Piefection Bakery

Piefection Bakery is the sort of small-town bakery Gordonvale locals reach for when the pie craving hits, and the name tells you most of what you need to know. The pies are big, there's a generous spread of flavours, and people say they come out at a sensible eating temperature rather than scorching your mouth on the first bite. We've heard the roast beef, the lamb with rosemary and mint, the Ned Kelly and the egg, bacon, cheese and tomato all get a good word.

Pies aren't the whole story. Sausage rolls, pasties, spinach and feta rolls, vanilla slice, custard tart and jam donuts all do the rounds, along with slices like the coconut raspberry. One family who dropped in demolished a table of sweets and savouries between them and singled out the vanilla slice and jam donuts. There's a gluten free banana bread that one local calls wonderful, and the sandwiches are described as amazing. One person finds the sausage roll pastry disappointing, but others rate them as yummy, so it may come down to taste.

Portions are generous and prices sit on the fair side, which suits the busy trade here. The shop fills up during the smoko rush, with tradies lining up, which is usually a decent sign for a bakery. If you want the pick of the pies, getting in early is the advice we hear.

The coffee gets a thumbs-up too, so it works for a breakfast stop as well as a takeaway lunch. You can dine in or grab and go, there's free street parking nearby, and the car park and entrance are wheelchair accessible. Cards and tap-and-pay mobile payments are accepted. The staff are described as friendly and quick with a smile, though one visitor felt a request for a custom sandwich wasn't handled as straightforwardly as it could have been.

They open early and finish around the middle of the day, and they're closed one day of the weekend, so check the hours before you head in. If you're after a proper pie in Gordonvale, Queensland, this is a solid place to start.