Piebury Corner Steak and Stilton Pie Review from their new King’s Cross Shop!

If anyone ever asks which pie shop they should visit in London, there is only one answer I give them – Piebury Corner. For many a year, since we first reviewed them in February 2013, they have been at the top of our pie rankings which span well over 600 pies from across the world. But there has always been one slight issue – their pie shop is slightly out of the way for the typical London visitor, being up in Islington (N7).

You can therefore imagine our delight when we heard a number of months back from owners Paul and Nikki that they were in negotiations for a property just a few minutes from Kings Cross Station – which really is prime retail location for thousands of London commuters and tourists each and every day! Now that the new store has been open a few months, it was about time that we set the Pierate Ship down to London for a visit, and a Friday Pieday visit was the ideal op-pie-tunity!


Arriving mid-afternoon, I avoided the rush hour craziness on my 4-minute walk from Kings Cross Tube station and settled into my own seating booth, which comes with free wifi and USB charging points for your phone. It’s significantly more spacious than the Holloway Road store in Islington, providing adequate seating for around 40 customers. I perused the menu and – while not eating straight away, as it was a bit early – picked from the increasingly small list of Piebury Corner pies we have yet to rate! With 14 already rated, I went for one of the only meat pies left on my list – the Steak and Stilton.

Inside Piebury's new store - Image supplied by Piebury Corner

One of the most obvious differences between the two pie shops is that the new Kings Cross store has dropped the Arsenal footballer pie names – but this is hardly a surprise given its location much further away from the Emirates Stadium and its target audience no longer primarily being Arsenal fans! The main pies all still feature though, even if they are a bit pricier than when we first started tucking into Piebury Corner pies those five years ago! A standard range pie at the Kings Cross shop sets you back £6 hot and eating in, with the luxury range 50p more and gluten free 50p more again. While you can get deals at certain times to make this a meal with pie, potato and gravy, it is quite an expensive cost for just a pie but then this is no ordinary quality pie, as the shop's kitchen manager Anthony testified to me during a chat with him after my pie. He has many years’ experience as a chef in London but was surprised at the high quality of these pies, which he hasn’t been able to match in quality from a supplier anywhere else in London!

Piebury Corner Steak and Stilton Pie Review

Onto the pie itself and the great thing is the Steak and Stilton pie had all the great hallmarks of the Piebury Corner pies I had rated in the past. The pie was packed to capacity, again bulging slightly with the large pieces of meat inside the pie. The pastry:filling ratio was pretty much spot on, with a good flavoursome filling complementing the crisp but thin outer pastry. As you would expect from a proper football pie you could easily have eaten the pie by hand, picking it up from the plate, as the pie held together really well.

The filling itself was a fine balance of tender steak and a Stilton gravy. The meat was lovely and had a good noticeable flavour to it without being overpowered by the Stilton cheese, which has been the downside of a fair few Stilton Cheese pies I’ve had lately (either too much Stilton or lacking any noticeable cheese flavour to it!) The only real downsides to these pies, mentioned a number of times in Piebury Corner reviews, are that the pie is rather shallow for a pie of its price range and therefore while they taste great, they do often leave you wanting more! But I guess that’s a good sign what you are eating is a top pie! The Steak and Stilton is yet another “Pierate Highly Recommended” pie from Piebury Corner.

Piebury Corner Steak and Stilton Pie
Score: 6.18/7
[Colour 6.75/7; Consistency 5.75/7; Cheapness 5.5/7; Chewiness 6.5/7; Condition 6.75/7; Content 6/7; Capacity 6/7]

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Brockleby’s Wild Deer and Longhorn Steak with Stilton and Ale Pie Reviews

Brockleby's Pie Reviews

Three years is a long time in politics – and is equally a long time in pie reviewing! The range of pies sold can vary hugely in that time and some pie businesses even come and go in that time frame. But when a pie company you have tried and rated highly turn up selling their pies pretty much in your back yard - at your local community festival - it’s a bit of a no-brainer to give some more of their pies a go (as well as enjoy an old favourite!)

So with a large Wild Beaver pie already in the bag to share with friends – and before I go any further, no beavers were harmed in the making of that pie! See our previous review for why it gets its provocative title! – it seemed foolish to pass up the op-pie-tunity to rate a few more of their pies. At £4.50 each or 3 for £12, I was sold! The two pies I’m therefore reviewing today are the Wild Deer and Longhorn Steak with Stilton and Ale pies in their decent repertoire.

Graham on the Brockleby's Pie Stall at the Selly Oak Festival

Brockleby's Wild Deer Pie

Of note for both pies were that the pastry was a very nice consistency, particularly the lids of both pies – firm enough to hold in the content but not too thick to detract from the taste. They were also both packed to capacity with large meaty chunks and had a decent amount of gravy without it flowing out all over the place! I’d personally suggest slightly smaller chunks of meat which can be more covered in gravy and be a little tenderer in places, as there were a few large chewier pieces of meat that weren’t quite as succulent. However in all the meat was very nice and well filled, so I couldn’t find much to fault them.

In regards to the wild deer pie, it was certainly my preference out of the two. The meat on the whole was very nice, the gravy very rich and flavoursome and it really complimented the shortcrust pastry. It was therefore a deer pie very well done, and at £4.50 the price wasn’t too dear either! (Even better at £4 when buying 3 pies for £12!)

