Are you one of those people that can eat and walk with food? I am to a certain extent and ice cream is one that always gets eaten while walking but for the most part I like standing still or sitting down and eating. I like concentrating of my food. Fixating on my food. Dissecting my food. Yes I often look deep in concentration when eating. So when Mr NQN and I made a quick trip to Katoomba and we see that the rain is falling on the tables outside and there is nowhere inside the bakery to eat we make a quick decision. Eat on the bench, outside. With everyone staring at us taking photos of the food.
Hours earlier, as we knew that we wouldn’t make it there until late afternoon we rang ahead to reserve some of their famous potato bread. Hominy is an organic bakery and the potato sourdough is legendary. Legendary enough so that when I call and tell them that we’re driving from Sydney and would they pleeeease reserve a loaf of each she answers that it isn’t a problem, as if we weren’t the first to do it. In fact when we get there we see that we aren’t with several reserved wrapped bread loaves.
We’re ravenous with hunger so we pick and pick and pick and then when she has rung up the total I add in an Easter bun for good measure. There are whole cakes for around $14-$15 as well as slices and pastries for around the $3.80-$4 mark. We go outside and unwrap our bounty. It’s cold and busy and all I can think of are the hot pies we have in our hands.
Chunky beef pie $5.70
We unfurl our first packet given clues by the hot package and the meaty aroma. The chunky beef pie has a flaky pastry top and a shortcrust base and the pastry although not what I would call buttery is actually lovely and crispy. Perhaps they use another type of fat, I’ve had similar results with lard but I’m just guessing. The point is that the pastry is lovely and crunchy, the crunch mainly from the top. The filling is tender beef chunks with an aromatic star anise aroma to it. Mr NQN who doesn’t particularly care for pies (too much pastry he grumbles) suddenly takes an interest in my pie and claims 50% of it. This 50/50 marriage rule certainly puts a crimp in my pastry lifestyle. Humph. I give him my last quarter of it.
Brown rice pie $5.70
“Shall I get another pie?” I ask him. “No” he answered. “Alright then, get one” he then adds after a moment’s consideration. No matter I was on my way to get one of the vegetarian ones, a rather intriguing brown rice pie filled with carrot, mushroom with a soy and ginger sauce and that same lovely pastry. Now I’ve never seen a pie like this so I was interested to see what it was like. It’s very unusual but good. It’s too unusual for Mr NQN who thinks it’s too unexpected for a pie filling but I actually really like that about it and the sweet carrot and ginger lifts the filling’s flavour.
Mushroom pastie $3.30
The golden glazed mushroom pasties were filled with large chunks of freshly picked local mushrooms. Mr NQN likes this but I’d personally prefer some more filling and a warm pastry whereas these were baked earlier and didn’t have the warmth to them that the pies did. And here I am shivering on a bench in the cold weather clutching to baked goods for warmth…
Custard tarts with paradise pears $5.20 for 2
Dessert time and we couldn’t resist these adorable custard tarts with a whole tiny paradise pear in the centre. The pear is the perfect soft consistency and biting into one we get the crunchy flakey sensation of the pastry, the richness of the custard and the soft, yielding lusciousness of the pear. And all I can say is thankfully there were two of these or a riot may have ensued on the bench.
Pear & Ginger cake $3.85
Well it is pear season and pears seem to be featuring everywhere nowadays including on top of this dense ginger cake which is strong in ground ginger and treacle and topped with a succulent baked pear. Mr NQN is a big fan of this so I leave him to the pleasures of eating his favourite ginger.
Hot cross bun $2
The hot cross bun has a good amount of fruit and a light, fluffy texture with slightly more gravity to it being that it is a sourdough hot cross bun.
Potato bread $7
The bread, which we wait until we get home to try is fantastic. With a light crust and a lovely, dense chewy texture it is moreish and has the usually silent Mr NQN declaring that he is a “big fan of this bread”. If you’re curious to make a potato bread (non sourdough) there is a recipe here for potato and rosemary bread or an indulgent potato stuffed potato bread served with chicken soup here!
