They say nothing comes easy in this life – and you get your reward from hard graft and what you put into it. That epitomises the hard work that chef Chris Brumby has put into his pie making business “MyPie” – which has taken the London street food markets and the Pierate Pie Rankings by storm! And we were delighted to attend the media opening of his new pop up restaurant last night on the roof terrace of John Lewis, Oxford Street (one of the most famous roads in the world!)

The MyPie Restaurant on the rooftop of John Lewis, Oxford Street

Welcome to the MyPie Restaurant!

We first met Chris in March 2014, when Pierateer Tim met him for a chat and of course a pie down in South London. Chris had recently just won the Red Lion Barnes Great Sausage Roll Off a few months earlier, but we were glad his passion lied more in pies than just sausage rolls. And despite a little boil out, we could tell that Chris was on a winning trail when he let us pie rate his Beef and Red wine pie, which was Pierate Highly Recommended at 6/7 on the seven Cs of pie rating. Not bad for a first effort!!

It didn’t take Chris long to get a pie near the top of our pie rankings, with his Chicken, Smoked Ham and Tarragon pie rating in at a whopping 6.39/7 in July 2015, swiftly followed by several other MyPie offerings making the top 10 of the rankings. But the most im-pie-ressive of them all was the Steak and Ale pie, which rated at a phenomenal 6.61/7.

There's even a skating rink!

While at the time this score ranked at number 3 on the pie rankings list, the sad demise of a fellow pie maker meant that in October 2016 the pie rankings were updated and the Steak and Ale pie became our number 1 rated pie on Pierate, a position it has held on to for over two years now!

Since then, the Steak and Ale pie has been joined in the top ten by MyPie’s Venison, Chilli and Cheese (6.57/7 in 2nd place) and Mince, Bacon and Cheese (6.46/7 in 7th place). MyPie really do set the bar high for pie making in London and the rest of the country! And we’re delighted to see the company providing the food at the skyline rooftop terrace for John Lewis’ winter wonderland!

One of the lovely hideaways you can book up to eat your pie in!

During our visit last night we were treated to a number of starters from the MyPie range, including scotch eggs and sausage rolls, but what we were there for was of course the pies! Being a launch event we were served some smaller pies than will be available when the restaurant opens on Saturday but believe me, these were still delicious and up to the usual MyPie standard! And being smaller, it meant we felt less guilty trying a couple each!!

The Hampshire Steak, Mushroom and Truffle Oil pie Click here to view all the MyPie pies we have reviewed.

Pierateer Tim went for the Sweet Potato, Green Chilli and Feta pie (which interestingly was flavoured really well with the chilli but not spicy – something that again highlights Chris’ chef background!) and the Free Range Chicken, Ownton’s Butchers bacon and sweetcorn pie. Pierateer Rob went for the Hampshire Steak, Mushroom and Truffle Oil pie, followed by the Venison, Chestnut Mushrooms and Juniper pie (which is in collaboration with Sipsmith Gin London, who are running the bar on the roof terrace).

Pierateer Tim, MyPie owner Chris and Pierateer Rob

Unsurprisingly all the pies were well filled, flavoursome and left us wanting more! We can see this being a great success for the three month residency MyPie have on the rooftop terrace and hope that customers to John Lewis from near and far will very much enjoy the best pies in London as they have pie in the sky!

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To book your seat at the rooftop terrace restaurant just click here: https://www.resdiary.com/restaurant/mypie

RAS

Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised. Make sure you Follow @pierateers and let us know your thoughts!

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After a busy summer period, including a couple of Pierateer weddings (check out the wedding pie we had!!), it's high time we set sail on some more pie related adventures! But before we do, we thought it would be rude not to fill you in on some exciting pie news we've come across these last few weeks. Check them out below!

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Fellow Pie rater needs your Pukka vote!

Regular viewers of our @pierateers twitter feed will know that we follow and regularly chat with fellow pie blogger and football fan Katie Peal, who came to one of our Birmingham Pie Nights and has been a fellow pie judge at the British Pie Awards with us.

