I’ve already mentioned in the past that Australia doesn’t have a super well defined national cuisine, and that the Bloomin Onion isn’t an actual thing in Australia. It’s not real Australian food. We do have a few national foods, though, that are hard to get over here, and the one my husband probably misses the most is meat pies. And we haven’t found a place that sells them or a satisfactory substitute – at least, we hadn’t until we visited the Australian Cafe in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of the Atlanta metropolitan area.
It wasn’t a tacky tourist trap with an Americanized idea of Australian cuisine. It was real Australian food. As in, actual food Australians would buy in Australia. For real!
Actual meat pies! The standard plus other varieties we are used to such as steak and kidney and steak and mushroom! There was one called the “Ned Kelly”, named after the Australian Bushranger, which we had never heard of in Australia, but someone else who had tried it raved about it, so…..maybe we should just claim it as Australian anyway. The pies we ordered were great and would have been considered great in Australia as well. I tried some sausage roll but I wasn’t as impressed as I was with the pies.
Besides the lamingtons (sponge cakes coated with chocolate and grated coconut), they also had Anzac biscuits, but called them Anzac cookies, to avoid confusing the Americans that would be their main customers I guess.
Besides baked goods, they sold a few other goodies I don’t see often here, including Tim Tams and Vegemite….
…..Bundaberg ginger beer….
…….Crunchies, and…..Curly Wurlies! My favorite sugary nastiness to buy from the school canteen!
Do they have decor full of Australiana like Outback Steakhouse? Well………maybe.
Unlike Outback Steakhouse, however…..I think they’ve earned it.
Australian Bakery Cafe, LLC
48 South Park Square
Marietta, GA 30060
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I am an Aussie currently enjoying my time as a non-resident legal alien in the US. You can find me on Facebook and I have also just started lurking around Twitter and Instagram. Come lurk with me!
How cool! I think I need to take a trip to Marietta!
Super tasty! I had the steak and mushroom, because I refuse to eat kidney. Ew! My dad called them piss filters 😀
Wow. I’ll bet you felt home among the gumtrees when you went waltzing Matilda in there. If you wanna be dinky-di give the Australian Cafe a try, right?
That place looks so authentic I’d be checking under the tables for bunyips.
Yeah, I know, I sound about as Australian as Outback Steakhouse.
And how could I have forgotten Bundaberg ginger beer? That’s delightful stuff–it tickles your nose and puts hair on your teeth. It’s one of the few ginger beers I’ve tried that’s really earned the name.
If you don’t hear from me it’s because I’m taking waggin’ work to go off to Marietta.
Nice try, but if you were really “wagging” work you would have said you were “chucking a sickie” 😀
I LOVE finding places that carry what I know and love, OR little hole-in-the-wall restaurants that just knock your socks off with how authentic their ____ cuisine is! (In one of our cross-country treks, hubby and I ate AMAZING Mexican food at a little diner off Route 66 {yes, that one} in Nowheresville, New Mexico {or was it Nonexistent Town, Arizona? I forget}. The main clientele for this diner HAD to be the Baptists who’d pour outta the church that was Right. Next. Door {because there was honestly NOTHING else there} – we were grateful to have found that place, and had we been required to relocate there, that restaurant would’ve been the saving grace!)
How soon are y’all headed back home? 🙁
We fly out on the 24th of this month. But I dare say we will be back. So many places we haven’t explored yet!
Good timing. You finally find a place with authentic Australian fare right before you go back.
The juvenile in me wants to comment on the fact that your prefer pie over sausage roll but I’ll reign him in.
The Bundaberg ginger beer sounds interesting.
Juvenile Arionis is welcome. You’ll make me feel like I’m back at home (I have many younger brothers who are all gross).
Oh how awesome! My husband is always talking about wanting to go to Marietta!! How perfect. I am going to bookmark this and send it to him. (hint hint) haha. Maybe we will go sometime soon. When I was in England of course meat pies is a thing there too. But I could never bring myself to eat one. All I can think about when meat pies are mentioned is Sweeney Todd, sooo no meat pies for me. I have tried Vegemite..nope… haha. I actually made a video that is on my YouTube channel where I opened and tried everything my penpal sent me from Australia. They should have some of the fairy bread! That is pretty and it seems pretty safe to try.
Definitely visit! And try a meat pie! I am (reasonably) certain they don’t contain human flesh!
you can find a lot of those snacks and the ginger beer in World Market stores. Those fruit pastilles candies are a little odd. They are good and then they aren’t.
I have been to Marietta many times, but haven’t tried this spot. I need to add it to the list for next time 🙂