The steak, stilton and ale was a little more disappointing, simply due to the lack of a significant stilton flavour to the pie. I and a few friends who tried a mouthful too did not sense much of a stilton hit at all, so while by all means the steak was quite nice, as a steak and stilton pie it didn’t reach the same high levels as the wild deer pie and steak and beaver ale pie I’d had before. The steak was however nice in the main and the gravy was nice despite the lack of cheese.

Brockleby's Steak with Stilton and Ale Pie

With strong recommendations towards their Salmon pie and Moroccan Lamb pies, we’ve certainly got other chances to rate a few more of their pies – and hopefully I might pick up a sample or two at UK Piefest at the end of July! I’d certainly recommend you check out their stall if you go, as these pies are Pierate Recommended!

Brockleby’s Wild Deer Pie
Score: 5.86/7
[Colour 5.75, Capacity 6.25, Consistency 6, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 5.5, Content 6.5]

Brockleby’s Longhorn Steak with Stilton and Ale Pie
Score: 5.32/7
[Colour 5.75, Capacity 6, Consistency 5, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 5, Content 4.5]

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Radford’s Pie Company Steak and Stilton and Chicken Pie Reviews

Having previously tried and highly rated their pies over 18 months ago, a trip up to Morecambe recently seemed like the pie-fect opportunity to rate some more of the pies from Radford’s Pie Company, based just outside Morecambe on the Heysham Road. We were up in the area for the Morecambe v Wycombe football match and contemplating a wander over to the stadium from the train station once we’d picked up some of their pies, but were very kindly offered a lift across by Noel Radford, potentially the busiest dad in the country!

Radford's Pie Reviews

For those who don’t know, the Radford family featured on Channel 4’s 15, 16, 17, 18 and “19 kids and counting” and are – as you might have guessed – the largest family in the UK! Oh, and further congratulations are in order - they recently announced on Facebook they are expecting child number 20! With so many mouths to feed, it’s a good job the family run a pie company out of the local bakery they own!

With over 15 years of pie baking in the bank and plenty of demand for their home delivery service of those pies, it’s great to see a family run business doing well and expanding their delivery options and we wish them continued success in this! However we were glad to get our hands on the pies in person and to have a chat with owner Noel about the life of pie! He’d kindly brought an (already reviewed) hot meat and potato pie with him – which Sam and I shared – and a few cold pies to take home and rate. Here goes:

All the pies were once again made with shortcrust pastry, with a crisp lid and pastry sides that held the content in well. This was particularly evident when seeing how well filled the pies were, as the pies are crammed to capacity with meat! They are £3.05 for a 280g, which is pretty reasonable (though if you get the right deal online, you can get them a bit cheaper if you buy a box load or even get a 3 month pie subscription!) They come in the classic foil case with crimped top edges, familiar to a lot of (particularly Northern) pies.

As you can see from the photos below, they cut well and didn’t collapse like a lot of pies can do. The cross-section really highlights the packed content and the golden lids to the pies. And as mentioned in our previous review, the local ingredients, from butchers and vegetable sellers near to the bakery, also adds to the appeal of these pies.


Here are the individual flavours:

Steak and Stilton (L) and Chicken and Gammon (R)

Steak and Stilton Pie

Large chunky pieces of steak and a nice cheesy flavour meant this pie delivered! The meat was very nice and packed out the pie content, with a very meaty 45% beef steak. The gravy was quite a nice thickness, making it quite moist to contrast with the quite crisp outer pastry and the stilton cheese was flavoursome without being over powering. Overall, my favourite of the Radford’s range that I’ve tried so far! Pierate Recommended.

Score: 5.89/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6.5, Consistency 5.25, Condition 5.75, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 5.75, Content 6.5]

Free Range Chicken and Gammon Pie

With this pie consisting of 38% chicken breast and 10% ham, this pie certainly wasn’t lacking in meat and eclipses the meat content in the chicken pie we rated last time! It was a very enjoyable pie, with my only suggestion that the pieces of ham and chicken were quite chunky and thus (specifically the ham) not quite as succulent as it could have been if perhaps in slightly more small pieces. However that said you could really taste the ham – unlike in some chicken and ham/gammon pies where just a token bit of ham is included – plus the sauce was good, adding a nice blend to the flavour. As can be seen from the photo above, the capacity is top notch and good content means this pie scores very well. Pierate Recommended!

Score: 5.82/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6.5, Consistency 5.25, Condition 5.75, Chewiness 5.25, Cheapness 5.75, Content 6.25]

Radford's Chicken and Mushroom Pie Review

Free Range Chicken and Mushroom Pie

The chicken and mushroom pie contained 38% chicken breast, which packed out the pie quite well but wasn’t quite as meaty as the chicken and gammon pie I’d eaten the previous day. However it was a nice flavour in a creamy sauce, and the mushroom added a bit more texture to the straight chicken pie I had last time. While not quite as high scoring as the chicken and gammon, still a very good pie.

Score: 5.68/7
[Colour 5.75, Capacity 6, Consistency 5.25, Condition 5.75, Chewiness 5.25, Cheapness 5.75, Content 6]



All in all, some very good pies from Radford’s and it’s a luxury to find a fully family run business like this that uses ingredients from local producers in the area. It’s great that they do online delivery of such top pies and I’d certainly suggest you order a batch as they are worthy of Pierate Recommended status!

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