Yatala Pies, on the Highway, Brisbane, Australia

Best Pie in Australia ... now that is a huge claim! Growing up in NSW, Robertson Pie Shop was my go-to pie fix growing up. In the last couple of years, on the visits home to family, I have learned of Yatala pies. Yatala pies seems to be known QLD wide, and beyond, as producing some of the best pies in Australia. Yatala pies is over 130 years old, and has grown from a humble little roadside pie shop to a store just off the Gold Coast highway in beautiful landscaped surronds with inside & outside seating areas and a drive through! selling over 3,500 pies a-day. We certainly help boost that number whenever we are home!

It is conveniently located between where Dad's place, and where the rest of the relatives live on the Gold Coast. Pie, chips, gravy & a Bundaberg ginger beer and I am all set.



The pastry at Yatala is hands down some of the best pie pastry in the galaxy. Crumbly, short crust base and a super flaky puff top. The fillings can be a bit hit-and-miss, but on this occasion I try the lamb, mint & peas. Definitely my favorite pie from Yatala to date! It's like a roast dinner, in a pie. There are decent chunks of the roast lamb and plump peas sitting in a minted gravy.



It's also impossible to leave Yatala Pies without some sort of sweet treat for later. When the sister is present, that is guaranteed to be a caramel tart! Today, apricot pie with cream, glistening under a layer of sugar crystals.



Yatala Pies
Exit 38, Yatala North
48 Old Pacific Hwy, Yatala QLD 4207, Australia‎
T: +61 (0) 7 3287 2468‎
Open 7 Days a week, 7.30am~8.30pm


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飲茶 Yum Cha at Kam Fook, Bondi

It's amazing that we can be spoilt with an array of incredible foods at our fingertips, but it is those simple pleasures that Kim and I miss most. 

Sunday yum cha is one we always reminisce about, wherever in the world we are. Sunday yum cha brings back memories of laughter, fun and eating with friends. (This one time, at Zilver with Jess and Stu, one of the little trolleys caught FIRE! it was insane, firefighters, evacuation and all. Good times!) We've enjoyed dim sum aboard on our travels, but do always look forward to being back in Sydney. Maybe it's a bit of nostalgia, or maybe Sydney does yum cha really well. 



We're over at Westfield Bondi before a big days shopping to stock up on the essentials, so what better to fill our belly's with tea and tasty treats. Up on the top floor of the massive shopping mall is Kamfook.  We arrive early, thankfully, so there's no wait today. We're seated and get straight to it. Our first visitor, a very smiley dumpling lady which we gleefully take from her, prawn, spinach and scallop, sui mai and steamed bbq pork buns. With a lick of chilli and a pot of tea we're off ....



The gai lan lady has kind of set up shop beside our table. We nod for a bunch. Mmm, fresh green vegetables. Then we spot the BBQ lady and give her a nod. Within moments she's by our side. It's duck that's on the cards today, but she apologizes as there's none left on her trolley, but assures us she'll be back. Indeed she was, moments later with a plate of glistening BBQ duck glazed with a touch of sauce and a few roast peanuts. Yum!



We get a little impatient waiting for the fried rice noodle trolley, as we spotted it over the other side of the room when we arrived and it hasn't managed to move to far ... so we put our order in with one of the young guys and he delivers it back to us. A plate of fresh rice noodles, with dried shrimp and spring onion, fried until crispy. Then there's the sauce, oh the sauce. A duo of a peanut paste and hoi sin.



Lastly we share a plate of pork pies. A delicious flaky pastry encasing a bbq pork filling, glazed with egg and topped with a few sesame seeds.



Now with full, content stomachs we're ready for shopping!

Shop 6010, Level 6
Westfield Shopping Centre
1oo Oxford Street
Bondi Junction, Sydney, Australia
Tel: 02-93869889