2025 Pyney’s 🥧 Reviews
Review No 42
The Deli at Ben Ean
(Pokolbin NSW)
May 2025
A couple months ago I posted an epic experience I had at Savannah Estate Winery in the Hunter Valley. This was a unique 🍷 & 🥧 tasting that involved matching favoured 🥧’s to set wines. Just when I thought the day couldn’t get any better Savannah took me for a short drive up the road to her main venue. As soon as we went through the gates I knew immediately this was going to involve more 🥧’s and 🍷.
Ben Ean & Ben Ean Weddings and Events is located at 119 McDonalds Road Pokolbin and this area is considered to be the heart of the Hunter Valley wine trail. This venue is massive and has everything. Not only can you consume some of the best wines in Australia, it has a fabulous restaurant, wedding packages, plus a stunning café and patisserie.
Owner Savannah and her family have been in the wine business since 1971. Savannah took over this place place in 2017 and has totally transformed the place. Part of this transformation was the opening of “The Deli” at Ben Ean and soon after it’s opening, Savannah introduced gourmet 🥧’s to the menu. This whole place is pretty awesome, it’s open 7 days a week and employing over 50 staff. One of those staff is baker/pastry chef Steve Bampton and he was as excited as I was to show me around the joint and grab some 🥧’s.
For small café/patisserie, there is a great little selection on offer. As soon as I saw the menu I was fixated on one particular flavour and that was “Brazilian BBQ and Chimichurri” I’ve never tried anything like this and I couldn’t wait to get started.
🥧 THE REVIEW 🥧
1. Value for Money – $9.50 is certainly creeping up there, but this is well and truly a gourmet flavored 🥧 and you need to take into account the unique venue which it served. It’s also quite deep in depth and diameter, and it was completely full. 8.5/10
2. Meat/Fill Ratio – Totally full !!! 10/10
3. Flavour – Wow !!! This was epic. I absolutely loved everything about this flavour. Slow cooked Brazilian beef over an open grill. The Chimichurri (parsley, garlic, salt, black pepper, crushed pepper flakes and olive oil) blended in with the beef magnificently. Loved every bite and didn’t want the experience to end. This was an easy score to adjudicate 10/10
4. Pastry – The pastry was just about perfect. The color was the best you will find. The shape, stability and shrinkage were all of the highest standard. The bake thicknesses were fantastic, with the only negative being the bake
being ever so slightly underdone on one side and corner. This was only very minor but evident through the pics. The overall pastry standard was exceptionally good. Great job. 9.5/10
5. Serving Temperature – Perfect serving temp 10/10
Overall Rating
🥧🥧 48/50 🥧🥧
To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect when I first arrived to Ben Ean, but as soon as I saw the 🥧’s, I knew this was going to be an epic experience. This was a fantastic product and flavour, one I had not tried before. Once again, this was very close to the perfect 🥧. Some will say the $9.50 price point is excessive, but this is a true gourmet flavoured 🥧 at a venue that’s quite unique. The flavour was unbelievable, the pastry was near perfect and totally full. Steve and his team have done a sensational job with this one, highly recommend.
100% you need to add all three of Savannah’s venues to your Hunter Valley travel plans. The 🍷& 🥧 experience at Savannah Estate is a must & it is dog friendly. The Savannah Estate cellar door is cosy and easily assessable, and Ben Ean is an experience to enjoy.
I’ve often said some of my best reviews are from chance meetings and this one is up there with the best. A casual conversation in a swimming hole at Litchfield National Park,
NT turned into an amazing review, with an amazing young women at an amazing place. Savannah you are a dead set rockstar, what you have achieved at all your venues and the hard work you have put into these venues is quite remarkable. Each of your venues is very different but they all have the same principles, super friendly, inviting and the best food and wine you could taste.
My time in the Hunter Valley was pretty damn awesome. This is a wonderful area and a place, I’d love to come back to. If you’re a genuine 🥧 lover you’re going to froth on this area. I experienced some absolute cracking 🥧’s and met some amazing owners.
