Lake Mulwala Bakery, Mulwala, NSW
Where it is
Mulwala sits on the New South Wales side of the Murray River, directly across the bridge from the larger Yarrawonga in Victoria and just over an hour west of Albury. The bakery is on Melbourne Street, close to the lake and the town centre. It is a useful stop when travelling through the Murray border region, particularly on a loop involving Yarrawonga, Rutherglen, Corowa, Cobram or Albury.
Why pull over
A useful country bakery needs to do more than produce one photogenic pastry. It needs to feed the person who wants a pie, the person who wants breakfast, the person who has decided coffee counts as breakfast, and the person buying something sweet for three hours later. Lake Mulwala Bakery understands the assignment.
When I was there, at 8.30 in the morning on a very chilly July day, the ‘hot foods’ takeaway bay with its toasted sandwiches and bacon-and-egg-rolls, among other things, was doing quick business.
The bakery is a local institution rather than a minimalist pastry temple. The cabinets are generous, the range is broad and the whole operation is built for people who are hungry now, travelling onward, or stocking up for the day.
What to order
Expect the country-bakery staples - pies, sausage rolls, pastries, sandwiches and plenty of sweet things - alongside coffee and breakfast options. What is best will depend on what has just come out and what you are in the mood for. This is a place to inspect the cabinets properly rather than walking in with a fixed order. Definitely browse the sandwich cabinet.
My road-trip strategy would be: one savoury item for immediate consumption and one sweet item for later. The second purchase is not greed; it is forward planning. A slice or doughnut that seemed unnecessary at 8.30am can look extremely intelligent somewhere between Corowa and Rutherglen several cellar doors in. I got an excellent hot chocolate I drank on site, and a serious caramel slice that I devoured several hours later.
Make it more than a food stop
Mulwala is not simply a bakery attached to a route. Sit inside by the fire, or take your coffee across the road to Lake Mulwala, a huge expanse of water known for its distinctive drowned river red gums. From the bakery, you can walk for several kilometres in either direction around the lakeshore. The lake, the bridge and the Yarrawonga-Mulwala twin-town set-up make this feel like a proper border-country pause rather than a dash in and out.
It works well as part of a Murray loop involving Yarrawonga, Rutherglen, Corowa, Cobram and Albury. Or if you’re travelling west along the Murray to further-flung border towns such as Echuca, Swan Hill, and Mildura.
Good to know
Country bakeries often start early and finish earlier than city cafes, and the best items can sell through, particularly on weekends and holiday periods. Check current hours, arrive earlier rather than later and allow a little extra time if the town is busy. There is street parking right outside, but peak holiday traffic – particularly in the summer - around Yarrawonga-Mulwala can slow everything down.
Road & Table verdict
Lake Mulwala Bakery is a proper road-trip bakery: generous, fast, useful and clearly part of local life. Stop for breakfast, leave with lunch, and fit in a lakeside wander before you go.