Robinsons Bakery Steak and Guinness, Steak and Kidney and Pork and Apple Pie Reviews

We recently had the pie-leasure of visiting Robinsons Bakery in Failsworth, north Manchester, as part of their 150 year celebrations. Yes, that’s right – one hundred and fifty years of pie making in Manchester’s oldest craft bakery. It’s still family run and – having rated their mince pies very highly in their 149th year – I was delighted to get a tour round the bakery and try a few more of their pies.

Robinsons Bakery Pies - 150 years old!

Having already tried their mince pies, I wanted to give their meat pies a rating. You won’t be surprised to see I went for their steak pies, given how strongly they feature at the top of our pie rankings. The pies in question were the Steak and Guinness Pie and the Steak and Kidney Pie, while I was also kindly given an apple-topped pork pie to rate as well.

You can find out more about Robinsons Bakery and their 150 year anniversary in our “150 Years of Pie Making: Celebrating with Robinsons Bakery” article, so I’m going to get cracking with the pie reviews here:

Overall opinion

The pies were all decent value at just £1.50 each – could have been slightly bigger though with a bit more content to make them a meal. We ended up eating 2 meat pies each for dinner, indicating they are more snack size than meal size. Mind you, we are piefessionals. Both the Steak and Guinness and Steak and Kidney pies were reasonably well filled, though they could have had a slightly stronger capacity. The pies did vary slightly in capacity between the pies we got – as we had bought 5 of each flavour – which indicates a slight inconsistency in the filling levels but is not surprising when they are all handmade, rather than industrially filled.

The colour was quite golden on them all and they held together well, despite quite a bit of travelling being done by the pies! The bases of the pies were a little softer than the crisp lid and sides but this did not detract from the taste of the pie too much, with the pastry lid on the steak pies being particularly nice.

Robinsons Bakery Steak and Guinness Pie Review

Steak and Guinness Pie Review

The Steak and Guinness pie was the first to be eaten and was quite well filled with tender chunks of steak. There could have ideally been a bit more steak in the pie and the pie was overly peppery, but in general the Guinness gravy complimented the steak well and at just £1.50, this was a good value pie. The pastry was quite crisp and the pie held together well, so with a bit more steak and bit less pepper inside it would be a very well rated pie.

Robinson’s Steak and Guinness Pie
Score: 5.21/7
[Colour 5, Capacity 5, Consistency 5, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 5.5, Content 5, Total: 5.21/7]

Robinsons Bakery Steak and Kidney Pie Review

Steak and Kidney Pie Review

The Steak and Kidney pie was reasonably well balanced between the steak and kidney, with a nice gravy. The pie I rated was nicely seasoned – not overly peppery like the Steak and Guinness – so was a lot more enjoyable in flavour. I would have preferred a bit more of a weighting towards the steak but the flavour was good. £1.50 was a decent price for this pie and it was a bit better filled than the Steak and Guinness, but a bit more filling to maximise the capacity would have been ideal and bumped up the score by improving the pastry:filling ratio.

Robinson’s Steak and Kidney Pie
Score: 5.36/7
[Colour 5, Capacity 5, Consistency 5.5, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 5.5, Content 5.5, Total: 5.36/7]

Robinsons Bakery Apple Topped Pork Pie Review

Apple Topped Pork Pie

Unfortunately as this pork pie was topped with apple, not pastry, it was not a fully encased pie. The apple layer was reasonably thick, giving a strong tang to the pie and in my opinion was a little too strong. The pork was reasonable quality, though for a top rated pork pie I would expect a bit better. The condition wasn’t perfect on this pie – most notably because it wasn’t fully encased - but the pastry was quite nice, crisp and held the filling in well. In summary I could see why this was a strong seller from the bakery but it loses marks with us as it’s not fully encased. I would say it was a bit too sweet for my pallet and the meat could have been a bit more flavoursome.

Robinson’s Apple Topped Pork Pie
Score: 4.21/7
[Colour 4, Capacity 4, Consistency 4.5, Condition 3.5, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 4.5, Content 4, Total: 4.21/7]


With such a strong score for their mince pies (who even featured in our Christmas pie music video!), it was always going to be a hard act to follow for their meat pies. But at just £1.50 each for a hot pie, this is excellent value and I would happily eat again. Both steak pies are Pierate Recommended. While their apple-topped pork pie wasn’t quite for me, I’d look to try a traditional pork pie from them on my next visit. All in all, the hard craft of pie making is in safe hands 150 years on from the first Robinsons Bakery pies!

RAS

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Holland’s Steak and Guinness Pie Review

It seems only right that as I dug into my Holland’s Steak and Guinness pie on a Saturday night in July, in front of me Holland’s players were cruising to third place at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Crisp, neat finishing, decent content and hitting the back of the net. And the football team didn’t play too badly either!

