Ocab Bakery — Restaurant in Melbourne

Beef pie review - I don't mind paying $9 for a good beef pie, but this was not worth it.

What immediately grabbed my attention was the layered golden crust. I thought, must be lots of butter in the pastry, first bite confirmed. Too much butter I'd say, more akin to a croissant level of butter. That's all well and good until you need to consider the other ingredients a pie offers to get through a whole meal. In this case, a beef pie.

The first bite offered an overwhelming buttery crust followed by a very heavy flavoured beef filling and soggy/floppy pastry.. pair that with too much gravy/flour filling and you end up with a goo like inside and soggy pastry experience. Honestly, the beef was cooked nice tender but the gooie mush and undercooked pastry with overwhelming butter was too much to finish a whole pie.

At $9 I usually dont expect having to pair a pie with tomato sauce but this time I had to.

To sum up, the pie was cooked in an oven too hot to cook the pastry through (undercooked and soaked), too much mushy goo like flour gravy filling vs beef for the price, and paired with the overly buttery pastry, the flavour of the filling was much to strong/rich to enjoy.

On to another place for...

@ocab_bakery 📍Moonee Ponds

✔️ Banana Bread ✔️ Pistachio Croissant ✔️ Custard Tart

Ocab Bakery is a small artisan bakery located in the heart of Moonee Ponds. It is owned and run by two passionate bakers, Hooman a Civil Engineer from Iran, and Tristan who grew up and learned from the best in France. They believe in slow food made with the freshest ingredients with no additives.

They make, bake and sell everything freshly made daily in store. If you’re looking to dine in, there is only limited seating inside and out. The Chai latte was good! I had the Banana Bread toasted for dine in, which was a great choice. Loved the addition of nuts inside too.

I couldn’t resist getting a few more things to try for takeaway. The Pistachio Croissant was perfectly balanced and not too sweet. The very top layer was crisp and flakey but the rest was on the chewy side. Same with the Custard Tart, the custard was lovely however the pastry was not crisp. However I did eat them a few hours later, it may be better to have them straight away.

Loved the variety and will be back to try a few more...

OCAB Bakery in Shuter St, Moonee Ponds, is an amazing French bakery tucked away from the main strip but well frequented by “those in the know.” Of course they make incredible French pastries, cakes, tarts and a signature iced cinnamon bun that one must hide away to eat so the premise of sharing NEVER has to be entertained!! OCAB, also, bake the best multigrain sourdough bread I have ever eaten. It doesn’t have any preservatives and it doesn’t go stale. It’s a must when one goes there. The pork and fennel sausage rolls are a highlight as are the beef and a selection of pies ie mushroom and leek, spinach and ricotta chausson et al are equally delectable. Herman and Tristan, your French influence in Moonee Ponds is enjoyed and welcomed. Oh, did I say, there’s another OCAB in Yarraville? They’re taking over the...