Over the weekend just past, Tim and I went to Echuca-Moama. Echuca is on the Victoria side of the border, and Moama is on the New South Wales side of the border. Both towns are set on the banks of the Murray River. Echuca means "meeting of the waters", and you may know it from the eighties TV mini-series All the Rivers Run. The weekend weather was crisp and cold in the mornings and evenings, giving rise to beautiful clear, warm days.
While in Echuca, we stopped by the Beechworth Bakery, one of a famous chain of bakeries. Out the front, they have a lovely old-fashioned bread truck:
Inside, there is a lengthy lunchtime queue, but thankfully, it moves rapidly. It wasn't a hassle to queue, as it gave me time to admire the baked goods on show in the generous glass display cases at the bakery:
Of particular note were these lovely riverboat shaped biscuits, perfect for the region:
For lunch, I ordered a Bushranger Foccacia ($8.20), with roast beef, sundried tomatoes and roast pumpkin, topped with fresh spinach, Spanish onion, chutney & tasty cheese:
This foccacia is served toasted and is outrageously good, with two of my favourite things - chutney and pumpkin.
For dessert, I ordered an old-fashioned favourite, the vanilla slice ($3.20):
The custard in this slice was perfectly light, fresh and tasty, but I would have liked the pastry to be slightly flakier.
Tim ordered a beef curry pie ($4.95):
and for dessert, a slice of orange and almond cake ($3.95):
He approved wholeheartedly of both.
I also bought the Secrets of the Beechworth Bakery cookbook ($24.95) so I could take a slice of the bakery home with me. Watch this space as I try out some of their recipes. I like the philosophy of Tom O'Toole, founder of the Beechworth Bakery - keep it simple, and keep it fresh. He also has no problems with sharing his recipes in the book, because as he says, he has pinched ideas from all over the place over the years, and he believes that ideas are to be shared. Isn't that so true with recipes - all of them are derivative of what someone else has done before in some way.
If you are near a Beechworth Bakery in your travels and love old-fashioned, "from scratch" baked goods, do drop in - it's definitely worth the visit.
Beechworth Bakery
513 High St
Echuca VIC 3564
Ph: 1300 233 784
