The 1st round of the FA Cup saw me venture outside the football league when I went to Solihull Moors for their 0-2 defeat at the hands of the mighty Wycombe Wanderers. Perhaps because the Moors were struggling at the bottom of the National League there was a disappointingly poor attendance for what was one of the biggest matches in their history. The 807 Wycombe fan actually outnumbered the home fans who were very quiet. The Wycombe fans even took it upon themselves to sing the name of the Solihull goalkeeper when he was announced as the man of the match.


The bumper away crowd was perhaps why the catering suffered some problems. There were massive queues at what was effectively just a burger van parked to the side of the away stand. I got to the front and was dismayed at the lack of choice. Meat in bread was really the only option on view despite the clear superiority of meat in pastry.  (Who prefers bread to pastry?!?) I asked about pies and was initially told they didn't have any. However, upon seeing how crestfallen I was he shouted to someone else who confirmed that there was one pie left in the beer tent just behind the stand. This had now been closed off so someone had to pass the pie to me through the railings. I handed £3 back through the railings in return. I didn't ask about the flavour because it didn't really matter. If this was the last pie I was eating it whatever flavour it was! Sadly, this is not the first time we have found pies not readily available in a football ground, which is a shame when pies and football are so closely associated.

Returning to my seat I tried to guess the flavour of the pie. I thought it looked like Steak and Kidney so got a surprise to find out it was Chicken Balti when I took my first bite! Fortunately it was easy to tell who made the pie because it had the Pukka pie logo on the bottom of the foil. I have enjoyed the Pukka Balti pies a few times before and this one was equally enjoyable. Thankfully it wasn't burnt like the last few Pukka pies I have had. Rather than being too hard, this time the pastry was too soft! It was so soft it fell apart while eating it. I was thankful for the plate which caught most of the pie contents as I ate the pastry. This was pretty messy and certainly not an ideal pie to eat at the football. Despite being soft, the pastry wasn't raw and did seem fully cooked.

The contents tasted pretty good although unspectacular. It had a bit of spice but was not overly hot. Like most Pukka pies, the thick sauce was tasty but it was heavy on the salt. There was a reasonable amount of chicken buried in the sauce. Unsurprisingly it was pretty similar to when I have had this pie before. Therefore a fairly decent effort but a bit uninspiring to find that clubs outside the Football League are also entralled by the Pukka pie empire.

Chicken Balti (Solihull Moors/Pukka)
4.23/7

SJL

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Our trip to the Ricoh Arena for the Checkatrade Trophy semi final between Coventry City and Wycombe Wanderers was mired in controversy. Firstly, there was a news article saying that due to the ongoing disputes between Coventry City and the owners of the Ricoh Arena, some areas of the ground were not able to sell pies! The problems Coventry were having has seen the team have to get the lawn mowers out before matches because the grass had not been cut, so I was worried that there might be catering problems.... but just in case you were worried that this might be a burger review I will cut to the chase and say that there were lots of pies available in the away end of the ground! Phew!!!

Pierateer RAS ordering a pie from "Eat Street Pies"

Pie in a box - with trophy in the background!

Our thoughts next turned to finding out what kind of pies they had on offer. During the London 2012 Olympics Pierateer RAS reviewed a Peter’s Steak pie at the Ricoh, a common pie on offer at matches across the country. Given that it is now 2017, we thought there was a good chance the pies had changed and were eager to find out. Upon questioning, the catering staff said that the thought they made the pies on site, a claim we seriously doubted. Hardly any clubs make their own pies and we thought we would have heard about it if they did. However, the pies were nicely presented in cardboard boxes with labels denoting the flavour, it all looked quite promising. That was, until we opened the boxes.

My Chicken Balti certainly looked like a bog standard mass produced pie. The ‘Peter’s’ logo being embossed into the foil gave the game away, Peter’s were still the pie of choice at the Ricoh even if the staff have no idea! The Chicken Balti did actually look fairly appealing, with a golden colour and some nice flakey pastry on top. Pierateer RAS’s Steak pie did not look so good having arrived in terrible condition. The top layer of pastry had disintegrated more than the dreams of the average Coventry City supporter, leaving a hopeless mess (reminiscent of the current state of Coventry City Football Club). Being a Pie-fessional and very committed, Pierateer RAS manned up and tucked in anyway.

See our PIEremiership table for our football pie league!

Falling apart... not im-pie-ressed!