She supports Telford United and travels around rating pies at the lower league football grounds they play in. She's created her own special persona - @awaydaypiegirl - and has even got her own branded pie fork that features regularly on her Twitter! This lady is dedicated to pie!! And it's for that reason we're backing her in the com-pie-tition Pukka Pies have set up to find the biggest Pukka Pies superfan! Check out the tweet below:

It’s time to put our superfan in your hands! Who do you think deserves the crown? RT for @awaydaypiegirl, who lives and breathes all things pastry, and LIKE for @JimJamRadford, who shouts his fandom loud and proud. Take it away, vote ends Monday, 17th September! pic.twitter.com/2rLZP7eJKQ

— Pukka Pies (@PukkaPies) 12 September 2018

You can vote by either retweeting (for Katie) or liking (for Jim) the post above on the Pukka Pies Twitter account or voting on the Pukka Pies Facebook page until Monday 17th September. All the best Katie!!

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Pierateers heading back to Pieminister for their Sunday Best!

You may recall back in March of this year during British Pie Week 2018 we hosted a Birmingham Pie Night at the Pieminister pie shop in Birmingham City Centre. If not, you can read all about our Pie Night here - especially to whet your a-pie-tite as we'll be planning another for British Pie Week 2019!

But before all that, we're excited to be going back to Waterloo Street this coming Sunday to try out Pieminister's new "Sunday Best" pie meal option. If you've ever thought "What would happen if you combined an award winning pie with a roast dinner?" then think no more - you can try it out at your local Pieminister shop each Sunday starting this very Sunday 16th September!

To whet our a-pie-tite Pieminister sent us a preview description and it sounds e-pie-c!!!

"The Sunday Best is any of Pieminister's award winning pies on a pile of delicious mash, topped with a Yorkshire Pudding filled with swede mash, roast garlic & rosemary potatoes and finished with free range British Pork crackling and a pig-in-blanket. All served-up with a brimming boat of gravy on the side."

If that doesn't sound amazing, I don't know what does! Look out for the pie rating next week!!

British Pie Week Pieminister Pie Night

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MyPie is set to open a London pie shop!!

Pierateers with number 1 pie maker - Chris! (L to R - Chris, SJL, TJP, RAS)

Possibly the best pie news we've heard all year:

MyPie London, who make our number 1 rated pie out of over 600 have shared on Twitter that they're planning to open a pie shop in central London next month! We'll be sure to check out the MyPie website for updates from Chris about the details, but the plan is to open 20th October in Zone 1 for a three month period. We for one cannot wait to visit!!

From 20th October - we’re opening a restaurant. In zone 1. On one of the most famous damned streets in the world. #openforbusiness #pie #mash #peas #scotcheggs #3monthsonly

— MYPIE (@MYPIE_LDN) 3 September 2018

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British Pie Awards Winner Turner's Pies are now available for postal delivery!

Check out this great news from Turner's Pies, who were the Supreme Champions at the British Pie Awards 2018. They are now available for postal delivery!! We look forward to placing an order soon so we can get them on our pie rankings page. Act quick if you want to enter their com-pie-tition, which closes at 6pm today!!

#piesbypost GIVEAWAY ‼️
To celebrate our new service piesbypost. com we're giving away a whole box of #AwardWinning Pies. (Anywhere in UK)

To enter simply FAV,RT & TAG a friend you MIGHT share your pies with it they are extra nice😋

Winner announced Friday 6pm. 🤞 pic.twitter.com/w2YJFqVJ6g

— Turner’s Pies (@TurnersPies) 13 September 2018

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If you have a story you think would be good to feature on the web's leading pie review site, send us an email at pierateship@yahoo.co.uk or contact us on Twitter @pierateers Follow @pierateers

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You might think it has been quiet recently on Pierate and it is true that we have made less posts than usual over the Summer. This is mainly because we have been busy with weddings. It has been 5 years since the last Pierate wedding but we have recently celebrated two more Pierate weddings. After all this wait they then occured on consecutive weekends at the end of June! First Pierateer TJP tied the knot in Cheshire. Next Pierateer SJL married Pierateer ALE in Gloucestershire. It was great to get all the members of the Pierate Ship together for both weddings with Pierateers RAS, ARL and The Ship's Cook also in attendance. Pierateer RAS has been busy as well because he was the best man for SJL and organised a great stag do which involved pies from our number one pie supplier, MyPie and inevitably saw Sam dressed up as a pie. Many thanks to Chris of MyPie and Pierateer Rob for arranging the delicious stag do pie lunch.

