Polly's Pies & Pastries

If you're passing through the Southern Highlands and want a proper pie, Polly's Pies & Pastries in Moss Vale is the kind of bakery that gets a detour. It's a small, cosy shop where the pastry comes fresh from the oven and the pies are the main event.

Locals will tell you to start there. The pepper steak pie is a regular pick, with a strong pepper kick and big chunks of beef, and people also rave about the beef, cheese and bacon, the beef and mushroom, and the creamy chicken. Pastry comes out light and crisp without being thin, and the gravy gets a mention. Sausage rolls and plain meat pies are on offer too, and one traveller who stops at a local bakery in every town they pass through called the pies among the best they'd had in Australia.

Pastries and sweets are worth considering as well. We hear good things about the caramel slice, and the chocolate eclair has had one visitor calling it the best in a long while. Lemon and neenish tarts get described as brilliantly home made, and an egg and bacon roll gets the same fresh, tasty reputation.

It's also a handy spot for coffee and breakfast, with takeaway or dine-in, and customers have stopped for a morning coffee. One local was impressed that their coffee order was remembered after the first visit, and a Melbourne visitor said the coffee wouldn't be out of place in the CBD. Staff are generally described as friendly, polite and helpful, though one customer felt a bit let down by the tone of one interaction.

A couple of practical notes. Pies are a good size and well regarded for value, though one visitor found them not super cheap. Another found a late-lunch pie a little cooler than hoped, so arriving earlier gets you the full range and the hottest pies. There's free street parking and a free car park, with a wheelchair-accessible entrance and car park, and they take cards and mobile payments. Check the hours before you head in, as the weekend trade is a little shorter than weekdays.