I was pleased that I was able to get a Chicken Balti pie because it was not a Peter’s flavour that I had tried before. However, as we said recently when we had Peter’s pies at Newport County, they just don’t seem to be as good as they used to be. The pastry in particular was terrible. It was so soft and soggy, my pie fell apart very badly. The very top layer of flaky pastry tasted nice but the rest was a bit like soggy bread. However, there was a silver lining in that I did really enjoy the filling. As we expect from Peter’s, the pie was quite tall which meant there was a good capacity. Sometimes this is mainly full of gravy but the Chicken Balti was well filled with meat. The flavour was good, with a bit of a spicy hit whereas the previous Peter’s curry pie I had tried, was a bit bland. Overall, the filling didn’t quite make up for how bad the pastry was but it meant a fairly respectable score.

Chicken Balti (Coventry City/Peter’s) 
3.95/7



So the pies weren’t great and we were also pretty gutted that Wycombe lost 2-1 so we didn’t have another Wembley pie to look forward to. The Checkatrade Trophy becomes worthwhile once you get to the final, but only to make it to the semi-final, it felt a bit pointless. But given how bad things have been at Coventry under SISU, I felt that the Coventry fans deserved something to cheer about. Their fans really did make some noise and 11,000 was a brilliant attendance for this competition. It only goes to show what a big club Coventry once were.

We are glad to review a pie for a football match at the Ricoh while we still could, due to legal battles over ownership of the ground it looks like Coventry will have to find somewhere else to play and question marks remain about whether they will continue to exist in the long term. For the fans it must be so frustrating not to have any control and for the owners not to listen to them, I really hope they can sort things out. It makes me so grateful that Wycombe came out the other side of their problems as a fan owned club! Whilst we may never make the big time we can look forward to many more seasons of pies as we follow the Chairboys around the country.

SJL

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This year, as part of our Pie Pledges for British Pie Week, we decided to head up to Leeds Leeds Leeds to do a #LeedsPieTour!



As part of the Leeds Pie Tour we went to a pub in the rejuvenated Granary Wharf in the centre of Leeds. The Hop is one of those trendy types of places built into the archway of the old railway. When doing our research into Leeds pies we were fairly staggered by what we read. Apparently they offered a Pie, Mash, Peas/Beans, Gravy AND a Pint for ONLY A FIVER! Yes, things are cheaper than we are used to down South but surely this kind of offer was impossible. We went in, expecting some kind of catch, we even had to clarify with the guy on the bar, but yes, it was true. He claimed they could offer it cheaper because it is their house beer. But still, surely the pies must be ASDA Smart Price in order for them to make any money at all? We started to understand the business model once we had placed our orders. The pies are already cooked and they operate more of a take-away type of systems. There is a hatch (the eponymous Pi Hole) where you pick up your order once it is ready. The meal comes in a biodegradable box with wooden cutlery. It is a bit of an odd situation to then eat your take away pie in the pub but it seemed to work. The pub primarily focuses on providing real ale, with the food more of a convenient accompaniment rather than their primary focus.

We learnt that the pies are supplied by Andrew Jones Pies of Huddersfield, a company we had not come across before. There were a wealth of options,  we tried to trick Pierateer RAS into getting a Lamb pasty but sadly he decided he wasn't hungry after what had already been a pie filled weekend. Pierateer SJL opted for the Chicken Balti while Pierateer TJP went for the classic Steak & Ale.

At first glance they did actually look pretty appealing. Stout and solid shortcrust pastry had been used. The glaze was something I could have gazed at for days. It was brown and lustrous, indicating tasty pastry. Surely these would be empty promises as I expected this to be a typical half filled mass produced pies? But no, yet, again, these pies surprised us because they were well filled. The Chicken Balti in particular had been packed with meat rather than sauce or air. The Steak & Ale was a bit more heavy on the meat flavoured sauce but still found space for a satisfying amount of meat. My pie meal for a fiver kept me satisfied all the way back to Gloucester.

For both pies, the shortcrust pastry was tasty and crunchy on top although some parts on the bottom were slightly soggy. The meat chunks in the Chicken Balti were quite big and satisfying, they didn't have the watery texture that some mass produced chicken chunks have but yet they avoided being dry. The texture of the steak was tender, perhaps a bit too soft if anything, a bit like steak from a tin.