You might expect that for a Pierate wedding there also has to be a pie involved at the wedding itself! If you are an avid reader of Pierate you may know that Pierateer ALE is the Gluten Free reviewer for Pierate. Fortunately this didn't prevent there being a top quality pie, with Voakes Free From providing a tiered wedding pie for the wedding of ALE and SJL! We have previously scored their pies very highly so we were delighted to be able to have them at the wedding. It was really quite spectacular, we are very grateful to them for arranging it and for sending samples to review beforehand, thanks so much to the team at Voakes Free From. They even did a pastry lid to the pork and chicken pie on our request (it normally comes with a stuffing lid). The pies went down very well with the guests. There was very little pie left over at the end, the two smaller layers had completely disappeared before we even tried them! The pies arrived by courier the day before in excellent condition. We cannot recommend them enough. You can see from the photo how happy we were to be cutting our wedding pie! We didn't think it would be possible to have such a tasty free from pie that everyone could enjoy (it was dairy and gluten free with some smaller Voakes pies on the side for the vegetarians).

We will finish this article with a quote from Sam's stag do "Marriage is like a pie, it is what you fill it with that really matters".

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For those who don't know, it's coming up to 8 years since the Pierate Ship first set sail on a mission to rate all the pies we could find. And sure, we've had some pies and lows over the years, but each and every time we've rated a pie it's been added to our official pie rankings page. And now, with 626 pies rated and ranked, our Pierate Pie Rankings page has just reached a landmark 30,000 page views! Thank you pie fans!!!

Our top 10 most viewed pages (doesn't include pie review articles)

#1 - MyPie London Steak and ale pie

Over that time we've had a number of pies be our number 1, the most notable being Paul's Pies Steak and Guinness pie, which was our number one for over three and a half years. But when Paul hung up the oven gloves and stopped trading, in October 2016 we crowned our new number 1 pie! Since that date, for the last 10 months, our new number 1 pie has been MyPie's Steak and Ale pie! Check out the amazing review we gave it!

And further congratulations are due to Chris Brumby who, since we started tasting his pies a few years ago following his 'Roll-off' 2014 win (best sausage roll), has produced further numerous efforts of ex-pie-tese that have been Pierate Highly Recommended, and has dominated our top 10 pie list! Just take a look at the current top 10 below:

Rank	Pie Producer	Pie Flavour	Score	By	Info
1	MYPIE London	Steak and Ale	6.61	R/S
2	MYPIE London	Venison, Chilli and Cheese	6.57	SJL
3	King's Farm [HP22 6BH]	All Steak	6.5	SJL
3	Piebury Corner [N7 8DL]	Venison and Red Wine [Thierry Henry]	6.5	RAS
3	Piebury Corner [N7 8DL]	Lamb and Veg with a hint of mint [Ian Wright]	6.5	RAS
3	JB Christie [ML6 6BU]	Minced Beef Scotch	6.5	SJL
7	MYPIE London	Mince, Bacon and Cheese	6.46	SJL
7	The Real Pie Company	Pork, Bacon and Parsley	6.46	RAS
9	Jekyll and Hyde Pub [B4 6BJ]	Steak	6.45	RAS
10	The Pie Kitchen	Chicken, Chantenay Carrot and Bacon	6.43	SJL
10	The Brampton Pie Company	Steak & Ale	6.43	SJL

But of course this top 10 is just the tip of the iceberg, with 616 other pies listed from best to worst on our Pierate Pie Rankings page! Check it out to find out where all the other pies we've rated rank in the list! And if you prefer to see the top pies in a variety of categories - such as best chicken or beef pie - see our Pies: Categorised page!

However if you see a top pie missing in the rankings list, why not leave us a comment below or use our Suggest-A-Pie page to let us know where we still need to rate? Alternatively you can drop us a suggestion on our @pierateers twitter page!

Thanks to all those who have viewed our pie rankings page thus far and here's to the next 30,000 views of our ever growing Pierate Pie Rankings Page!

The Pierateers with our number 1 pie maker - Chris! (L to R - Chris, SJL, TJP. RAS)

RAS

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In some senses it seems only yesterday that we set sail on this e-pie-c adventure to rate as many pies as we could get out gravy covered hands on - and yet next month marks our 7th birthday! In that time we've had a few number 1s but top spot has been held on to firmly by Paul Skyes of Paul's Pies from January 2013. Until now...