Brushing the crumbs off our clothes we go for a little vintage shopping where I pick up these gorgeous plates for $2 each around the corner at the Cat Protection store!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you mind walking and eating with food? Or do you make an effort to sit down and eat properly?
Hominy Bakery
185 Katoomba Street, Katoomba, NSW
Tel: +61 (02) 4782 9816
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60 Comments | Add your own
Pies – thats what been missing in my life recently. Where I live the pies (pirojer/pirog) can be improved, to put it politely. My all time fav pie is bacon and egg and I never managed to find them in your country. The selection in your country is good but can be improved:)
Walking and eating is defineatly restricted to ice cream and sushi handrolls for me. The ginger cake looks so good.
Ooh, do reserve me a pear and custard tart! I like to sit still to eat – I feel like I haven’t eaten at all otherwise.
haha it is funny you have asked this question! I HATE walking with food – while Mr BBB loves to!
there’s something about eating and walking that’s a bit sinful..i think this stems from my past where certain behaviours were not de rigueur..but fortunately i have brushed those restrictions aside and will happily chomp and walk..it sometimes just adds to the pleasure..jane
Fantastic looks great!
There is nothing better than the smell of a hot pie on a cold day!
The pastry does look amazing.
I love your photo’s I can’t believe you managed to take them in the rain!!!
There is no way I can walk and eat. I cant even walk and drink
I blame my mum, we were never allowed to walk with drinks or food and now I just don’t have the co-ordination ;(
Besides, like you say. Eating is a focused activity, it needs my full attention
THE PEAR AND GINGER CAKE LOOKS REALLY YUMMY!
I LIKE TO SIT AND EAT
Cute plates! I like the sound of the brown rice pie and the potato bread! I can eat and walk but prefer to sit down
how gorgeous, i love that rice pie. and you just reminded me of a gorgeous pear and ginger cake i make.
i love to sit down and eat, it kinda seems wasted on the run, more a necessity rather then enjoyment.
It’s taken me about 20 minutes to read this post, because I’ve spent around 15 of them looking at all the gorgeous cake stands and cookies and pies in the first few photos! This is my idea of heaven!!! I can eat on the run if needed, but I inevitably end up wearing my food. But when the food is this beautiful, I like to sit down and take it all in and enjoy it properly!
I want EVERYTHING!! Wintry weather = Lizzi on a pie/bakery kick. This all looks like perfect tummy-warming food
Absolutely everything looks so spectacular!
I will confess, i am a “sitter”, I like to concentrate on the food, and walking and eating is just dangerous as far as I am concerned, the only thing I can eat safely whilst walking, is eating an icecream/icypole on a stick
Can you get the recipe for the ginger and pear cake? I love ginger and pears, it would have to be good.
OMG Lorraine i’m trying to watch my weight, no truly I was nearly liking the screen..this place looks amazing..
I like to be seated to eat also…if I walked around eating any of these beauties I’d drop some crumbs and that would be criminal. I also have a pet hate../people who walk around with hot coffee shopping…I am waiting for the day some small child is seriously scalded by a bump. SORRY GUYS IF THIS IS YOU.
Yum. Looks great.
There are worse ways to keep arm than with baked goods – sounds like heaven to me! I particularly like the look of the lovely pear and ginger cake.
Had to buy a pastry from a little French patisserie in castlecrag while I read this post!! I am off to the mountains on the weekend and was looking forward to flowerpot scones in leura but may need to go and get the pear custard tart instead!!! Yumm
Since being in bed on a’biotics doesn’t give one an appetite – just a quick ‘hello’ to say this truly seems a wonderful selection! I seem to be quite different to most of your bloggers, as I tend to eat anywhere besides at a table!
! Usually walking around the garden, plate in hand – since I eat with chopsticks 80% of the time (even Euro food!), no problem. It certainly is not ‘polite’ to eat on a street or in a shoppimng centre – since I am always multiple tasking tho’, it has been done ! 
!
Yum – I’d also love the recipe for the pear & ginger cake:-)These bakery items look delish & so wholesome – no Ritz cracker pies here ay?