Onto the flavour and whilst we kept looking for ways in which these pies were going to let us down, yet again they surprised us being enjoyable and full of flavour. The Chicken Balti was quite spicy, perhaps a bit too hot for some but was anything but bland. The spicy marinade was not quite like any other Balti I pie I had tried before. I really enjoyed the flavour, so much so that I bought another to take home. The Steak & Ale was a bit more traditional, it captured the classic Steak & Ale pie flavour well although didn't do anything spectacular. The main downside was that the flavour was dominated by salt a bit too much. Whilst Pierateer TJP tried this pie in the restaurant, I also purchased one to take away so I could verify it was a very good pie. However, in this case, it was the Chicken Balti that really stood out.

Chicken Balti (The Hop/A Jones Pies [Leeds])
Score: 6.25/7


SJL

Steak & Ale (The Hop/A Jones Pies [Leeds])
Score: 6.05/7


SJL & TJP

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Square Pie's Rugby Pie World Cup in Grand Central Shopping Centre, Birmingham

Square Pie Rugby Pie World Cup Review



Here at Pierate HQ we’re always big fans of a pie-motion, like the tie in of the Rugby World Cup happening in England with the “Rugby Pie World Cup” happening down at Square Pie right now!

The idea is pretty simple – there’s a new pie to represent each of the 20 competing nations in the Rugby World Cup 2015, which are trying to be crowned the Pie World Cup Champion! Just like the competing rugby nations, the pies are being put through their paces and pitted against each other in a group phase and eventual knock out com-pie-tition, based on pie sales. Intriguing flavours include Chicken Teriyaki for Japan, Springbok Sausage for South Africa and Moose for Canada! It’s also great to see money being raised for the Dallaglio Foundation as part of the contest. More info can be found on the Square Pie website.



Eyes on the pies!

As you may have read from my live blogging recently, a new Square Pie outlet has opened up in Birmingham’s newest shopping centre – Grand Central. Based above the main New Street train station in the heart of Birmingham, it’s great to have an established and Pierate Recommended pie brand such as Square Pie in the centre of the city. I got invited along to try three of the Pie World Cup hopefuls recently to see how they pie rated and these are my thoughts:

Overall – The pastry on all three of these pies held together well, all passing the hand-held test (even if the Steak and Ale was a bit less firm than the others due to the more liquid filling making the base pastry a bit softer). I was impressed that none of these had soggy bottoms though, particularly with the gravy in the steak and ale. The pastry lid was particularly flaky and crisp on all three. There was a bit of a pastry overhang on the lids of these pies and by the time you got to the corners of the pies there was a bit too much pastry to filling – but there’s not really a way of avoiding this in a square product and this doesn’t detract much from the overall enjoyment.

All these special Rugby World Cup pies are the same price as their standard pie range, which I think is quite commendable seeing as, being quite unique flavours, they would be made in smaller, less frequent batches. However at £4.50 for just a pie or £6.50 for a classic meal (pie and 2 regular sides or pie and one large side) prices them as a bit expensive for just a hot pie or meal takeaway, but a reasonably priced option for a restaurant pie. It has to also be remembered that you are in the heart of Birmingham, minutes away from the central train station. There is very much a takeaway vibe to the Grand Central Square Pie shop, with food served in a box to go or eat in their array of seating – both useful options for those using the pie shop to ‘grab and go’ before getting a train. I know I will be!

Wales - Rugby Pie World Cup Review

Wales: Cheese, Leek and Potato (Vegetarian)

There were big potato chunks in the pie, which were quite well cooked, soft and tasty without being mushy. The cheese was noticeable and added flavour alongside the leek, but could have been a bit stronger. There wasn’t really anything to get your teeth into with this pie though, as a result of the potato being quite soft alongside the cheese and leek. This and the runny sauce contrasted quite strongly with the crisp pastry. Slightly smaller chunks of potato and a bit more cheese would have improved this pie a bit. A decent vegetarian pie but quite a standard flavour.

Square Pie Cheese, Leek and Potato Pie
Score: 4.68/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 5, Consistency 4.5, Condition 5, Chewiness 4.25, Cheapness 4, Content 4.5, Total: 4.68/7]

Square Pie Fiji Goat Curry Rugby Pie Review

Fiji: Fijian Goat Curry

One of the more unique flavours in the Rugby Pie World Cup, the Goat Curry pie was an interesting one to get my hands on! I’d only had a goat pie once before but that was in a gravy based pie, so the goat curry pie was a lot more dry in comparison to that. The ingredients in the pie apart from the meat were quite moist but there was no real sauce, which meant that the dryness of the meat was quite evident. This isn’t that surprising given my prior experience with goat, which is quite fatty but chewy and quite a dry meat, but this perhaps could have been factored into the pie filling. The meat was also in quite large chunks, which would have been better served spread out in more, smaller chunks in my opinion.