Yes, hold the front page! Pierate has a new number 1 pie, as existing cham-pie-on Paul has decided to close down his personal business and work elsewhere. Sad as it is to confirm bad news, which Paul honourably informed us of over the phone a few months back, we fully respect his decision to move job and spend more time with his young family. Our stomachs, however, may not cope so well with the news!!! We wish Paul well.

Tim and Sam with our new number 1... but which pie is it?!

This did however leave us with an unusual situation, as for the first time we were having to remove pies from, rather than add them to, the pie rankings! It also left us wanting to re-test our top pies just to check their ratings - especially as the original King's Farm review was done in 2010 and we needed to see if it was worthy of the crown of best pie on Pierate!

Sam kindly took on the task of re-rating King's Farm steak pie recently (while cheekily adding a new review of their chicken pie!) and compared it with the countless steak and ale pies we have had from Chris at MyPie in the last year and we can confirm there was only one winner...

Our new number 1 pie is MyPie's Steak and Ale pie!!! Check out the amazing review we gave it!



No longer just best chicken pie in London - Chris will need to update his signs!!!

The latest addition to the "MyPie" fleet of pie trucks! Photo courtesy of Chris @MYPIE_LDN

Congratulations to Chris Brumby who, since we started tasting his pies a few years ago following his 'Roll-off' 2014 win (best sausage roll), has produced numerous efforts of ex-pie-tese that have been Pierate Highly Recommended, and has dominated our top 10 pie list!

We're excited to hear of the new plans Chris has - including a number of new vehicles in his pie fleet to help serve even more pies at the various events he attends!

Meanwhile we'll keep our eyes on the pies to see if anyone can dethrone MyPie from the top of the pie rankings!

RAS

The Pierateers with our new number 1 pie maker - Chris! (L to R - Chris, SJL, TJP, RAS)

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At times like this, when you sit back and actually reflect on the pie-oneering work that we have done, as writers of the world's leading pie review blog, it can sometimes blow you away! Never in a million years would we have thought back in November 2009, when www.pierate.co.uk turned from a "funny idea" into a registered domain, that today we would be celebrating 500,000 page views! I'll pause there and say it again - HALF A MILLION page views... to a website that pretty much only talks about pies!!!

But that is exactly what has happened! And it's only due to the loyal support of friends and family and the wider community of pie fanatics out there across the world! While most of our views have been from the UK and USA, there have been views from all over the world, including Australia, China, Canada and much of mainland Europe! Pies really are a world cuisine!

Chris with Pierateers Sam, Tim and Rob

And so it seems right that to honour the fact that we've just hit 500,000 pageviews on the world's leading pie review website we're awarding an Honorary Pierateer award to a chef not originally from these parts! Chris Brumby is a proud Aussie and a top pie maker. If you've spent any amount of time looking through the hundreds of pie reviews we've done or had a glimpse of our pie rankings, you'll probably have seen Chris or his business "MyPie London" mentioned somewhere (he is after all right at the top end of our pie rankings list!!!)

We've had a number of catch ups with Chris over the years, including trying his Beef and Red wine pie in March 2014 prior to his purchase of the pie truck that he's since been touring London and part of the UK in. And alongside a number of visits to the pie truck ourselves, we were also honoured to have Chris come up to Birmingham to provide the pies for our 6th Birthday Pie-rty! Chris is certainly deserving of our award of being an Honorary Pierateer! Click here to view all the MyPie pies we have reviewed.

Tim and Sam enjoying MyPie at our 6th Birthday Pie-rty!

It seems crazy to think that on the 19th October 2013 we were celebrating yet another impressive milestone being reached - that of us having had 50,000 pageviews! Less than three years on, we've had 10 times that number, and are delighted so many pie fans have been able to enjoy and benefit from our pie research! Our slogan has always been "We rate all the pies so you don't have to" and 500,000 page views down the line, it appears many of you enjoy our musings aboard the Pierate Ship and on twitter @pierateers! So... here's to one million pie views!!!

RAS

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MyPie - Pie Reviews

If you have been reading Pierate recently you will realise that our favourite pies of 2015 were those made by "MyPie", a business set up by entreprenuer Chris Brumby who we first met back in 2014. In 2015 he started selling his excellent pies in London food markets from a refurbished Bedford van. The Steak & Ale has gone in at number 3 in our all time pie rankings and Chris was good enough to bring joy to our recent Pie Party by doing the catering! We had so many good comments we know it is not just the Pierateers that have fallen in love with these pies!

