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Showing posts with label suffolk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suffolk. Show all posts
Thursday, 31 October 2013
Pie Way On The Highway
Farmcafe and Foodmarket - Steak and Red Wine Pie Review
With so many great pies available I haven’t had to go too far out of my way to find candidates in my search for the best pies in Suffolk. That is certainly the case with Farmcafe & Foodmarket near Marlsford. It is right beside the A12 which is the main road in these parts and I had driven past many times. It is a bit like a glamorous service station. I had even stopped there before but, unaware they sold pies, I regrettably had some soup instead. Fortunately, we were alerted via Twitter that they had a formidable selection of pies so the next time I went in I was sure not to just get soup!
The cafe itself does have pies available to eat in but I opted to go into the foodmarket and get a pie to take home. It was a nice little shop and I was pleased to see they were committed to local produce. The pie selection was quite impressive with three different sizes and a range of flavours to choose from. I opted for the Steak & Red Wine individual pie at £4.40. For an individual pie this was quite a high price, I think the highest I have paid. The Selfridges pies I purchased recently only cost £3.99 and £3.49. However, it was certainly worth paying a premium for this pie as it was clearly a premium product. The capacity was relatively big because the pie had a fantastic height to width ratio. You can see from the picture that this pie was small but mighty, it was as if they had packed a whole steak in there. The slow cooked steak was absolutely melt in the mouth and full of flavour. The red wine added a delicious fruityness to the filling. The shortcrust pastry was soft but with a bit of crunch, my preferred texture. There was just a slight hint of doughyness to the pastry. There wasn’t a lot of gravy in the pie, I normally like to have enough so that it oozes out slightly. In this case it wasn’t much of a problem as there was not a hint of dryness.
In terms of looks it managed to obtain a perfect golden brown colour. The ‘S’ in the centre is a nice touch also used by others such as Paul’s Pies. In fact the Farmcafe pie did appear to look just like a squashed version of Paul’s Steak & Guinness! Hopefully I have managed to express that I really enjoyed eating this pie. I was left wanting more, partly because it wasn’t the biggest pie and partly just because it was so good! Unfortunately, it does lose some points on the ‘Cheapness’ category. At £4.40 for what was quite a small pie it is something I would buy again, but not very often which is reflected in a score which is high enough to put it into the top three of our Suffolk pie rankings.
Steak and Red Wine (Farmcafe and Foodmarket, IP13 0AG)
5.77/7
SJL
continue reading "Pie Way On The Highway"
With so many great pies available I haven’t had to go too far out of my way to find candidates in my search for the best pies in Suffolk. That is certainly the case with Farmcafe & Foodmarket near Marlsford. It is right beside the A12 which is the main road in these parts and I had driven past many times. It is a bit like a glamorous service station. I had even stopped there before but, unaware they sold pies, I regrettably had some soup instead. Fortunately, we were alerted via Twitter that they had a formidable selection of pies so the next time I went in I was sure not to just get soup!
The cafe itself does have pies available to eat in but I opted to go into the foodmarket and get a pie to take home. It was a nice little shop and I was pleased to see they were committed to local produce. The pie selection was quite impressive with three different sizes and a range of flavours to choose from. I opted for the Steak & Red Wine individual pie at £4.40. For an individual pie this was quite a high price, I think the highest I have paid. The Selfridges pies I purchased recently only cost £3.99 and £3.49. However, it was certainly worth paying a premium for this pie as it was clearly a premium product. The capacity was relatively big because the pie had a fantastic height to width ratio. You can see from the picture that this pie was small but mighty, it was as if they had packed a whole steak in there. The slow cooked steak was absolutely melt in the mouth and full of flavour. The red wine added a delicious fruityness to the filling. The shortcrust pastry was soft but with a bit of crunch, my preferred texture. There was just a slight hint of doughyness to the pastry. There wasn’t a lot of gravy in the pie, I normally like to have enough so that it oozes out slightly. In this case it wasn’t much of a problem as there was not a hint of dryness.
