Oaks Bakery Cafe

If you're after a bakery in Anglesea, Oaks Bakery Cafe is the one that tends to be busy, with holiday visitors and locals queuing at the counter. It opens early and closes mid-afternoon, seven days a week, so it suits an early breakfast, a mid-morning coffee or a pie for lunch. Do check the hours before you head in.

You can sit in or take your order away. The cabinet is the draw: pies and sausage rolls, donuts, salad rolls and wraps, plus the cheese and bacon rolls and Vegemite scrolls that travellers seem to pick up on the way through. Pies are a staple here, and a cauliflower pie is on offer. Flavours can vary from pie to pie. One local enjoyed a shepherd's pie, with the potato the highlight, while another found a cheese and bacon pie a bit plain, so it's worth asking at the counter what's fresh from the oven.

On the sweet side, we've heard good things about the caramel slice, the vanilla slice, the lemon meringue tart and the buttery Yoyo biscuits, and the croissants and donuts get a regular nod too. There's a cake side to the business as well. One person needed a birthday cake at very short notice and was delighted with what the pastry chef put together, so custom cakes are worth asking about if you have a celebration coming up.

Service is mostly spoken of warmly. Staff are described as friendly and efficient, and one visitor still remembered a young woman who reopened the door just as she was about to lock up. Another local was impressed by the patience shown to a customer with several dietary restrictions. As with any busy counter, a quiet moment now and then has been noted, and one person felt a pie order came out wrong, so it's worth a quick check before you leave. A couple of people have also found prices on the higher side.

Practical details help: there's free parking on the street and in a car park, wheelchair-accessible parking, entrance and seating, and cards and tap-to-pay are accepted. Coffee and breakfast are on offer too.

Oaks Bakery Cafe is a handy stop in Anglesea for pies, pastries and a proper sit-down coffee.