We do like to think that pies are quintessentially British and that we do the best pies. Hence it is perhaps a bit controversial that Chris is Austrialian and bringing a bit of Aussie pie magic to the streets of London. The Aussies are in fact more obsessed with pie that us Brits. Whilst we have an abundance of hot Cornish pasty outlets and Greggs (who sell hardly any pies) the Australians have a number of shops specialising in hot pies. We found this out first hand in our special investigation when Pierateer TJP was dispatched to warmer climes. Having tasted how good Chris' pies are I can now understand The Kinks song 'Australia'. It has the line 'everyone walks around with a perpetual smile across their face' which is not surprising when the pies are this good.

It is a bit of a treasure hunt tracking down Chris and his Bedford van. Wandering around the South Bank it took me a while to find him, you don't get the same problem with a pie shop, once you know where it is it tends to stay in the same place (if you ignore the effects of plate tectonics). But MyPie is transient and somewhat mysterious. I am now quite familiar with MyPie but I don't really know where I will find the MyPie van each day of the week. It is also uncertain what pies will be served. Then, once you have found him, before you know it he is gone again, such a tease. MyPie is much like the transient and mysterious nature of the pie itself. You never quite know what is going to be contained within the golden pastry case and if you are anything like me, once you do find out, it doesn't hang about for long. I think this all adds to the suspense and theater of the pie eating experience.

When I did track Chris down on London's South Bank, I was surprised to find what seemed like a London pie makers meeting, Paul and Nicky from Piebury Corner were busy chatting to Chris. Paul seemed quite taken with MyPie, which is a massive complement when they have been so successful with their own pie business.



All of the pies had the same fantastic pastry we enjoyed with the Steak & Ale and the Chicken, Ham & Tarragon where it was crisp on the outside and softer in the middle. They look terrific and very close to my vision of the quintessential, ultimate pie.

Firstly the Venison, Chili & Cheese. The pie was packed with chunks of great tasting meat which had a bit more flavour than your average meat pie. The chunks of meat were soft and satisfying to get your teeth into. The small amount of cheese at the base of the pie also added an interesting texture. It was a little like mozzarella in texture and didn't have a strong flavour. This kind of cheese in a pie seems to be a bit of an Aussie trait with the now defunct Jumbucks using cheese in a similar way. It is less common in British pies where Stilton seems to be the cheese of choice. The pie was full of rich gravy which had the perfect consistency in that it didn't just ooze out when the pie was cut open. It was perfectly seasoned but what made the flavour stand out was the heat from the chili. There wasn't too much of a kick but it was enough to give a good kicking to the com-pie-tition and make this pie enter into our top 10 all of all time in the number 4 spot!

Venison & Chili

Venison, Chili & Cheese (MyPie)
Score: 6.57/7
[Condition 6.50, Colour 6.75, Cheapness 6.50, Capacity 6.75, Chewiness 6.75, Content 6.25, Consistency 6.50]

SJL

Beef & Horseradish

Beef, Vegetable & Horseradish (MyPie)
Score: 6.11/7
[Condition 6.50, Colour 6.75, Cheapness 6.50, Capacity 6.75, Chewiness 6.75, Content 5.00, Consistency 4.50]

SJL

Now onto the Mince, Bacon & Cheese. This pie was somewhat different but no less special that the others. It is the closest I have ever come to eating a cheese burger in a pie. If that sounds appealing then you should really try this pie because it really nailed it. It had a full, smokey flavour, perhaps from the use of bacon.  Unlike an actual cheese burger, the meat could be very moist which was the most beautiful thing about this pie; whilst it was like a cheese burger it was even better due to being fully encased in pastry. There was no liquid gravy as such but it didn't need it. There was a layer of classic burger cheese at the top which added variety to the flavour. In some ways it captured all the aspects that I love about Scotch pies. Despite having no big meaty chunks, it felt like the texture wasn't lacking, there was plenty to get your teeth into. Another standout effort from MyPie although scores slightly less than the venison as I think I would more often choose a pie with big chunks of meat. Also, the pastry was slightly too thick in places.

