Hello Pie Blog, my old friend … I’ve come to post on you again.

Note that this concerns events which took place in December 2024 — I am somewhat behind in updating the blog (though with this I am now up to date).

I found myself in Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test, what fun, what fun! And, having enjoyed a visit the day prior for Day 4, I and a companion decided to head into town to check out Day 5, making the most of the discounted tickets.

We made it in a bit after the lunch break and took our seats in one of the upper stands of a ‘G. The stadium was full to the brim, full of excited sports fans awaiting a great ending to the see-sawing cricketing contest which was reaching its climax, its apotheosis, its denoument.

However, the overs went by in the second session without much to note. The game appeared to be careening inexorably towards a draw.

In amongst it all, the tea break came and offered a chance for a refreshment. I set off to procure a couple of bevvies for the boys, and a bite to eat for m’self. The lines were predictably substantial. When I eventually got to the end of the line (or the start, depending on one’s perspective), I was met with some fairly limited options. But there it was — a Four’n Twenty Classic Meat Pie (didn’t take notice of the price but I gather from some internet searches that it was around $6.20). There was no hesitation on my part — today, I would savour a classic.

I approached the matter with some trepidation. I’d had my fair share of frozen Four’n Twenty pies baked in the oven at home in my youth, and was ultimately always underwhelmed when compared with the product one gets at a bakery. My passion was forged not through these pies but those obtained at the local shops. Nevertheless, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to give it another go.

I got back to my seat and opened the light plastic packaging to reveal a golden brown pastry. The pie felt good in my hand — sturdy, unlikely to be a messy experience, which was good in the circumstances. I took a bite.

Everything was broadly as I remembered. The pastry could have been more seasoned and more flaky, but it was decent enough. The meat and gravy on the inside was fine too, though fairly bland and uninteresting. The flavour of the pie was very much of one-note, no complexity at all — this was a basic pie. Again, some more seasoning would have done the trick, and something else just to elevate it. It’s quite hard to put my finger on the flavour profile but one the word that comes to mind is dark. This is a brooding pie, the insides a dark brown, it lacks the life and bon viveur that one finds in most freshly-baked, not-mass-produced pies. But all in all, this pie was decent enough in the circumstances and an overall enjoyable experience (enhanced not only by the beet but also from the right team winning the day in a most enjoyable fashion).

Fun enough to have a pie at the cricket but I’m not going to make Four’n Twenty pies a regular thing. This instead served a reminder of how fabulous a good pie from the local bakery is, and why I think the trips to said purveyors of pastry produce is a fine thing, whether that be a deliberate trip, or an incidental visit en route to some other destination. Pies.

Hello Pie Blog, my old friend … I’ve come to post on you again.

Note that this concerns events which took place in December 2024 — I am somewhat behind in updating the blog.

My companian and I were making our way down the Hume Highway on a hot summer’s day, en route to Melbourne. On this occasion, however, we opted for a slight detour just across the border. We got off the highway and made our way to the town of Rutherglen, wherein one will find Parker Pies.

Parker Pies had been on my list for some time but its location off the highway meant that it hadn’t come up previously. That changed this day, as the stars (and timing) aligned to make this our stop for a bit of lunch.

The place was very busy, having just reopened after the Christmas break. The time standing in line afforded an opportunity to check out the range of pies and other pastries available, all conveyed on a digital menu above the counter. A few things took my fancy but I couldn’t go past the Rutherglen Red ($12.95), described as ‘tender chunks of beef, slowly cooked in a rich mushroom and red wine sauce’. I gather from my notes that it allegedly won some contest in 2019.

This was more than enough for me — I promptly ordered one, and an iced coffee, when my turn came. M’companion ordered a Vegetarian pie ($9.90, ‘garden vegetables in a sweet chili & tasty cheese sauce’). We collected our pies (or perhaps they were delivered to us, I can’t recall exactly) and took a seat.

The pie was in an unorthodox, rectangular shape, not dissimilar in construction to a pasty. Its top was a burnished brown-hold, craggly, flaky, festooned with poppy seeds. I most excitedly took my first bite.

The pastry was very nice, as expected. Savoury, buttery, flaky — if I was looking for a salty snack, this would have fit the bill by itself. Definitely a top-tier pastry.

It only got better from there. The beef was indeed chunky and tender — very tender, in fact. This was plainly a high-quality meat, cooked very well. It was swimming in a sauce which was indeed quite rich but not at all overpowering. The red wine flavour came through clearly and sweetly, and it provided a gorgeous colour to the pie. The mushrooms were also clearly there, providing a pleasing texture and flavour to complement the richer, heartier beef. I expect the seasoning could have been improved marginally with a touch extra pepper for spice and salt for all that meat, but it was very hard to fault this pie (and I see no reason to do so). This was juicy, fragrant, delicious — a most exquisite pie.

