Trappers Bakery — Restaurant in Goulburn

A few weeks ago I was making a mercy dash to the Central Coast, as my elderly farther had just had a major stroke, when I stopped in to the bakery for some comfort food in the form of a vanilla slice. Sadly the experience was as unwelcoming and ableist as possible.

I require an Assistance Dog due to Autism and other conditions, who was with me and had her bright yellow assistance dog vest on when I came into the bakery that afternoon. Rather than recognising my Assistance Dog's vest or asking if they were an Assistance Dog, my server, whose name I think was Sofaia, informed me that you do not allow dogs on the premises. I politely responded that she is an assistance dog and offered to show her my dog's photo ID, which the training organisation issues. I received a short response back of "that's fine Sir". In fact it was such a kurt response that it literally registered in my mind as "I don't care".

It honestly bothered me a great deal, as that behaviour indicates that either your staff haven't been trained on Assistance Dogs, or if they have been trained, the training is rather inadequate. So I politely and charitably asked a staff member to speak to a manager, explaining what had transpired. Instead, "Sofaia" came out to speak to me. Even if she was the manager on duty, it should have been passed to another manager, due to a conflict of interest. I politely and charitably mentioned that I felt that the store staff needed training on dealing with assistance dogs.

"Sofaia" passive-aggressively shot me a remark of "we are Sir", while rolling her eyes at me contemptuously. Firstly, if your staff are trained on how to deal with assistance dogs, they should be trained to look for a vest showing that a dog is an assistance dog. Secondly, they should be trained to ask if a dog is an assistance dog if they're unsure, and if they're skeptical, to politely ask for the handler to supply the dog's ID.

However "Sofaia" was clearly more concerned with putting me in my place. There is a term for this kind of ableist behaviour as well - a neurotypical dominance hierarchy. It is where neurotypicals respond to Milton's Double Empathy problem as "Autistic being THE problem" and "putting us in place". If this were racism, it would be best compared to if a racist were calling a person of colour an "uppity ", either overtly or under their breath.

When I politely stated that I'd recalled her responding to my offering up her with "I don't care", she aggressively responded back with "I did not say that, I said 'that's fine Sir' ". I charitably responded by stating that I thought she'd said "I don't care." At which point she responded with an incredulous "no", while shooting me a look of horror, which implied a response of "what the hell is wrong with you?!" under her breath. I walked away, vowing never to return to the bakery.

I have seen the look in "Sofaia"'s eyes, when she informed me that the staff were trained on assistance dogs, far too many times in my life. It all too often accompanied the lifetime of abuse I have suffered, from an early age, for the 'crime' of having Autism and daring to live and breathe. It is because of the actions which have all too often accompanied that look, that my written submission to the Disability Royal Commission was 93 pages long, and didn't even begin to cover the lifetime of abuse I have endured, which began at an early age. That abuse includes institutional child abuse at the hands of the Catholic School System, in the form of an institutionalised child sexual abuse cover-up, which the Child Abuse Royal Commission compared to the Knox Grammar Scandal. It also includes abuse by other students, which escalated to them trying to sneak up on me with a plastic bag and suffocate me with it, in order to "put me in my place".

Your staff clearly need Autism and Assistance Dog training. Until then, people with disabilities and Assistance Dogs should avoid it...

IMO Trapper's Bakery is one of the best if not THE best bakery for meat pies in the entire country (from the ones I've visited anyway) and it's a must-visit if you're passing through Goulburn! I ALWAYS make sure to stop by here whenever I'm driving through Goulburn and I always look forward to it because the pies are just so delicious, even thinking about them now just makes me wish I lived closer so I could visit!

I've had pies from award winning bakeries like Country Cob Bakery which I feel are totally overrated compared to the pies here, especially if you're after a meat pie that isn't too "out there" in terms of flavour and ingredients. Award winning bakeries seem to win awards based on interesting pies they create (e.g. Scallop and Lobster, Cambodian Chicken) but the more classic-styled pies you can get here (e.g. Pepper Beef, Chicken Mushroom, Steak and Mushroom etc.) trump the ones from those bakeries IMO.

The pies here are stunningly good. The pastry is really crispy all over the pie and there’s a wide range of pies available with really tasty and fresh-tasting fillings.

I’d recommend the Chicken, Bacon and Mushroom and Pepper Steak pies. Lots of seating as well indoors and outdoors and they also have coffee. They also have plenty of parking outside and it's right next to the Big Merino if you want to snap some pics.

My only minor gripe is that they don’t sell cans of drinks,...

I decided to give Trappers Bakery in Goulburn a go again. My last visit I was quite underwhelmed to be truthful. This time round I feel they made a bit of a come back. Pricing was a bit absorbent. $18.30 for 2 pies… averaging the pies $9.15 each. A bit much in my opinion. I am always on a quest to find an epic Chilli Pie, but as per usual hard to find.

I purchased a Steak and Curry Pie and for some reason grabbed a Satay Chicken Pie.

The Steak and Curry Pie, pastry was great, could tell it was actually steak, great meat to gravy ratio, flavour was great, no complaints, but not the best curry pie I’ve had. Still decent though and will purchase again.

The Satay Pie, Pastry was great, great amount of gravy/meat ratio but I was a little disappointed in the flavour. It tasted like a creamy chicken pie with a smell of Satay, others may prefer it like that, but my personal preference, I do not.

Toilets are available and were clean and tidy. Service was quick and efficient, wouldn’t say it was the nicest but nonetheless, efficient and fast. I went in the afternoon and it wasn’t overly busy, but you can tell that they would get extremely busy, but they seemed organised for it.

Much prefer to stop here when driving along the Hume Highway instead of maccas or...