Chicken, Gammon and Leek and Thyme crust pie and Lamb, Rosemary and Garlic Potato and Honey pie from Lovett Pies

It has to be said we can get a bit passionate about our pies – even if we do sometimes struggle to match Keegan at his best! And it’s great to find local pie producers who are passionate about their pies too. Lovett Pies in Bath are a fine example of top artisan pie making and you can read more a more detailed introduction to them in our initial review of their pies. And with strong recommendations following the Lovett pies Pierateer SJL had already rated, and a couple of them frozen and saved for a joint review between Pierateers SJL and RAS, it was time to give the final two flavours a rating.

The pies of choice were the Chicken, Gammon and Leek and Thyme crust and the Lamb, Rosemary and Garlic Potato and Honey. It must be noted that having been frozen this did seem to adversely affect the flavour slightly, with the content being a bit drier compared to the other pies that Pierateer SJL ate both hot and cold. However with that considered in the scoring, these pies were still very much appreciated. You could tell the handcrafted nature of these pies and that a lot of thought had been put into the flavouring and quality of ingredients.

Chicken, Gammon and Leek and Thyme crust

The Lovett pies follow a fine tradition of being filled with plenty of meat and this chicken, gammon and leek pie was no exception. It was very meaty and there was a good mix. The content was reasonably moist and the stuffing had an interesting flavour to it which complimented the meat filling. The more unusual addition of a thyme crust added additional flavouring to compliment the pastry, with the thyme layer sitting just below the top pastry lid.

The pastry was quite crisp and held together well, flaking nicely but keeping the shape of the pie. While not the biggest pie for £3.50, it was certainly full of meat and the Thyme certainly added to the flavouring. Well worth having again.

Chicken, Gammon and Leek and Thyme crust pie
Score: 5.43/7

Lamb, Rosemary and Garlic Potato and Honey

Once again what immediately struck Pierateer RAS – rating Lovett pies for the first time – was the great capacity for a small pie. This meant that what it lacked in size it certainly made up for in filling, with a very strong capacity to the pie. The lamb was really lovely, very light and tender and delightful to eat. However while the capacity was strong, there was a fair bit of potato present and it felt like this was padding the pie out slightly.

We Pierateers do like our meat pies to be really meaty, so whilst the potato, rosemary and honey added to the pie and made it taste a bit more unique, these ingredients would need to make a bigger impact in terms of being more flavoursome to really warrant their place in this pie. The pastry was nice and flaky, but with not much gravy in the pie it also felt a bit dry in places. A good pie but could be tweaked slightly to make it even more highly rated.

Lamb, Rosemary and Garlic Potato and Honey pie
Score: 5.36/7

So with two more Lovett pies earning the “Pierate Recommended” status, we can certainly say that we would Lovett if we eat more of them. And we will certainly keep our eyes peeled for any new, creative flavours they produce.

RAS and SJL

Add Your Opinion 0 Opinions

Fuller's Ale and Pie House Review

With some pubs you are happy to see one or two pies on the menu so when there is a choice of nine, it is like walking into a pie wonderland. This is what happened when the Pierateers visited The Mad Hatter pub in Southwark, London. This is another Fuller's Ale & Pie House like The Jack Horner visited recently.

It is also a bit of a nightmare because you want to try them all. Fortunately the pub had thought of this already by providing a mini pie platter containing five pies. In order to try more pies the Pierateers decided to split all five pies and one full sized pie between them. There were practical problems with this. With such small pies each Pierateer got a tiny amount and so there was not much time to decide a score before the flavour was gone. However the tastebuds of the Pierateers are honed to perfection and hopefully on average the scores are fair. Notes were made by the Pierateers at the time but they are fairly unintelligible now. I will try my best to decipher them. Here goes....


The Mad Hatter House Pie - Chunks of game with an orange zest in a brandy gravy.
The Pierateers were pleased that while the orange zest was very much part of the flavour of this pie it was not overpowering. The balance was good however we felt the game was slightly on the Chewy side.
TJP - 5.59   SJL - 5.56   RAS - 4.60
Overall - 5.25

Broccoli, Spinach & Cheddar
TJP described this pie as 'insipid' however it was noted that it was 'healthy considering the genre'. It must have done something right though as RAS described it as 'not too bad' and he is known for his carnivorous nature.
TJP - 4.72   SJL - 5.07   RAS - 4.30
Overall - 4.70

Steak & Fuller's Ale
'Where's the ale?' were amongst the comments from the Pierateers. The meat was noted as a bit Chewy and the Content lacking, although to be fair this was a very small pie. However special mention was reserved for the mushrooms. The decision overall was that this pie was decidedly 'nothing special'.
TJP - 4.29   SJL - 4.89   RAS - 4.40
Overall - 4.53

Chicken, Thyme & Apricot Stuffing
The comments for this pie focused on the lack of meat. The pie just tasted of onion and stuffing to some of the Pierateers, however the scores show this wasn't necessarily considered to be too bad. The Pierateers were undecided whether they would choose to eat the whole large pie in this flavour.
TJP - 4.50   SJL - 4.99   RAS - 4.90
Overall - 4.80

Gammon, Apple & Potato
Strangely this was the only mini pie not also available as a full size pie. SJL complained that he had no apple. TJP said that he had all the apple. TJP and RAS liked the gammon but controversially there is quite a divergence on scores for this pie. SJL said 'I was very disappointed, it just tasted of potato'.
TJP - 6.03   SJL - 3.56   RAS - 4.80
Overall - 4.80 

Venison, Port & Prune
As this flavour sounded very different and intriguing the Pierateers decided to choose this as the full sized pie. However, it has been said by some that this was the biggest disappointment of their pie eating career. Two out of three Pierateers failed to finish their small share of the pie as they felt 'it was only just edible'. There was however one good comment from SJL that the venison was 'melt in the mouth' but the 'bizarre flavours' let it down. The use of juniper berries was particularly questioned.
TJP - 2.09   SJL - 2.37   RAS - 1.5
Overall - 1.99

So there you go, while it was a disastrous end with, in our view, one of the worst pies ever eaten by the Pierateers, the pie platter scores quite high on average.

SJL

Add Your Opinion 0 Opinions