Ah, September. The weather’s warming up, the footy finals are on. On a September evening following a round of drinking, me and my companion ventured to the Durham Castle Arms Pub in Kingson for a bite, some more drink, and the opportunity to watch a game o’ footy.

A Guinness procured, we perused the food menu. I noticed the presence of a pie — a Steak and Guinness Pie ($28, served with mashed potatoes and gravy), to be precise, and thought that would be just the ticket. Readers of the blog will be across previous pub-pies from jaunts to the UK. I was intrigued about how an Australian pub would compare.

The pie came over — a big beast of a thing, definitely not the typical pie one would find in a local bakery. It was a lovely golden-brown, craggly on top, a decent serving of mash on the side, a large thing of brown gravy, some wholegrain mustard and chutney added on the side of the plate too.

I took little time getting stuck in, a mighty hunger having developed from a day’s work and a beer aperitif or two (or three). The pastry was ok but a fair bit undercooked in parts. The pastry was quite thick and, evidently, this was a bit too much for it to have cooked through.

The filling was a chunky beef, with big bits of chunky steak residing within the thick pastry. This was nice quality meat, cooked to tender. The flavour profile was fairly unsophisticated, the Guinness did not come through too strongly, though it was perfectly nice enough. There was some onion in there as well, giving it a slight sweetness.

There were some technical elements that could be improved upon: a less thick pastry that is cooked through, perhaps a better meat-to-pastry ratio, a bit of a more complex gravy within the pie itself. The gravy and mash on the side was nice though nothing spectacular, and I’d prefer the gravy within the pie itself to be richer. The mustard and chutney on the side was unnecessary though inoffensive. All that said, it certainly hit the spot and was a lovely accompaniment to the Guinness.

The Durham Castle Arms Pub is a fairly standard pub in Canberra’s inner south. I understand that pies are not permanently on the menu but appear occasionally (I think this one had some connection to some Guinness-related activities and events that were going on). A decent place to catch up with some friends over a drink or two (or three).

I ventured out to the Fyshwick Markets one weekend in the hope of finding some Estonian beer. I did not find any Estonian beer. But I did find pie.

Yes, while I had some optimism that I would be able to find the malted barley beverage that I so desired, I appreciated that I might well not and had thought that, in visiting at lunchtime, the journey could be saved with some pastry.

So after the beer failure, I took a walk around the markets before finally settling on LL Bakery & Cafe, a fairly non-descript little venture in a corner of the markets. I hurried on inside to look at what they had and thought I’d keep it simple with a plain pie ($6). My companion sourced a vegetarian curry pie and we both took a seat outside.

The pie was fairly standard but had a pronounced puff on the top pastry. Otherwise, it was a nice enough golden colour, a bit blonder around the sides. I was pretty hungry from walking around the markets so didn’t take too long to get into it.

The pastry was buttery and there was a pretty good thickness and ratio going on. As I progresses through the pie, however, I noticed that the top pastry was a bit underdone on the bottom — the top had puffed up as I presume was intended but the bottom layers had not really cooked through (though it was fine to eat). I didn’t really go for the extra-puff on top.

The pie proper was warm rather than hot. The filling was chopped up steak rather than the usual mince meat. It took on a greyish-brown hue. It was seasoned simply — seemingly just salt and perhaps a bit of pepper, though nothing too noticeable — but reasonably well. The meat itself was of a reasonable quality too — the occasional gristly here and there but nothing unpleasant. It was tasty though there was a curious sweetness to it. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it — it might have been the underdone pastry rather than the filling itself.

In summary, the pie was decent enough but nothing special — it very much lived up to its name of a ‘plain’ pie. I was satisfied overall but would’ve probably preferred a more conventional pastry top and could have done with a richer, more indulgent, perhaps more savoury meat and gravy filling.

My companion remarked that the vegetarian curry pie was pretty generic — the usual ‘any vegetables in a curry sauce’ proposition — without any more enticing concept.

LL Bakery & Cafe offers a range of pastries, as well as Vietnamese food. In hindsight, the latter might be a better option here, though from my experience the pies are perfectly serviceable if that’s what you’re after.

It’s been over a month since my last update, in no small part due to the pie-binge that was Pie Fest 2019. Needless to say, I’d had my fill. But what better way to get back on the pie-horse (or pie-alpaca–read on) than through an inadvertent pie?

This was precisely what transpired as I attended the Australian Alpaca Nationals on a Saturday in August. Amongst the alpaca-themed stalls was Prime Alpaca, offering alpaca pies, sausage rolls, and salami. After some slight hesitation (given the presence of numerous alpacas) I set forth and procured an alpaca pie ($7), described as comprising alpaca leg, red wine, and mushroom in a flaky, golden pastry casing.

The alpaca pie was indeed an attractive prospect, in particular the golden-brown top that promised flaky goodness. The pie had a pleasing, mild meaty aroma which became more apparent as I got stuck in. The pastry was indeed flaky.

Prior to eating it, I was intrigued by the flavour of alpaca, as I hadn’t come across it before. The meat was in chunks and quite tender. It had a mild meaty flavour, akin to veal. It had a bit of an iron-y taste to it, not dissimilar to kidneys. It was quite tasty, though not something that I think I could eat too much of. The meat was complemented by a delicious, well-seasoned, light-coloured gravy with a noticeable red wine inflection. The creamy texture was delightful and the mushrooms provided an additional textural element.

The alpaca pie was a nice change though not exactly what I’m after. The meat was a bit too mild–not as nice as a well-peppered beef pie–and, while tasty, was a bit cloying by the end. Otherwise, an interesting and novel option, if you can find it.