My companion was less thrilled with the vegetarian offering. It was ‘broadly well-executed’ and ‘the pastry was delicious’ but it was ‘about as good as you’d expect for something described as being in a sweet chilli and tasty cheese sauce’. This appeared to be a grab-bag of vegetables indiscriminately combined (broccoli, potato, carrot, capsicum, corn, cauliflower, etc.) which, while ‘nicely done for what it is’, might have been improved through focusing on a particular combination of ingredients or flavour profile, rather than taking a ‘with-the-lot’ approach.

Parker Pies sells a wide range of pies (standard and premium offerings), and some other pastries (at least sausage rolls), at their store in Rutherglen. It is a most efficient operation, with plenty of seating indoors for those looking to get away from the summer heat (I think they might have also had an outside area in the back but did not go that far). An excellent option if one finds oneself in Rutherglen (which, sadly, is rarely the case for me).

I was back in Australia–the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, to be precise–and immediately had a hankering for some local pie. So I made my way down to the local shops to see what I could get my hands on.

I couldn’t go past Huey’s Bakehouse, a venue whose wares I had tasted many a time, but not for years. This was to be a return, a trip down memory lane. But with nostalgia comes risk–the risk that it wouldn’t be as I remembered.

Anyway, I case aside my apprehension for a moment, strode confidently inside the shop, and requested a Plain Steak Pie ($5.20–almost certainly more expensive that I can recall but not over the top). On receipt, me and my companion went to a nearby seating area to enjoy what happened to be our breakfast.

The pie was square, nice and flaky on top, though a bit blonde on the sides. Notwithstanding that, it was a sturdy construction. I was much too hungry to continue admiring the look of the pie and wasted no time getting stuck in.

The minced beef filling was meaty, accompanied by a well-seasoned gravy. There was a nice peppery kick to it. The meat quality itself was pretty good with only a bit of gristle at the end but nothing untoward. Notwithstanding inital concerns, the pie held together quite well, facilitating a stress-free gorging experence. In all, a very tasty, uncomplicated pie. Sure, there was room for improvement for both pastry and filling but, ultimately, this was a very serviceable pie that I would happily eat again (and again). In fact, that’s basically what I did once upon a time (if again and again means about once a week).

My companion was most excited to have a go at the Cauliflower and Broccoli Pie. This was described as having a creamy sauce and was ‘well cooked’ (presumably cooked well rather than overcooked). T’was a creamy pie, some sort of cauliflower-bechamel arrangement going on with a soupçon (note: companion said ‘hint’ but I think soupçon is more pretentious and, therefore, better). As with the Plain Steak, there was good structural integrity notwithstanding the wetness. The verdict? ‘Good–I liked it!’

Huey’s Bakehouse is a staple of the Scoresby Village Shops, offering a variety of baked goods, inclusive of pies, pastries, and bread. There’s a sizeable in-store seating area as well as plenty of nearby spaces with a bit of green. Give it a go.

On a very hot summer day in January, on a rather long road trip, I took a pause from my road-tripping and exited the highway for the town of Glenrowan to see what they might have to offer a hungry traveller. I went up and down the main street, perusing the many Ned Kelly-themed sights.

I ultimately settled upon the Glenrowan Bakehouse, one of the few eateries open that Sunday (and conveniently located opposite ‘Kellyland’, an animatronic show in which one can apparently relive Ned Kelly’s last stand). I strode on in and surveyed the pies, of which there were few (unsurprising given I was relatively late in the day). I ended up going for a Beef and Onion Pie ($6.70) and quickly made way for one of the tables out front, refreshed by an outdoor fan spraying a fine mist.

The pie was well-coloured all around. I got stuck in, my meal complemented by the sound of artificial gunshot emanating from the reenactment opposite. The pastry was sturdy and quite good, though not at all flaky and a bit under on the inside. The filling was fairly standard–a light brown/grey mince. It was well-seasoned and tasty, free of gristle and any other baddies. There was some pepperiness but there was no significant pepper hit.

The onion became apparent as I went on, the occasional piece being visible or clearly tasted. The pieces varied in size and has plainly been added to the filling raw. This did not really detract from the flavour but nor did it really add anything. The pie would have benefited from the onion being caramelised in the first instance, and then added, to develop some flavour and sweetness, as well as having a smoother, more pleasing texture, that melted into the filling.

In any event, it was a tasty pie, and a most enjoyable lunch, as I sat there in the heat, swatting away the flies, enjoying the relief of the fan system and the sounds of a quiet country town’s high street punctuated by gunshots and animatronic faff.

The Glenrowan Bakehouse is a nice bakery in a nice spot just off the Hume Highway. Glenrowan itself is quite small and would appear to largely revolve around events that transpired 143-years ago, but it definitely has a certain charm (especially for anyone particularly keen on bushrangers). Anyway, pies are good.

A roadtrip between two of Australia’s metropolitan centres presents a perfect opportunity for a pie (or, indeed, some other pastry). And so it was on a long roadtrip that a stop was made in Benalla, to try out what was on offer at Hide’s Bakery.

