unusual combination and one I cannot recalling seeing anywhere before, so I was very keen to give it a go.
🥧 THE REVIEW 🥧
1. Value for Money – $6.70 is really good value for a 🥧 of this size. Square shaped and depth was more than satisfactory. No issues with the $6.70 price tag. 8.5/10
2. Meat/Fill Ratio – Jammed packed full. Great job. 10/10
3. Flavour – Loved it !!! This was a basic 🥧 with great flavour. The mince tasted great, the cheese was the exact amount and the tomato blended in perfectly. Everything about this flavour works and works well. Great job Phil, something a little different that has worked a treat. 9/10
4. Pastry – The overall pastry was really good and let’s start with the positives. The color, shape and stability were all top notch. There was a little bit of shrinkage but nothing too concerning. The top was baked really good and the thickness was spot on. While the bottom was baked right through it was a little too thick as pics will indicate. The pastry did have a really good taste to it which was really enjoyable. 8/10
5. Serving Temperature – Perfect serving temp. No issues even with the hot tomato. 10/10
Overall Rating
🥧🥧 45.5/50 🥧🥧
I’m so glad I chose this particular flavour, it was a bit left field, but it’s one I would certainly have again. Everything about it was enjoyable. Yes, there was a few things to work on and tweak but nothing major. The flavour was beautiful and Phil has used the exact amount of tomato which in my opinion was very important. The pastry was excellent and at $6.70 you cannot go wrong. The team have done a wonderful job with this 🥧. It’s not going to be everyone’s first choice, but it’s basic 🥧 that will fill the gap. We’ll done guys great job and highly recommended.
Phil and Karen are incredible people and what amazes me is their continued passion and drive for this industry even after all these years. What they have achieved in there baking career is remarkable and the 🥧 journey is far from over. It was great to spend time with you and thank you so much for allowing me to share your 🥧 journey.
This bakery and the town of Rochester is 100% worth pulling in spending some time and exploring. If you’re in a caravan, there is plenty of room to park near the silos and it’s only a short stroll to the bakery. The silo art and scattered painted murals around town are stunning. I’ve been to Rochester twice now and I certainly will be stopping again on my next time through.
As always thanks for the ongoing support and keep supporting 🇦🇺 bakeries and don’t forget to invite all your friends to the page.