Holland's Steak and Guinness Pie delivery

I have to say I did very much enjoy the flavour of this Steak and Guinness pie, with a thick, flavoursome gravy that clearly had been tried and tested, adding a real richness to the tender pieces of steak. There was a reasonable amount of steak in these pies, with a quite decent capacity. However it was certainly not wall-to-wall steak like we have had in a number of bigger, albeit more expensive, rival steak pies. And there was a bit of fatty gristle in one of the two pies I ate, which wasn’t ideal. (I had two because one just didn’t look – or indeed become – enough.)

The pastry was firm and crisp, although I would have preferred a slightly lighter, flakier top crust to balance out the very nice shortcrust sides and base. The colour though was good too and, while the edges did crisp up a little more than the centre of the lid, the condition was good too. The pie even seemed to be enjoying Holland’s performance on the pitch, breaking into a little smile!

These Holland's Pies seemed quite happy with Holland's 3-0 win!

It was however a little shallow as pies go, meaning it didn’t have quite the ideal pastry:filling ratio, but the filling was very good and with a little more meat it would have been close to being spot on. The Steak and Guinness combo we know works well (after all, our current number 1 pie is also Steak and Guinness flavour!) and the flavour of this pie was what pleased me most about Holland’s effort. The gravy was just the right consistency and quantity, which is important for the flavour. I was also pleased that it wasn’t loaded with pepper, as the Holland’s Peppered Steak Pie I rated at the Emirates Stadium was a bit too seasoned!

Holland's Steak and Guinness Pie Review

I’d certainly be very much up for enjoying another of these Pierate Recommended pies soon and will look out for them, priced at a very affordable £2 (RSP) each. Thanks once again to Holland’s Pies and Christine at Mason Williams for providing the 28 pies, which will primarily be enjoyed at half time of the World Cup final!

Holland’s Steak and Guinness Pie
Score: 5.46/7
[Colour 5, Capacity 5.5, Consistency 6, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 5, Content 5.75, Total: 5.46/7]
RAS

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Kelly's Kitchen Steak & Guinness Pie Review

An iconic war time poster. Lord Kitchener, a hero to the British public, trying to instil some sense amongst British men that it was their duty to fight for their country. Would the same kind of thing happen today? Would people feel that sense of duty, that their country's needs are greater than their own? The social awakening which has happened since the 1960s has been a double edged sword. People feel less need to conform to social norms and more free to fulfil their own ambitions. People are more free to travel and socialise with others via technology. Their social group may not be so restricted to their own village, town or country. However, has this come with the cost of a loss of community? It is well documented that in small communities it seems that shops and pubs are closing down at an alarming rate. It seems strange that now people are more free to do what they want, that the environment around us has actually homogenised to a greater extent with the same shops on most high streets.

It is clear that this is NOT a good situation for a pie lover. Just have a look at the top 20 pies that we have reviewed. More often than not the best pies come from small independent suppliers. It is true that some good pies can be obtained from the supermarkets or chain pubs but there would be a wealth of variety and quality lost if these were your only options. With this in mind it was good to see a new sandwich shop/bakery open up in the village of Lane End, Buckinghamshire called Kelly's Kitchen. Walking past I saw their sandwich board outside advertising home made pies. The question of what to have for lunch had been answered. Heading inside I found a friendly atmosphere and a range of pies on offer. I opted for a classic Steak and Guinness pie. At £2.50 it wasn't even very expensive for a sizeable pie. This was the perfect takeaway pie. It had solid pastry and held together well. The gravy was lovely and thick so it didn't ooze out too much. The meat was flavoursome. On the downside the pastry tasted slightly too doughy for me, as though it could've done with being cooked a little bit more. I also struggled to detect the taste of Guinness although the pie still tasted very good. This pie actually reminded me of a Pukka pie, with it's deliciously thick gravy. So a solid performer but little more than an average pie. It may not have been an outstanding pie but this is my local pie shop so I am sure I will visit again. It is time for pie lovers to put their money where their mouths are and stand up for their community. Buy the pies in your local shop or bakery now before they disappear forever.



Steak & Guinness (Kelly's Kitchen [HP14 3LP]) 
4.65/7 

SJL

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S for  'steak' or S for 'Superpie?'

Bam! Pie explosion!

Pretty impressive, right? If that isn't full marks for content then I'm not sure what is. The pie is stacked to the top crust with content. I can see the tender chunks of steak - which is even still a bit pink, wow! There is a mixture of roughly chopped and finely chopped onion, mushrooms and even bacon. This is epic.

I'm relieved that the pie also tastes as good as it looks. The steak is not at all chewy, and for a pie that looks like it doesn't have much gravy, all the ingredients are moist and delicious. There is a great peppery element to this pie as well, giving it a great kick alongside the Guinness. The pastry is also supreme.

This pie is stunning to look at, hefty, and a taste sensation. It's the ultimate comfort food, something which Paul tells me he strives for when he makes his pies. The British Pie Awards have got it right in awarding this pie very high honours. I'm bowled over by this pie, which puts so many other pies to shame. It's epic in every way I can imagine.

Paul's Pies Steak and Guinness Pie
Score: 6.73/7

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