Mince & Cheese

Mince, Bacon & Cheese (MyPie)
Score: 6.46/7
[Condition 6.50, Colour 6.75, Cheapness 6.50, Capacity 6.75, Chewiness 6.00, Content 6.25, Consistency 6.50]

SJL

Onto the Sweet Potato & Goat's Cheese vegetarian pie review by Pierateer ARL.

I didn’t know what flavour this was so it was a surprise. Or a sup-pies. Given the taste I guess that it was sweet potato, pea and some sort of cheese or cream. It was really tasty regardless of what flavour it was. The sauce was thick and creamy and the unidentified orange vegetable was soft and tender. The pastry was utterly perfect. It was crisp and buttery and I don’t know what else to say- it was so good. Generally, the pie lacked a depth of flavour. It was sweet (but nicely so!) and creamy, but that was all I really got from it.


Sweet Potato & Goat's Cheese (MyPie)
Score: 5.93/7
[Condition 6.00, Colour 7.00, Cheapness 6.5, Capacity 5.00, Chewiness 7.00, Content 4.00, Consistency 6.00]

ARL

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MyPie London Steak and Ale Pie Review

Street Food Markets are a great place to sample the delights of the local food scene and of course London has more than its fair share of food providers! So this weekend, basking in the sunshine of a late September heat wave, two Pierateers headed down to London’s South Bank Street Food Market, at the back of the South Bank Centre, for another taste of MyPie.

You may have heard of the name. After all, MyPie have already had their Chicken pie rated as the highest ranking Chicken pie in London at 6.39/7. And we just recently announced that Chris’ pies will be headlining our 6th Birthday Pie-rty on 14th November, which we’re really looking forward to!

So what pie were we rating this time?

MyPie London Steak and ale pie review

Well, it’s no secret from a quick glance at our 500+ pie rankings that we’re rather a fan of steak and ale pies, so knowing that Chris had this flavour in his repertoire, we knew we needed to get our hands on this pie! However it became clear after Pierateer Rob first sampled these pies that there was something particularly special about them, which was why Pierateer Sam (on Saturday) and Pierateer Rob (on Sunday) popped down to London to officially pie rate these steak and ale beauties!

MyPie London Pie Truck

With such a large number of food suppliers at the South Bank Street Food Market, you had to infiltrate the hustle and bustle of the market to get across to the MyPie truck, hidden away slightly at the back of the market. However with its distinctive red and white décor and the word “pie” on it numerous times, it wasn’t hard to know we were in the right place! This was our first experience of being served from the converted ice cream van’s hatch, as Pierateer Rob had previously met Chris in Wimbledon to get his hands on the chicken and steak pies.

Service was quick and easy, with the main dilemma being “mash or mustard mash” and how much gravy to have with the pie and mash. Of course being a piefessional, Pierateer Rob opted to have the pie in one tray and the mash doused in gravy in the other. When you’re rating a pie, you want to just rate the pie. No excuses for additional mash/gravy influencing the rating where at all possible!

So how was the steak and ale pie? Well… “wow!” Does that help? Perhaps “one of the best pies I’ve ever eaten” is a bit more descriptive? After over 500 pies being rated on the web’s leading pie review blog it can be hard to get amazed at filling fully encased in pastry anymore. But there you would be wrong!

MyPie London Steak and ale pie review

The pastry on the MyPie steak and ale pie is near spot on. It’s crisp on the outside and a bit softer and gooey in the middle, not too thick but with great structural integrity. You can pick it up with your hand. You can cut easily through it with cutlery (even plastic cutlery!) and most importantly it just tastes delicious. End of! A key indicator we look at with pastry is “would I eat this pastry on its own, without filling?” – and the answer with MyPie pastry is a definite “of course I would!!!” While you could perhaps give it a slight critique that the design is quite simple, it stands tall and proud, just like the ultimate pie should!

But a pie is not pastry alone – as we recently pointed out when being interviewed for a national newspaper. It is the balance between filling and pastry, which we refer to as the filling:pastry ratio, that really makes or breaks a pie. And this pie’s ratio is near piefection. Never was I thinking there’s too much filling or (as is more common on lower quality pies) there’s too much pastry. The ratio was spot on, with a near full capacity of filling in the pie.

The flavour of the filling was so nice and meaty and the steak so tender. It had a small amount of veg, a nice taste of herbs and a flavoursome aley gravy, which gave it a slightly fruity feel. Fantastic – a bit like a casserole that my grannie would have made (except much nicer). The gravy was just the right thickness to be moist but not leak all over you.