The curry flavour was quite mild but added some flavour. I recognise goat is not the easiest meat to prepare well and overall didn’t mind this pie flavour, but a bit more flavour and leaner, tender meat would improve the pie rating.

Square Pie Fijian Goat Curry Pie
Score: 4.29/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 4.5, Consistency 3.5, Condition 5, Chewiness 3.5, Cheapness 4, Content 4, Total: 4.29/7]

Square Pie England Steak and Ale Rugby Pie Review

England: Dallaglio Foundation Steak and Ale

The steak and ale pie is a classic English flavour, so it’s no sur-pies to see the English pie filled with it. There’s no denying it is a flavour we love here on the Pierate Ship, but that does mean with so many good steak pies eaten the bar is very high. However it was a good hearty effort, with a significant ale flavoured gravy. The gravy was very runny though, which did seem to make the pastry less crisp and sag slightly under the moisture. It was still able to be picked up by hand though, with a fair bit of steak and other filler such as onion to bulk it out. A bit more steak, which was slightly less chewy, and a lower viscosity gravy would raise this even higher up the rankings but still Pierate Recommended.

Square Pie Steak and Ale Pie
Score: 5.07/7
[Colour 5.25, Capacity 5.5, Consistency 5.25, Condition 5, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 4, Content 5.5, Total: 5.07/7]


Overall, we’re delighted there is a great new pie shop in the centre of Birmingham and the Rugby Pie World Cup is an ingenious idea to boost the range of pies on sale at Square Pie. With the board on the wall in the Birmingham shop celebrating the 127 flavours of pies made since 2001 – though now needing a massive overhaul following the 20 new types of pie during this Rugby Pie World Cup alone! – it seems clear pies are in good hands at Square Pie!

Grand Central in Birmingham City Centre, home to Square Pie shop

Thank you to Square Pie for hosting us for this Rugby World Cup Pie-Off in Birmingham. We'd already bought and rated Square Pie as Pierate Recommended as we celebrated eating our 100th rated pie there down in London back in 2012, and in 2013 we rated their Chicken, Leak and Wiltshire Ham pie at 5.58/7, which was another Pierate Recommended effort.

RAS

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Northampton Town FC/The Pie Factory - Steak & Ale Pie Review

Given that our team, Wycombe, had a chance (albeit slim) to get promoted from League Two  Piearateers RAS and SJL headed over to Northampton Town for the final match of the season. Sixfields is a bit of a hole, quite literally, or at least it is in a bit of a hole. It is a new stadium which has for some reason been built in a dip, with banked grass verges all around. It is on the edge of town in a charming retail-park-cum-empty-wasteland area.

SJL went for the 'double pie', in front is the Chicken Balti

This was also a good opportunity to review a new football pie to add to our ever increasing (but still quite small) football pie league (The Pieremiership). Pierate takes us all over the place and there have been many unexpected things happen as a result of our love of pies. For instance Pierateer RAS was recently on the BBC talking about football pies. However, we hadn’t expected that we would have to pretend to be Northampton Town supporters for the day. Sixfields is having a stand rebuilt so there is a lack of space at the moment. Hence the away end was sold out but we picked up two tickets for the home end. Having heard that away fans would be ejected, we kept a low profile. What we hadn’t expected was that we would be sat next to a lovely, chatty Northampton Town fan. Once we had started pretending to be Northampton fans it was soon too late to come clean. It was surprisingly easy to blag it and I think we managed be fairly convincing Northampton supporters. This post is named after one of the best chants we heard on the day 'Corn on the Cobblers', it was from a 10 year old.

The Pie Factory Chicken Balti

The pies in question were apparently made by ‘The Pie Factory’ which was a company we hadn’t come across before. Pierateer RAS opted for the Steak & Ale and Pierateer SJL went for the ‘double pie’ combo of Steak & Ale and a Chicken Balti (he said it was because they didn't have chips but perhaps he is just greedy?). They looked good but were ultimately disappointing and certainly won't be challenging at the top of the Pieremiership. See below for the score breakdown for the Steak & Ale. The Chicken Balti looked identical to the Wright's Chicken Balti pie which was reviewed at Cambridge. They were certainly branded differently so this is strange, we are currently investigating the situation but no review will be given for now. In case you're wondering, SJL went for the Steak & Ale first, then the Chicken Balti which seemed like the most sensible approach.

