Pepe Saya, Booza and Pat and Stick, Tempe

There's a guy in my office (let's call him Mr Smooth) who has a "supplier" for just about everything.  Ask him where he got his snazzy umbrella and he'll tell you about a deal from "his supplier" in Mascot - 10 golf umbrellas for $10, that sort of thing. For ages there were jokes about his "suppliers" and things falling off the back of trucks.

For the last few months we've been hearing him wax lyrical about his "butter supplier" in Tempe. Yeah yeah - who the heck makes butter in Tempe I ask you...pfft. And then I started to really listen (something I not really that good at truth be told) and it turns out his butter supplier is Pepe Saya - the artisan butter makers who supply a raft of Sydney's top restaurants with luscious, unctuous cultured butter.

And then Mr Smooth started making rumblings about a lunch time expedition to the Pepe Saya factory in Tempe...would I perhaps be interested?  Would I ever!  What really twisted my rubber arm is the fact that Pepe Saya also shares its factory space with Pat and Stick (makers of homemade ice-cream sandwiches that will literally blow your socks off) and Booza (an Arabic style mastic {aka tree gum} ice-cream).

Not only was Mr Smooth chauffeuring myself and two butter-lovin' colleagues to Tempe to see what the factory outlet had on offer he'd also arranged a tour of the butter making factory with Pepe Saya owners Pierre and Melissa.

The butter at Pepe Saya is cultured butter which doesn't mean it likes Opera or Shakespeare, it means that "lactic culture is added to encourage ripening and to add flavor to the cream. Because it is ripened, cultured butter contains an extra dose of microorganisms making it a probiotic food" (sourced from pepesaya.com.au).  Basically this is butter that is good for you. Sounds good to me.

When we first enter the factory area the first thing I notice is the lush, creamy smell (probably helped along a bit by the Pat and Stick ice-cream maker in the corner) and the GIANT mound of butter sitting on the bench being hand moulded by the Pepe Saya staff.  

A mountain of butter just waiting to be packaged

Hand rolling the butter for restaurant deliveries

Look at all that butter - oh my!

For sale - the butter at the factory is a bargain! I went home with three of these pads, plus some other stuff...oops.

Pat and Stick doing some ice-cream making.

Ice-cream and butter unite - Pat (from Pat and Stick) and Pierre (from Pepesaya).

After our tour of the factory  it's now time for the good stuff...a tasting. Let's just say that Pierre is not at all stingy with letting us sample the butter - he layers it on like cheese and jokes that if you can't see your bite mark in the butter than it's not spread thick enough.

Pepe Saya make two types of butter - a salted and an unsalted and Pierre dishes up a sample of both for us to try. The salted butter is divine with an obvious hint of salt with every mouthful.  The butter is also so creamy having less moisture content then the butter you'd buy in the supermarket. I also really enjoyed the unsalted butter as flavour of the cream really stood out - it had a very different flavour to the salted offering.

Sonoma rye bread; salted butter (top) and unsalted butter (below - which is sliced as it's fresh from the fridge thus hard).

As well as butter Pepe Saya also had a raft of other products on offer (both under the Pepe Saya label and their other brand Homemade Fine Foods). Let's just say I went home with more than just three little pads of butter - garlic sauce, custard, rice pudding other desserts... just to name a few.  Let's just say their rice pudding, custard and Bread and Butter pudding are TO DIE FOR!

Deliciousness everywhere you look.

More samples - best lunch break I've ever had!

Of course, lunch isn't complete without dessert. This is my first Pat and Stick experience and I can assure you it won't be the last. I bought a Vanilla Lace and Ben from Pat and Stick insisted we also try the Espresso Lace. OMG! The ice-cream is amazing and the oat and almond lace cookie sort of caramelize during the cooking process so they have the texture of toffee.

I didn't try the Booza this visit, but I have tried it before and it's very different to the Streets ice-cream we grew up eating.  The flavour of mastic is quite strong - definitely an unusual flavour.

You can visit the factory warehouse at Unit 4, 3 Wood Street, Tempe (first left after the new IKEA - I sure know where I'd rather be)!

They are there most days, Saturdays and Sundays included. I'd call ahead before visiting to ensure there is someone there (9519 2793).  The prices at the factory are at least a third cheaper than other retails outlets or the farmers markets - bargain central!