I’d chosen Hide’s Bakery on the back of some quick internet research and the initial impression was most positive–a cute little country interior with plenty of seating and a wide range of baked goods on display, just waiting to be devoured. The pie list was so extensive it was almost overwhelming, though the options were reduced by reference to how late in the day we had arrived. I ended up going for a Steak and Pepper Pie ($6.80), while my companion decided upon two vegan pastries–one lentil and spinach, t’other curried eggplant. We took our goods over to a table in the corner in front of an antique oven set-up on display.

The pie was an oval shape, a pale-to-light gold colour with a ‘J’ marked on top. I sat there for a second and contemplated what this could possible mean before getting stuck in. The pastry was serviceable but unremarkable–it did the job and held things together well but wasn’t much to note (I hasten to add that isn’t a bad thing).

The filling was peppery and … spicy. It was a brown-grey colour and the gravy was quite delicious, with a clear sense of the piquant. But it took me a while to figure out where that was coming from. There was definitely some pepper and peppercorn going on but there was something else–capsicum? Then it clicked: jalapeno. The pepper in this pie was not merely the peppercorn but a jalapeno pepper, an intriguing twist on a pie-house staple. After figuring this out, I congratulated myself by eagerly gobbling the rest down.

A very enjoyable pie, though not the best of the genre and the unexpected jalapeno was offputing but not unpleasant, though I do not think it added much in particular. I am assured by my companion that both of the vego options were ‘mushy’ and ‘very nice’.

Hide’s Bakery is a fine option if you’re in the Benalla area and looking for a pie. There’s a substantial range of pastries and other baked goods on offer, with ample indoor seating and appropriate bakery decor for a most satisfying afternoon pit-stop.

A couple of hours into a rather long drive, I came upon the town of Stratford, upon the river Avon, and decided to stop for a break and perhaps a snack. To pie or not to pie? A quick check confirmed that there was a bakery that should be open and so I set off–as I am wont to do–in search a pie.

A few minutes walk and I was standing inside the Stratford Bakery (or, according to some signage, the Stratford Bake House), confronted with a choice. I decided to go for the Steak and Mushroom offering ($5.90) and took a seat just outside to take advantage of the fine weather.

The pie was an unconventional square shape, its top covered with sesame seeds. Same top was a pleasing golden hue, with some browning along the edges. All good appearance-wise, I eagerly tucked in.

The pastry was a bit doughy on the bottom–a result, perhaps, from the particular composition of the pie–but otherwise pleasant. I was taken aback by the arrangement of the interior. Rather than the steak and mushroom being mixed, there was a bottom mushroom layer and a top steak layer. The mushroom layer had small pieces of mushroom in a creamy sauce with flecks of green throughout–perhaps leek or spring onion. I also detected some herbal notes, thyme being most noticeable. The steak component was the standard kind of fare, though diminished by a bit of gristle here and there. It was all well seasoned and there was a nice amount of pepper to provide some spice.

On the one hand, the pie was a bit out of the ordinary and unexpected in terms of its specific contents and composition, while on the other it was an honest, no frills pie. I can’t say that it set my world on fire but it was pleasant enough and hit the spot. I think my expectations didn’t help my assessment–what I was really after was a conventional steak pie with the added texture, (natural) creaminess, and umami of mushrooms. Instead, this pie was a bit confusing albeit fine.

Stratford Bakery has the usual fare for a bakery in what is a charming little country town. The pie wasn’t exceptional but hit the spot.

Earlier this year, I procured a car with the intent of facilitating road trips. Alas, that intent has largely been thwarted to date by a pandemic. But things have improved a jot, so I decided to drive down to Melbourne for the long weekend–why not?

One of the advantages I saw in being able to drive down would be stopping at various locales and establishments en route, soaking in the atmosphere and having a time of it all. This didn’t transpire on the way down, but I committed myself to visiting Beechworth Bakery in Beechworth (naturally) on the return journey. Beechworth Bakery makes some heady claims–‘Australia’s Greatest Bakery’ and ‘worth the drive’. I was certainly keen to put these to the test.

The line was out the door and some way around with various degrees of social distancing. I soon progressed and found myself requesting one Beechworth Steak Pie ($5.30).

The pie was oval-shaped and blonde. The pastry was puffy but not flaky, and had ridges on top. The pastry turned out to be quite thick. It was bready and neutral in flavour. It didn’t add anything to the experience but instead distracted and detracted. A really good pastry will complement the filling and will itself be a treat to devour. This pastry was neither.

Would the meat and gravy redeem? Unfortunately, this was not the case. The hot interior was mild in flavour. Texturally it was fine but not particularly pleasing, with the occasional chunk of meat or bit of fat requiring extra attention and confusing the matter. It was actually a bit sweet. I think its biggest issue was a lack of seasoning. It was not bad, just very basic. A pedestrian pie. I quickly gobbled down this parcel of disappointment and set off once more.

Beechworth Bakery has a number of outlets in various rural towns in Victoria and New South Wales, including the original at Beechworth. Sadly, my experience fell far short of its claims.