 
Condition – 4.25 out of 7 - Looked pretty appealing, nice and tall. Looked crispy.
Colour – 4.25 out of 7 – Quite golden on top but sides pale, a bit matt rather than glossy.
Cheapness – 3.50 out of 7 – £3.10 is slightly above average for League Two and for a pie without a lot of filling this didn’t feel like good value.  

The Pie Factory Steak & Ale

Capacity – 3.25 out of 7 – Quite tall and big capacity but sadly there was a large airgap at the top. Whilst it looked like it would be satisfying, overall there was an air of disappointment. I would prefer a smaller pie without the airgap.
Chewiness – 3.75 out of 7 – Pastry texture was a bit weird, soft and a bit ‘bready’. Not much chewiness to the meat, but there wasn’t a lot of it.
Content – 3.50 out of 7 – It was nice that the ale was noticeable but was a little too sour. The meat that was there was nice enough but severely lacking. This was more of a gravy pie!
Consistency – 3.00 out of 7 – With the soft pastry and liquid filling this pie just didn’t quite work. Sadly a stodgy affair, which, whilst it didn’t taste bad would only be worth eating again in a situation where no other pies are available.

Wycombe got the win they needed with a winner in injury time, however, it wasn’t enough given that Bury won at Tranmere to clinch the last automatic promotion place. Here’s hoping we make Wembley via the play-offs.

Steak & Ale (Northampton Town FC/The Pie Factory) 
3.64/7 

SJL/RAS 

Update: The Pie Factory seems to be a brand owned by Centerplate catering company (formally Lindley Catering). They are said to be supplied by 'an artisan baker'. Having compared pictures of their pies and Wrights pies, it seems likely that Wrights are the supplier. We have contacted Centerplate to ask for this confirmation.

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The Real Thai-Pie Company - Pie Reviews

We have eaten a lot of unusual pies in our time sailing the 7 Cs so you would think it might be difficult for us to find something completely new in the pie market. It is even harder for a pie company to come up with something a bit different that still gets a double thumbs up from us in the form of a 'Pierate Highly Recommended' award. Most of the Highly Recommended pies in our pie rankings are traditional British favourites albeit that some of them provide interesting twists to the theme. Okay, there are the stray crocodile or ostrich pies included but these are the exception. Hence I was delighted to find that the pies from The Real Thai-Pie Company not only do something completely new by combining Thai and British cuisine, but they are also REALLY GOOD!


The Thai-Pie company was set up in 2012 when the owners combined their love of Thai food with a family background of running a bakery in the North of England. Up for review are the five flavours of pie available from the Thai-Pie Company. I cooked some from frozen and some after they had defrosted, I would say that the pastry was best when cooked from frozen. They all had some features in common, such as a wonderful buttery pastry. I felt that this pastry showed that they have family experience making traditional pies. It had just the right balance of crunchiness and softness. It was quite thin but still held together well. Overall this meant the pies had a near perfect pastry to filling ratio. I will score all the pies the same for Condition, Colour, Capacity and Cheapness. The scores break down as follows;

Condition – 5.9 out of 7 – They were well presented with pastry shapes such as an elephant or a star to mark the flavour. They had a simple but pleasing appearance. Despite arriving in the post they held together well, probably because they were frozen.
Colour – 5.8 out of 7 – Quite a gradient of golden brown tones across the pie, a bit pale in places, the best colour seemed to come from cooking from frozen. Some of the fillings were of slightly more appealing colours than others but not enough to adjust the scores.
Cheapness – 5.2 out of 7 – The pies retail at £2.00 online (or cheaper if you buy in bulk) and £2.50 if brought from the Thai-Pie stall during an event. At around £2 I thought these pies were good value for something a bit different from a small company. These are quality products. However it is worth noting that they are quite small, only 200g.