))
I agree Lorraine, I love to sit and savour and contemplate my food reverently (not always easy with two active boys!) However I have fond memories of the first time I wore my new school uniform as I headed off to boarding school/ladies college…we visited a favourite uncle who escaped from his hospital bed in St Vincents to buy me a gelato in Kings Cross…so there I was flouting the rules eating the gorgeous treat IN FULL SCHOOL UNIFORM (including hat & gloves)….aaah…so wickedly delicious
I’m with you on eating ice cream and walking but for anything else I will sit, eat, taste, indulge and immerse myself in the whole experience of the meal. Must be an Italian thing, where we happily sit around the dinner table for literally hours! What’s better in life than the enjoyment of a great meal with family and friends?
Haven’t been to Katoomba for the longest time but I’d make a trip just for Hominy Bakery!
Hmm, I think I would fight Mr NQN for that pear and ginger cake!!
I definitely need to sit and eat; good food deserves the attention
Plus, I will never forget something my grandmother told me, she was a new arrival to Australia from England and she was absolutely aghast at the people she saw on her lunch break walking down the streets of Sydney while stuffing food into their mouths! heheee
Yummy pastry goodness!
I definitely prefer to sit & eat, food should be savoured & enjoyed not something that’s happening on the side
i love those plates Lorraine – well done! to follow the last post from Leanne – i too recall travelling and being told by various overseas hosts that it is a peculiarly australian thing to walk and eat! xxx
No walking and eating here, my grandmother refused to let us do this when visiting her house and it’s stuck.
the pies look yummy, pastry sounds good too.
you should check out Sundance bakery in jindabyne when you’re there next, the chicken pie and beef stroganoff pie are divine! They all are, but they are my favourites.
@ three-cookies – Egg and bacon pies are everywhere, you weren’t looking in the right places!
I am heading to Sydney for a 2 week stay and you have tempted me to take a drive to Katoomba specially for the pies, of course I would not waste a trip and would be choosing a couple of sweet tarts for the road, thanks Lorraine.
What a wonderful looking bakery. And I am dying for a slice of that potato sourdough. After all, I’m in the land of sourdough. I wonder how that one and the ones in San Francisco compare. I think you’ll just have to FedEx me a slice so I can see. Or did you eat all of it already? Wahhh….
~The “Custard tarts with paradise pears” look Maaaaarvouslous.
xxxx
I never eat and walk.
I sit and savor
If only every corner had a bakery like this one!
Sitting to eat is best, but when I’m hungry and on the move, I will eat sitting, standing, running…
I definitely like to sit down and eat properly, although for me this means eating while reading food blogs or reading food magazines most of the time. I tend to make a food-event of eating
I think it’s disrespectful to the food not to give it you r full attention, like not looking someone in the eyes when you’re talking to them!
The lovely crisp pastry probably uses a good quality fat with very little moisture content. A lot of places use a margarine type fat that actually has a lot of water in it. Just a guess.
The little pear tarts are gorgeous
I much prefer to sit down and focus on my food but I’m happy to eat on the go if need be.
Hate walking with food! Can’t do it, I have trouble walking without tripping over normally, let alone adding food into the equation!
When I was at school, we were taught that young ladies do not eat while walking around in uniform outside of the school gates. Actually if we were caught doing so it was a Saturday detention. That must of stuck as I only eat an ice cream while walking around.
What a gorgeous little bakery. I love the custard tarts with the mini pears – so cute.
The pastry on the pies look so good! Crispy with lots of layers. I don’t like walking while eating except for ice-cream, it seems to taste better walking.
Walk and eat? Sometimes I can’t walk and chew gum! It’s not a good thing to eat while walking or standing up. No, no, Bad Kitty. :0)
These pies, especially the pear on ginger cake,…and that hot cross bun, and, and,.. YUMM!!!!
I am so homesick for meat pies. And they have hot cross buns too? I really miss these kinds of bakeries. Meat pies, sausage rolls – I think it is perfectly OK to walk as you eat.
I moved to Tassie from Sydney 4 years ago..there is little I miss…Hominy makes the list though
That ginger and pear looks wonderful. Yum!
