Best Fruit Mince Pies Sydney
- Robbie
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 15 hours ago
The 2025 Mince Pie Review: A Year of Exceptional Pastry, Booze, Spice & Surprise
There’s something magical about tasting your way through Sydney’s mince pies each December. No two are alike—some lean classic, some go bold with citrus or ginger, some push the boundaries entirely. Because they’re so varied in style, pastry, spice, and personality, I use a fairly intricate scoring system to keep things fair: pastry (taste, stability, texture), filling (flavour, spice, maturity), overall flavour, and the all-important pastry-to-filling ratio. Even so, personal preference will absolutely influence which pie you’d crown your own winner.
The good news? This year’s pies are the strongest lineup yet. Textures are better, booze is back, bakers experimented in all the right ways—and honestly, you can’t go wrong with most of the options on this list.
Below is the 2025 ranking, based on full scoring out of 31 points—with special mentions for the brilliant non-traditional entries.
THE 2025 RANKED LIST (Traditional Mince Pies Only)
Tokyo Lamington — 27 / 31
The best mince pie of 2025
Yuzu in a Christmas mince pie shouldn’t work this well, but here we are. A beautifully buttery shortcrust, cinnamon sable, and a filling that hits the sweet spot of booze, spice and mature fruit. The citrus lifts the richness without overshadowing the Christmas profile. Incredibly balanced, incredibly delicious.
Flour and Stone — 26.5 / 31
2nd Place
The pastry is the star: buttery, short, flawless. The apple-rhubarb mince is delicate and just a touch low on spice, but the brandy tonka bean custard transforms the whole experience into something silky, boozy and festive. Elegant, comforting and unmistakably Flour and Stone.
Queen Street Patisserie — 24.5 / 31
Tied 3rd Place
A fantastic, boozy mince pie bursting with festive spice. The filling has a rich brown sugar flavour and is beautifully textured, wrapped in thin pastry crowned with a melt-in-the-mouth Viennese whirl top. Elegant, aromatic, and deeply satisfying — a standout festive treat.
https://www.facebook.com/p/Queen-St-Patisserie-and-Bakery-100063467107860/
Hearthe — 24.5 / 31
Tied 3rd Place
Rustic, warm, and quietly confident. Good texture, mature filling, and a cinnamon pastry that brings subtle character without overwhelming the fruit. Could take a bit more booze, but its consistency and balance earned it a top-three position.
Bourke Street Bakery — 24 / 31
Tied 4th Place
Still home to one of Sydney’s most reliable pastries: buttery, comforting, and expertly baked. The filling is mature but could use more spice — a gentle, classic mince pie for traditionalists.
Flour Drum — 24 / 31
Tied 4th Place
A gingerbread pastry that is both nostalgic and playful. It leans slightly dry, but the warm ginger spice and good level of booze in the filling make it distinctly Christmassy. A charming twist that still reads as a true mince pie.
Paddy the Baker — 24 / 31
Tied 4th Place
Great structure, enjoyable flavour, and beautifully consistent. The pastry is firm rather than buttery, and the flavour leans gentle rather than deep—but it’s satisfying, steady, and feels very “proper.”
The Kentish Chef — 23.5 / 31
5th Place
Thoughtful, balanced, and very British. Perfect level of booze, mature fruit, and a sturdy pastry that leans just a touch heavy. A dollop of brandy cream would make this one sing.
https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Kentish-Chef/61577810367910/
Humble — 22.5 / 31
Tied 6th Place
Citrus-bright, lightly boozy and matured for a month. The flavours are pleasant but muted, and the sandy finish and under-buttered pastry hold it back a little. Still a good, balanced mince pie.
Sonoma Bakery — 22.5 / 31
Tied 6th Place
Chunky, gooey filling with great fruit texture. The spice leans strongly into ginger and the whole pie runs sweet, while the ultra-thin pastry lacks buttery impact. Delicious components, but not perfectly aligned.
A.P. Bread — 22 / 31
7th Place
Enjoyable but a touch too sweet, with a slightly dry aftertaste. The loose, less-mature filling doesn’t carry the depth found in stronger contenders. Still a perfectly acceptable pie — just not a standout in a strong year.
Brickfields — 21.5 / 31
8th Place
Sturdy pastry and mature, somewhat figgy filling. But the pastry is dry and under-flavoured, leaving the overall experience pleasant but subdued. A good pie, but missing that festive spark.
Goodwood Bakeshop — 21 / 31
9th Place
Delivers a well-constructed mince pie with impressively thin yet sturdy pastry and a nicely matured filling. The sweetness is kept in check, but the generous mince-to-pastry ratio tips the balance slightly, and the large nut pieces dominate both texture and flavour. If you prefer a nut-forward mince, this pie will be right up your street.
Sweet Belem — 18 / 31
10th Place
Leans extremely sweet, with too much filling for the pastry and not enough spice or booze, and the pastry gets lost. A rare miss from an otherwise excellent bakery — though those who prefer jammy richness may enjoy it more than I did.
SPECIAL MENTIONS (UNRANKED)
These two creations defy easy comparison. Too inventive to sit beside the timeless classics, yet far too irresistible to exclude. Consider them brilliant outliers that earned their own spotlight.
Shadow Baking
A croissant-tart shell filled with brandy custard AND mince? Yes, please. The texture is glorious—flaky, buttery, creamy, and festive. It’s slightly sweet, but the balance of custard and fruit is clever and satisfying. A brilliant hybrid that deserves its own category.
One More Chocolate
Think Portuguese tart with fruit mince in the base, personally I loved it! Technically it’s not traditional: the fruit mince isn’t made in-house and the overall structure is more of a custard-fruit tart hybrid. But the clove-rich filling, glossy jammy texture, and excellent pastry make it extremely enjoyable. A joyful Christmas treat regardless of classification.
https://onemorechocolate.shop/
Final Thoughts
2025 brought out some of the most exciting mince pies Sydney has seen in years. Whether you prefer a traditional boozy mince, a citrus-twisted profile, a ginger-spiced crust, or a deeply buttery shortcrust, this year’s offerings show real craft and thoughtful flavour building.
With so many excellent options, you truly can’t go wrong — and the variety means there’s a perfect mince pie out there for every palate.
A little about the scoring
Every mince pie this year was judged using a detailed scoring system designed to capture the entire experience — from the very first bite of pastry to the lingering spice at the end. Because every bakery takes a different approach, this system helps compare pies fairly across styles.
1. Pastry — 9 points total
The pastry makes or breaks a mince pie, so it gets the most granular scoring:
• Taste / Flavour (3 pts) — Is it buttery? Balanced? Overly sweet?
• Stability (3 pts) — Does it hold together or crumble into chaos?
• Texture / Mouthfeel (3 pts) — Flaky? Short? Dry? Melt-in-your-mouth?
2. Filling — 9 points total
A good fruit mince should be rich, spiced, and matured — so this category looks at:
• Taste / Flavour (3 pts) — Depth, balance, sweetness.
• Christmas Spices (3 pts) — Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, booze, warmth.
• Texture / Maturity (3 pts) — Chunky vs smooth, fresh vs aged.
3. Overall Flavour — 10 points
This category captures the full bite — how pastry + filling + spice + booze all work together.
It’s the “does this taste like Christmas?” score.
4. Ratio — 3 points
The silent hero of a mince pie.
Too much pastry = dry.
Too much mince = jam bomb.
This score rewards balance.
Total possible score: 31 points
This lets the pies be judged precisely while still leaving room for personality, style, and baker creativity.
Note: This is an independent review, food purchased was a combination of complimentary visits and self funded visits by "Itd be rude not to".
Comments