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Portsmouth Football Club/Phat Pasty Co Pie Review

As a Wycombe fan it is great to see that Gareth Ainsworth's changes have created a team which is performing much better so far this season (after only avoiding relegation on goal difference). I hadn't been to a match yet this season so decided to take myself down to the Portsmouth-Wycombe game to see if the team were playing as well as results suggested. It was a ground that I hadn't been too before. I was keen to see the old stadium and sample the famously loud atmosphere at Fratton Park. Also, I found out that the pies were supplied by the Phat Pasty Co., a relatively new company who haven't yet been added to our Football Pie League which is dubbed the 'PIEremiership'. How could I resist?


Firstly, the match. It was great to see Wycombe playing some attractive football even though they were away. There were too many hopeful, long balls last time out. The defence has completely changed and felt much more solid. It was also great to see Wycombe pressing the Pompey players all over the pitch. Going forward Wycombe seemed to create chances easily in the opening half and dominated the game. They attacked with pace and really should have taken the lead but it was only early on in the second half that Sam Wood scored after good work from Paul Hayes. After that Wycombe seemed to sit back a bit too much, or perhaps tired after an energetic performance. Portmouth began to dominate and eventually scored what felt like a bit of a soft goal from a corner (but watching it on TV it was a great finish). By full time I was happy to take a point as it ended 1-1. I left happy that Wycombe at least looked like they shouldn't struggle this season.

The famously loud Portsmouth fans were really quite quiet for most of the game (despite the amazing attendance of 16,171). They only came alive after they scored with an intimidating chant of 'Who Are Ya?' direct at the Wycombe fans. It seemed like most of the Pompey fans participated in this with thousands of pointing fingers directed at us in the away end. There was also one loud rendition of the Pompey Chimes. Strangely there seemed to be a 'children's stand'; part of the stand which contained the Wycombe fans also contained a mass of children. Their solo rendition of 'Who Are Ya?' directed at the Wycombe fans was met with much amusement and jovial comments of 'Come back when you're older' from some in the away end. They were only separated from us by a thin cordon so they must have been confident the Wycombe fans would be well behaved (or perhaps the children were seen as 'expendable'). Another incident of note saw one Wycombe fan was escorted out after winding up a steward by not giving the ball back. There was also a bit of abuse between the fans as the Wycombe fans queued to get out. This was a shame to see and I don't know who started it. I think it was only because the fans knew they were physically separated from each other by some wire mesh so could throw abuse without fear of a fight.


Now what about the pie? Well, perhaps there is a reason I have focused on the entertaining match, the pie was really disappointing. I went for the Chicken Balti, there was only this or the steak and potato as the other options were pasties, not too surprising given the company's name. Anyway, two options of pie is not too bad at a football ground. The main reason it was disappointing is that it seemed like it hadn't been cooked properly, the pastry was really dry but at the same time tasted a bit undercooked. It was quiet soft and doughy. The filling wasn't too bad in some ways but the pastry did ruin it. I did eat the whole pie but didn't really enjoy it. I will have to try one of these pies somewhere else to see if Portsmouth's caterers had not done it justice. See the score breakdown below.

Condition – 2.8 out of 7 – A bit cracked around the top, a bit mis-shapen, looked like it had been squashed slightly. Nothing special otherwise about the appearance other than some writing printed into the pastry.

Colour – 3.2 out of 7 – Some golden brown in places but I thought it was a bit too pale generally.

Cheapness – 3.1 out of 7 – At £3 this was slightly above average for League Two, but not unusual.

Capacity – 4.5 out of 7 – Quite a large capacity because this was a tall pie. A small airgap considering the size, overall a well filled pie although quite a bit of it was sauce. It is also worth noting it was fairly big, around 250g.

Chewiness – 1.5 out of 7 – Disasterous texture to this pie, as I have said, it seemed like it hadn't been cooked properly but instead left on a low heat for a long time which had dried it out. The pastry tasted a bit like bread and at times I felt like I was eating raw flour. The pastry was also much too thick in places as shown in the pictures above. On the plus side, the filling wasn't chewy at all, the small pieces of chicken had a decent texture but not enough to help the score significantly.

Content – 3.0 out of 7 – The content was okay, there was a bit of chicken, but not much. I liked that there was a bit of variety to the filling which included onion and some other stuff (I can't be entirely sure what it was). The flavour was also okay, it wasn't hot at all but mildly spiced and it tasted slightly sweet. There wasn't much chicken but what there was seemed decent.

