The Provender Country Bakehouse — Restaurant in Victoria

In my vast experience of… being alive, I have encountered some of the grandest and most majestic experiences known to man. Some of these have included visiting the incredible landscapes and eating the seafood of Japan, dining fine at Ceasar's Palace in the US and encountering possibly the finest wares the Gentlemen has to offer at KFC Westfield Geelong. These 3 staples of my culinary consumer career have now transformed into the 4 Horsemen that now ride across the world to herald the second coming of the communion wafer, to which all foods are judged.

Rumours of the best meat pies around recently found their way to my ears through recommendations of friends as we headed up into the heart of Victoria for a getaway. At first, I didn't believe it either, a pie to best the Beaumont's Monopoly? I was quick to dismiss these claims as I went about my day. However something interesting happened to me as I fell asleep that day. Visions of luxurious fillings and crispy pastry filled my head that night as I dreamed. The smooth, subtle hint of spice and fond perfectly combined with chunky, but not overly so beef, flowed in a river in front of me in this dream scape.

I woke up feeling hungry. This dream had been so surreal. I went to make myself breakfast that morning, only to find that I was disappointed with my Sultana Bran. The soup of wheat and dried grape fell from my spoon back into the bowl as I played with it. Disappointed, I decided to skip the rest of breakfast that day. I moved down to the nearby river, only knee deep in height, covered with brown rocks on the bottom. For a moment, I thought I was still dreaming, the river looked remarkably like the warm, comforting view I had received earlier that morning, only to snap back into reality.

Do Androids dream of Electric Meat? I would understand if they do. As I continued on my day, I began to continue to confuse my reality for that of my subconscious, seeing mince in places where mince were not, confusing sheets of pastry for where there were road signs. By the end of the week, the walls of my room resembled the inside of the perfectly round and shaped classic meat pie found at The Provender Country Bakehouse.

I could not bear it any longer. I decided to listen to my inner thoughts and head down to the Shire of Yea (pronounced Yay). Exploring far and wide I found The Provender Country Bakehouse which has claimed to have won the National Aussie Pie Competition for 2002-2018 bi-yearly. This was clearly the store from my dreams, if not evident from the mass of customers that clearly had experienced the same journey as I, all of us gathered for one single purpose.

So let me get to what we have all been waiting for. The Beef Pie from The Provender, in my opinion, deserves its title as best National Pie. The mince is the star of the show. It's taste comes close to ambrosia as one can get. Kept at the perfect temperature, the mince ensures fantastic flavour profile, whilst not burning off your mouth in the process no matter the size of the bite you take. The ratio of pastry to filling is met without fault, a big mistake many other bakeries fall short at. You can tell while consuming the parcel of perfectly prepared pastry that a lot of care has gone into perfecting this craft, this art. The pastry provides a crisp respite during the meal, yet remaining solid enough so that your first bite is just as good as your last.

The secret to an amazing meat pie in my opinion is the consistency in quality between both pastry and filling. Many lesser brands seem to nail one, but not the other. I believe that it was impossible to get both right, that bakeries have always had to meet only the bear minimum in their fillings to not overshow the pastry and vise versa. At least I did believe this. This journey I have gone through has shown me the power that belongs to the people of Provender. Power to the people my friends, for we...

Wanting to purchase just a single ready made item or coffee to go with a quick in and out? Not a chance! You have to stand in a usually long, slow queue with those ordering food or buying large number of items which is very annoying, frustrating and time consuming. Not helped by all customers being funnelled down the corner in far end of the shop to the only small service counter where all transactions take place …ordering, food prep, shop sales and payments with one register! With no designated order or payment taker or number system it’s an all in noisy crowded hotchpotch. And quite often while the cakes and pastries on show look fresh and delicious the first bite tells a different story as are often dry or downright stale! So that’s the criticism, here’s the solutions: Have an express counter and register midway the length of the long counter with designated staff for those wanting a quick takeaway in and out; not having one must drive the locals …who just want a cake or loaf of bread…,,nuts! Implement an order numbering system to get people to stand back once order is placed thus allowing order and the queue to progress. Locate the coffee machine in a separate area to the queue end/food ordering/pickup area with a designated barista. Cakes dry out in refrigerated cabinets. Check your stock for freshness every morning; better still bake fresh daily! There is nobody obviously managing the day to day shop proceedings especially on weekends and holidays which is a must given the large amount of tourist and through traffic both eating in and taking away. Consider appointing a shift in...

A 100% MUST STOP if you are passing through Yea.

First off, you really are spoilt for choice at this bakery. The sheer amount of different food is just amazing. Sandwiches, schnitzel sangas, pies, sausage rolls, cakes, family pies, snacks, breads, rolls, cookies, coffee, toasties and the list goes on.

But my personal favourite, are their full sized sausage rolls. They are in my top 2 tastiest sausage roll i've had, hands down.

REAL sausage mince, some onion, but not chunks, and the sausage mince just tastes sensational, pastry is perfectly cooked and buttery flakey goodness. I stand out front beside my car, guts one down, then go buy another one to take to Eildon with me. And they are big! Not piddly, skinny little servo looking sausage rolls, they are big boys.

My partner had the beef burgundy pie. She had to sit down it was that good.

The line can get long, but they have plenty of super friendly and attentive staff. Indoor and outdoor seating too (lots of indoor seating actually).

Cold winters day, get a pie or sausage roll (or 10) and a hot drink, and sit down and warm up inside. The amazing smells inside there are enough to make you want to stay and fill your belly up with amazing warm food.

Honestly, i don't hand out positive reviews like lollies, but i give this bakery an honest and solid 10/10 personally.

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