Let’s eat all the pies
With a hunger for New Zealanders’ favourite hot snack, Lucy Zee drives the length of the country to try this year’s best pies. Auckland’s best of the best By the big lake
In New Zealand, if word spreads that a local bakery does the best pie in town, the shop will have punters lined up out the door, dying to get their mitts on, and their mouths around, the best flaky, buttery, meat and gravy-filled, golden one-handed meal.
There are always queues snaking along the counter during the lunch rush at Patrick’s Pies Gold Star Bakery in Tauranga.
This week, they were boosted when it was crowned for the seventh time as New Zealand’s King of Pies. Baker Patrick Lam was named Supreme Winner in the annual national competition, taking out the title for his mince and cheese pie.
Pies are the perfect Kiwi meal. They’re found in every corner of the country and can be eaten any time of the day, as a meal or snack.
There’s meat, gravy, and often vegetables, all wrapped up in a neat, comforting pastry package.
With a new list of King of Pies winners to sample around the country, there’s never been a better time to go on a pie-eating road trip.
Here, I’ve mapped out the route, so fuel up your car, put on your stretchy eating pants and stock the passenger seat with napkins, the ultimate Kiwi pie roadie is waiting for you.
Start your trip with something a little fancy with the country’s Best Gourmet Meat Pie, Ty Lim’s Moroccan Lamb Pie at Orewa Bakery.
If you hit Orewa beach with your pie in hand, you can soak in the ocean views while you enjoy your first meal of the day.
Brush the unavoidable crumbs off your clothes, then it’s a 20-minute jaunt to the North Shore for the Best Potato Top Pie at Euro Patisserie Torbay. Don’t let the fancy name put you off. This familyrun business also has the Best Steak and Gravy Pie and the Best Vegetarian Pie, made with broccoli, cauliflower, pumpkin, carrot, and spinach.
The next and last stop in Auckland is Oliver’s Bakehouse in the bustling suburb of Mission Bay. Heng Seanghy’s pie took out the award for Best Mince and Gravy, a classic.
Seanghy recommends you eat the pie as soon as you get your hands on it, take in the aroma, eat it slow, try it without tomato sauce, and enjoy every bite. Waikato town of Rangiriri.
Baker Cathy Miller of Rangiriri Pies won a highly commended for her Mutton Shank Pie in the Cafe Boutique category.
Miller says she loves the challenge of enhancing the flavour of mutton shanks with fresh ingredients, reminiscent of a ‘‘classic Kiwi farmhouse kitchen’’.
The next bakery is worth the nearly two-hour drive from Rangiriri to Tauranga. It’s the home of seven-time pies winner Patrick Lam, who this year won the Supreme Winner title for best pie in the country with his epic mince and cheese.
While you’re at Patrick’s Pies Gold Star Bakery, Moroccan lamb pie: Orewa Bakery, 8E Moana Ave, Orewa.
Potato top, steak and gravy, vegetarian:
Euro Patisserie Torbay, 1028 Beach Rd, Torbay, Auckland.
Mince and gravy: Oliver’s Bakehouse, 299 Kepa Rd, Mission Bay, Auckland.
Mutton shank: Cathy Miller, Rangiriri Pies, 16 Rangiriri Rd, Rangiriri.
Mince and cheese, bacon and egg: Patrick’s Pies Gold Star Bakery, Shop 14, 2 Taurikura Drive, Tauriko, Tauranga; H1B 19 Bethlehem Rd, Bethlehem Town Centre, Tauranga; 89 Old Taupo Rd, Rotorua.
Steak and gravy: Fast & Fresh Bakery, 8 Horomatangi St, Taupo¯
Black forest: Ten O’Clock Cookie Bakery Cafe, 180 Queen St, Masterton.
Vege bbq cheese burger: Butchart’s Home Cookery, 91 Tawa St, Gonville, Whanganui .
Steak and cheese, slow-cooked pork belly: Nada Bakery, 72 Main Rd, Tawa, Wellington. Poached rhubarb and blueberry: Original Foods, 8 Stark Drive, Wigram, Christchurch.
Potato top: Copenhagen Bakery, 409 Harewood Rd, Bishopdale, Christchurch.
Chicken and vegetable: Kai Pai Wholesale, 17 Frederick St, Wa¯naka. you can also devour the Best Bacon and Egg Pie.
Lam sells his pies from two locations, from Bethlehem, and the newly-built Tauranga Crossing shopping centre in the suburb of Tauriko. He also owns a bakery in Rotorua. Work up an appetite between Tauranga to your next best pie in Masterton six hours’ drive away. However, if you are peckish along the way, stop in Taupo¯ for Lee Ing’s Steak and Gravy Pie at Fast & Fresh Bakery, which won silver. Ing also picked up a bronze for his steak and cheese.