Consistency – 2.1 out of 7 – An awful consistency, in addition to the soft dry pastry, the sauce was too thick in my opinion, as you can see from the picture it didn't ooze out all. It is good in some ways for a football pie to have thick sauce to avoid a mess but in this case it meant the whole thing was really stodgy. I made myself finish the pie but afterwards it sat really heavy and I wished I hadn't eaten it all. I am sorry to say that it didn't really work as a package.

Chicken Balti (Portsmouth FC/Phat Pasty Co)
2.89/7

SJL

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Piebury Corner - Steak and Ale and Chicken Balti Pie Reviews

There is a corner of Highbury and Islington devoted to pies, one that you may have heard of before because they are loved by our very own Pierateer RAS, who has reviewed a number of their pies, putting a couple of them right near the top of our pie rankings. I was delighted to finally get my hands on some of these pies which come so highly regarded, so of course I had to get a few!

I got a Lamb and Veg ("Ian Wright") because this had been reviewed highly by Mr RAS. I also got a couple of pies not yet in our pie rankings, a Steak and Ale ("Tony Adams") and a Chicken Balti ("Lee Dixon"). After refusing gravy on my pie (as I wanted to experience it in the purest form) they kindly gave me a separate pot of gravy. Sadly this backfired as I suffered a gravy explosion all over my take away pies and the bag, a bit of a nightmare, but my fault for taking the pies away on my bike. That aside, Piebury Corner seemed like a lovely little place and I was very impressed by the large array of pies on offer.


These pies were all the same shape and had the same pastry so I have some general comments which apply to them all. I can see why RAS likes them so much, the pastry in particular was the kind of pastry that exemplifies what I look for in pie pastry. It was crisp on the outside but soft and gooey in the middle. It also held together really well because it was fairly thick which meant it could be eaten with your hands if desired. The pastry also tasted very nice on its own. They were all well presented with some decorative pastry features and a nice colour. The pies were completely packed with filling but with only a small amount of boil out. I think this was achieved because there wasn’t much sauce in general. However, for me there was a downside, these pies were just too shallow for my liking. They didn’t look like what I imagine the perfect pie to look like. They were quite shallow and this combined with the thick pastry meant I thought they were a bit ‘pastry heavy’ and missed the ideal pastry to filling ratio. They were also a little bit small and I could have quite easily eaten more than one in one meal (but I do really love pies). But don’t let this put you off trying these pies, they are great, I would much rather have a pie which has a smaller capacity which is packed with content than one with an airgap. It is also nice to have a smaller pie of better quality, more isn’t always more fulfilling as I have found before… They were £3.50 cold or £4.80 hot, although the prices do vary with some of the other pies. The addition of roasties for a couple of quid more was welcome.

Lamb and Veg - The "Ian Wright"

There was a great lamb flavour from this pie and plenty of pieces of meat. The veg seemed to mainly just be carrot but it was very nice and it wasn’t overcooked, which is difficult in a pie. Overall this really was delicious. See the full review by RAS.

Steak and Ale - The "Tony Adams"

Condition – 5.8 out of 7 – Nicely presented although some boil out.

Colour – 6.5 out of 7 – A pretty darn good golden brown.

Cheapness – 4.5 out of 7 – The price was comparable to other gourmet pie companies in London such as Battersea Pie Station and Square Pie. I couldn’t help feeling though that these pies were a little small.

Capacity – 4.5 out of 7 – Quite a small capacity but it was well filled.

Chewiness – 6.9 out of 7 – A fabulous texture throughout the pie.

Content – 6.7 out of 7 – It didn’t do anything special with the flavours but it did capture the Steak and Ale taste perfectly. There were nice meaty chunks to sink my teeth into. Some great seasoning.

Consistency – 6.5 out of 7 – This pie was very, very easy to eat (although it was all gone too soon, I forgot to take a photo until I had nearly eaten it all). A little more gravy would have been nice but it was still lovely and moist.

Piebury Corner Steak and Ale "Tony Adams" Pie
Score: 5.91/7

Chicken Balti - The "Lee Dixon"

Condition – 6.0 out of 7 – Nicely presented.

Colour – 6.5 out of 7 – A pretty darn good golden brown.

Cheapness – 4.5 out of 7 – Same as Steak & Guinness

Capacity – 4.5 out of 7 – Quite a small capacity but it was well filled.

Chewiness – 5.8 out of 7 – A fabulous texture throughout the pie. The chicken was chunky and fibrous.

