Pyney’s 🥧 Reviews
Tumbi Meats
Berkeley Vale, NSW
September, 2026
A few weeks ago a ripping lad named Aiden reached out to me and asked me to pop up to the Central Coast and review his businesses amazing 🥧’s. We made some calls, locked a date into the diary and then I made my way up to Tumbi Meats & Smokeylicious Pies & Pastries.
Tumbi Meats is located in the central coast suburb of Berkeley Vale which is about 75km to 90km north of Sydney. This butcher shop on steroids has been in action for over 20 years, but current Owner Rick has been the helm for just over 5 of them.
Open 7 days and employing over 40 staff this shop is super impressive. The amount of products available is superb and extremely well priced. You name it this shop stocks it including their famous 🥧’s. Rick introduced the classic Aussie staple to the shop around 18 months ago and it’s been gang busters ever since. Since inducing 🥧’s to the business Rick and his team have invested in a top class American smoker and spent hours and hours tweaking the flavours and adding new flavours to the menu.
Speaking of the menu there are 7 different brisket flavours to choose from and yes I did sample most of them !!! For the purpose of this review I went with Rick’s “Original” flavored 🥧 with added sautéed onions and gravy. It’s one of the most popular here and I couldn’t wait to get started.
🥧 THE REVIEW 🥧
1. Value for Money – In my opinion $9 for a genuine, slow cooked brisket 🥧 is fantastic value. This was a very healthy sized 🥧 in depth and diameter and full of brisket. Great value lads 10/10
2. Meat/Fill Ratio – This bad boy was about 95% capacity. Only a little spot here and there that needed filling 9.5/10
3. Flavour – As soon as this 🥧 was cut in half the first thing you smelt was the ironbark timer it was smoked in. I’ve never smelt anything this strong and gee wizz it smelt terrific. This first bite was outrageously good and continued to the last. The brisket fell apart, the sauteed onion were delicious and Rick’s special Tumbi Meats rub was clearly evident and stood out like 🐶’s balls. Rick is similar to the Colonel Sanders, he adds a secret ingredient that gives this 🥧 more genuine flavour and good luck finding that secret ingredient. Seriously this flavour was sensational, nothing more to say except it was perfect in my opinion 10/10
4. Pastry – The overall standard of the pastry was pretty good. The color, shape and stability were all excellent. For such a heavy 🥧 when tipped upside down it didn’t move. The top bake has sunk in the middle a smidge, but the bake and bake thicknesses were pretty good. The bottom bake, was a smidge thick which this is a easy fix. The pastry flavour was terrific and couldn’t be faulted. 8/10
5. Serving Temperature – Perfect 10/10
Overall Rating
🥧🥧 47.5/50 🥧🥧
In terms of flavour this was up there with the best slow cooker brisket 🥧’s I’ve ever had. The flavour in was simply outstanding and has set a new record in my opinion. The boys have absolutely nailed this flavour in every way. The $9 price tag in my opinion is outstanding value, particularly for a grade of brisket meat you getting in this gourmet 🥧. The 🥧 was almost full and the serving temperature was spot on. The pastry will pretty good, yes it needs a tweak here and there, but just remember these guys are butchers not bakers, so getting the pastry right is going to be a learning curve, but these legends are all over it. Outstanding work team, this was a sensational product and one I could easily have every day.
100% add this joint your growing 🥧 list. Not only are the 🥧’s sensational the meat is out of this world. I gave the porterhouse steak plus the Wagyu snags with
Truffle and Parmesan a run and OMG they tasted insane. There is plenty of parking and specials to keep a eye on.
A massive thanks to Rick and Aiden for having me in, showing me around and more importantly allowing me to sample their incredible products. This is a serious operation and Rick has done an exceptional job since taking over. If you want quality products at quality prices this is the place you go to. It was awesome to meet you both and I cannot wait to head up there again in early December to see you both again.
As always thanks for the ongoing support and keep supporting 🇦🇺 bakeries and don’t forget to invite all your friends to the page.