I eat while walking, driving, doing just about anything. Love my food. If I’m hungry, I just can’t wait. Preference is to sit and enjoy the meal but of course that can’t always be done.
Oh I must sit down to eat. It is a crime to indulge whilst not being able to appreciate the flavours, texture and smell.
Those custard and paradise pear tarts look so adorably cute! But it’s the savory pies that really grabbed my attention: the beef one looks gorgeously substantial and moreish.
I DO nosh on the go, particularly if it’s a pastry, a box of chips, or an ice cream sandwich I have in hand.
Looks Wonderful! I’ll have to put it on my to do list next time we head that way
Too much pastry?! Crazy man
These all look amazing, what a bakery feast! Delicious. I do like to walk and eat, with easily portable food it can be quite nice! But probably I would always choose to sit and read over anything else. I love to read whilst I eat 
Heidi xo
The pies look delish! Especially the brown rice pie, how interesting, I never thought I’d hear that in a pie.
I don’t mind eating and running, but it really depends on what the food is. If they are pies and sandwiches, I’d happiness eat it outside or while I’m walking but if it’s an actual dish like say pasta, I’d like to sit down and eat.
Love those pasties and pies, Lorraine. Where did the name hominy come from? It’s the basis of so many dishes here in the US.
I am still uncomfortable with the photographing-in-public part of blogging. And I like sitting and concentrating on my food too.
I love that kind of bakeries, everything in the right place and like a warm place. When I was in Australia years ago I didn’t have time to met places like this…next time…
Walking & eating?
Doesn’t everybody???
Some of my best food memories involve both.
A curried sausage bought from a street cart in Zurich, a veggie panini eaten on a bench in Hyde Park, a crepe with ham & cheese from a vendor in Paris who was kind enough to indulge my ordering in highschool French….
Famous landmarks I recall, but not in as much or as loving detail as the food eaten while strolling.
I can certainly walk and eat – I can do almost anything and eat at the same time, but I much prefer sitting and savoring, concentrating. This post reminded me of the time JP and I were in San Sebastien and we wanted to try a bakery. He went in and – very unlike him – ordered a box of 10 or 12 different cakes! We went back to the hotel room and shared. Fabulous! Everything looks so good at Hominy! Now I want a meat pie!
I love to visit homey bakeries, everything looks divine..I would be walking and eating and walking and eating, lol
Good reporting, NQN.
Hominy is great. I LOVE their vegetarian pies (and I’m not vegetarian). Every time I go up to Katoomba I swing by to get some.
I always enjoy reading where you have been and look forward to your book when it comes out!
Just a suggestion when you review all these wonderful places occasionly can you comment on if there are any gluten free options or can you do a gluten free review at some stage. My mouth always waters but know that I probably cannot eat anyway!
thanks
Haha I cant walk with food either. Stud always laughs at me when I have to stop to take a sip of my water. He normally doesnt notice and then when he turns around to talk to me 5 steps ahead, turns around and Im drinking away lol.
The potato bread looks so fluffy and yummy!
omg! i’ve been overdosing on pies recently cos it’s been so cold in Sydney and your pics of the pies make me feel so warm and fuzzy inside!
I usually sit down and eat but when it comes to ice-cream, walking and licking the ice-cream at the same time is a must!
I like the sound of the rice pie, but the beef with star anise would be sooo warming.
I like the plates you bought – and that you got them from the cat protection store
I prefer not to walk and eat, I feel it’s a waste!
I’m definitely a sitter while eating.
Yummy warm pies in the cold Katoomba weather mmm.
Personally, I’m not fussed. I don’t have a problem walking and eating as long as it’s not too messy e.g. a pie would fit the bill.
Thanks for sharing, would love to visit Hominy for their potato sourdough bread =)
The chef in me does the food on the run perfectly, however since leaving the kitchen I always stop and sit down and enjoy my food.
Love a good pie, those look delish.
What a great story Lorraine. One day I would like to read how you found that bakery (a story in itself I would say). I particularly like their interior of the shop and those lovely timber shelves. I can smell the pies now…hummm
I definitely like to sit down and enjoy my food. Ice cream/gelato is another story.
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