Content – 3.5 out of 7 – On my first bite I thought this was going to be really nice, the flavours were proper curry spices, not generic curry sauce as many curry pies have. However, after eating a bit more I found the whole thing very bland, there wasn’t enough spice for me, it wasn’t hot at all. I am not sure whether my pie was just lacking any sauce as it was almost entirely taken up by pieces of chicken. This may have been where the problem was.

Consistency – 3.5 out of 7 – This pie was again very easy to eat but didn’t really quite work holistically, there needed to be a bit of sauce to give it the consistency I would expect from a Balti pie which normally have plenty of sauce, like a Balti curry does.

Piebury Corner Chicken Balti "Lee Dixon" Pie
Score: 4.90/7


SJL 

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Southend United/Pukka Pies - Chicken Balti Pie Review

Update 07/03/15 I had the same pie again in the 2014/15 season and it was very much to the same standard. If anything, I feel I may have been a bit harsh on it, the filling is quite tasty. I was glad to see that the curry pie mark on the wall was still there a year later! Come on Southend, do you never clean Roots Hall?!

I love a trip to Roots Hall, the home of Southend United because it means a trip to Southend. The Pierateers are known to be lovers of the crazy golf on the seafront. The recent match between Southend and Wycombe saw all the original Pierateers attend the match. We were all sat in the away end which has an indoor food counter selling Pukka pies near the entrance. It is nice that the food outlet is indoors but do bear in mind that this isn't a new stadium. Southend have been planning to move for sometime and it is a little run down, but old stadiums do at least have a bit of character. Roots Hall certainly does. Something interesting that we noted was that there was a mark on a nearby wall which looked exactly the same as the filling of the curry pie I had ordered! Does this indicate an angry fan had been throwing pies around?


So upon going to the counter I was pleased to encounter a good range of Pukka pies. Many of these we have reviewed previously in other places however the Chicken Balti stood out to me as one which had yet to be reviewed. It arrived warm in a plastic wrapper. This plastic wrapper option is fairly common at a football ground, I think because they have to heat up lots of pies at once it allows them to do some in advance and helps keep them warm. It seems like they heat the pies inside the wrapper and I am always amazed at how it doesn't melt. Actually I say that but this one did melt onto the metal foil case a little. It got me wondering whether this Pukka pie was the same as an unwrapped Pukka pie. This variety do often seem to arrive dried out, but this may be more down to the nature of keeping them warm for some time.



Condition - 5.0/7 - The pie arrived in good condition with a little curry sauce having oozed out the sides.

Colour - 3.0/7 - The colour was good in that it was nice and brown but it was too matt effect and not enough gloss effect indicating a potential dry pastry problem. This didn't appeal to me. There was a little bit of yellow curry sauce on the outside which had oozed out.

Cheapness - 4.0/7 - At £2.70 this was a pretty standard price for League Two.

Capacity - 5.4/7 - This pie was quite tall which gave for a decent Capacity.

Content - 5.5/7 - I enjoyed the content of this pie, it was quite spicy, which I liked, often football curry pies lack a bit of a kick. It didn't taste of generic curry sauce but what I expect Balti to taste like. However, the meat content was a bit lacking and there were only small pieces.

Chewiness - 4.0/7 - There wasn't any chewiness of the filling as it was mainly mushy. The pastry was really quite dry and was flaky rather than chewy. There wasn't really much to get your teeth into with this pie and it did miss the optimum texture.

Consistency - 4.0/7 - As an overall package, this pie just about worked. The high liquid content of the filling made up for the dryness of the pastry but it was all a bit too mushy with no bite to either the filling or the pastry.



A decent performance by the Southend pie but not enough to challenge at the top of our Football Pie League. The fact that this pie arrived wrapped and was also so dry encouraged me to do a little research, is a Pukka pie always the same or do they sell variations of the same pie. Looking at their website it seems that there is quite an array of options for buying Pukka pies for catering. You can get them pre-baked, unbaked, frozen, unfrozen, wrapped or unwrapped. With all these different options, in addition to the cooking options, no wonder there is such a variety in Pukka performance from one football ground to another.

The match itself was dominated by Southend up until they scored in the 63rd minute. After this Wycombe seemed to wake up a little and stopped just aimlessly hitting long balls. The Wycombe equaliser was gained in comical style after a strong strike from Paris Cowan-Hall ricocheted off the cross-bar, hit the back of the Southend keeper and then slowly trickled over the line.

Chicken Balti (Southend United/Pukka)
4.41/7

SJL

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