The pie had been slightly stronger seasoned in the first pies that we both tried than in the second samples, with the stronger seasoned pie (rosemary and pepper) more to Sam’s taste and the slightly less seasoned one more to Rob’s. We put this slight variation down to these pies being handmade in small batches, with a bit of season variation such as the rosemary available in Chris’ garden when we tried the first pies, which was less apparent in the second pies. But the bottom line is that we both thought these were all some of the best pies we’d ever had, and the best we’d had this year.

Chris has done a fabulous job with these pies and we wish him and his MyPie em-pie-re all the best for his exciting future expansion plans! With pies like these, he is definitely onto a winner! They are once again Pierate Highly Recommended and at the time of reviewing are the new top pie in London!

MyPie Steak and Ale Pie
Score: 6.61/7
[Colour 6.75, Capacity 6.75, Consistency 6.5, Condition 6.5, Chewiness 6.75, Cheapness 6.5, Content 6.5, Total: 6.61/7]
RAS and SJL

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My Pie Free Range Chicken, Smoked Ham and Tarragon Pie Review

What filling! What capacity! The My Pie Chicken pie

It was a pleasure last week as part of my #LondonPie tour of our nation's capital to meet some London pie makers and one of them was Chris Brumby, who has set up "My Pie" in London. You may recognise the owner's name because Pierateer TJP actually had the pleasure of meeting Chris slightly over a year ago, before the business kicked off in it's current form and the pie truck (see below) had actually been purchased, and Chris' Beef and Red Wine pie was rated at a very impressive 6/7 (Pierate Highly Recommended).

It was clear from that first interaction that the pie business was still in its infancy at that stage and while it has taken a while to finally get our hands on some more of the pies, we're delighted we have! We were given a number of pies to rate and are slowly making our way through them, but the chicken pie I had first off was so good I wanted to make sure I got the review up on the blog! Other pie reviews, and a brief pie maker profile based on our chat, will be posted in the coming weeks, but first of all let's get cracking with our first pie review and the delightfully tasting:

Free Range Chicken, Smoked Ham and Tarragon Pie

My Pie Chicken Pie Review

The chicken, ham and tarragon pie was lovely and golden in colour – and quite simply one of the best pies I've seen to look at. It just misses out on colour pie-fection due to the slightly different shades from paler to strongly gold across the side of the pie, but it's about as close as you could reasonably expect. The lid, in particular, was crisp and golden like all meat pies should be. It almost felt rude to cut into it!

But hey, we’ve not got to over 500 pie reviews by just looking at – and not cutting into – the delightful pies we are presented with aboard the Pierate Ship! The knife cut with a pleasing crunch through the top pastry, and while the base seemed a little thicker (probably to hold in all the meati-licious filling I’m about to get to…) it held together very well. The pie passed the “hand held” test with flying colours too and the filling didn't leak out all over the place (like one with too much gravy or sauce and loosely filled might do).

Filled to near capacity, with just a small air gap, the filling was very good. The content was large chunks of tender chicken which were delicious and the white creamy sauce complemented the chicken and pieces of ham well. It was certainly one of the best white sauces I have had in a chicken pie and it was pleasing to see decent pieces of ham in there. The ham clearly wasn’t just an afterthought, as can be the impression in some chicken and ham pies we rate, which is pleasing. Both the ham and tarragon were noticeable and flavoursome, but not dominating the flavour of the pie. All in all, to be able to get two of these pies cold for £7 is good value and it’s a very high scoring Pierate Highly Recommended pie!

My Pie Free Range Chicken, Smoked Ham and Tarragon Pie
Score: 6.39/7
[Colour 6.5, Capacity 6.25, Consistency 6.5, Condition 6.5, Chewiness 6.5, Cheapness 6, Content 6.5, Total: 6.39/7]
RAS

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@pierateers @philkiernan @madaboutpies it's got to have pastry the whole way round #nopastry,notpie

— Chris Brumby (@chris_is_a_chef) March 18, 2014

Yes, it is stuffed to the rafters with filling. Chris tells me how much he dislikes an airgap in a pie, and it's pleasing to see that he has practiced what he preaches by producing a pie with a minimal amount of air between the filling and the lid. And just look at those chunks of meat. This is such a world away from steak pie crimes such as this:

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