In terms of looks it managed to obtain a perfect golden brown colour. The ‘S’ in the centre is a nice touch also used by others such as Paul’s Pies. In fact the Farmcafe pie did appear to look just like a squashed version of Paul’s Steak & Guinness! Hopefully I have managed to express that I really enjoyed eating this pie. I was left wanting more, partly because it wasn’t the biggest pie and partly just because it was so good! Unfortunately, it does lose some points on the ‘Cheapness’ category. At £4.40 for what was quite a small pie it is something I would buy again, but not very often which is reflected in a score which is high enough to put it into the top three of our Suffolk pie rankings.
Steak and Red Wine (Farmcafe and Foodmarket, IP13 0AG)
5.77/7
SJL
See where this pie ended up in the Pierate Pie Rankings or find other pies of a similar flavour.
Make sure you Follow @pierateers
and let us know your thoughts!
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Sunday, 13 October 2013
Best Pies In Suffolk
Review of Suffolk's Best Pies
The land of quintessentially English castles and beautiful Constable countryside scenes; Suffolk already has a lot going for it. But did you know it also has some the best pies in the country? This has been recognised by The Pie Kitchen scooping the title of supreme champion at the British Pie Awards 2013. Like The Pie Kitchen, it is good to see that many of the producers are making ‘craft’ pies on a small scale. This means there is a lot of variety. We have scoured this picturesque county for the best pies on offer and our current leaderboard is below. While it is no surprise that The Pie Kitchen come out on top with their offering (which never compromised on quality) there are plenty of other pies which come highly commended. Many of the local butchers and bakers are serving up excellent pies especially C.A. Palmer’s butcher in Halesworth.
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| Constable's Painting of Ye Olde Suffolk Pie Wagon |
Suffolk-ate In Pie Leaderboard
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| The Pie Kitchen are currently best rated in Suffolk |
Pierate is a pie review website searching for 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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Sam's Pie Review
Yoxford Antiques Centre - Apple Pie Review
Home made pie. Those few words will invariably bring a smile to my face and I don’t think I am alone in this. There are some people who will say that a mass produced pie cannot taste the same. Take The Pie Kitchen who we reviewed recently, they refuse to stop making their pies at home in the kitchen because they don’t think they can taste the same. I have been looking for pies to add to our list of the best pies in Suffolk. Hence I was delighted to find a chalk board advertising home made ‘Sam’s Apple Pie’ at the Flying Goose Café which is part of Yoxford Antiques Centre in Suffolk. Why they called it ‘Sam’s Apple Pie’ I have no idea and the sign hooked me in by promising free pie if you could guess the cultural reference in the name. Sadly my knowledge of pie didn’t help me out, I had no clue as to the answer, but I decided that pie was worth paying the £3.00 for.
Upon arrival I could tell this was a home made pie straight away. It arrived in good condition but had a slightly irregular shape. The top of the pie seemed to be supported by the apple underneath. This certainly didn’t detract from the taste. The pastry was soft, crumbly shortcrust, just what I like to see with a sweet pie. The apple was firm which gave the pie a wonderful texture. The apple tasted nice on its own but the additional cinnamon and cloves complemented it nicely, if perhaps the clove taste was boardering on too much. All in all the pie slipped down well as a before lunch snack and it was nice to sit outside amongst the random assortment of antiques, it certainly was different to the usual places I eat pies.
Once I finished the pie I went back inside and asked to take a picture of the whole pie. I then learnt that it had been made by the owner of the antique centre, Mr Goose which explained the name of the café. He was pleased to have his photo taken with the pie and explain the local ingredients he had used in it. I certainly hope he doesn’t get too busy running the centre to make the pies himself. The only feedback I would give is that the shape of this pie was somewhat unusual. While the pie certainly had a clear base and lid, the sides weren’t very well defined and it got worryingly thin towards the edge. However, on this occasion I overlooked it (as I hadn’t even realised when eating the pie). My complements go to Mr Goose who proved that you can find great pies in completely unexpected places! Keep your eyes out for pies!
Sam’s Apple Pie (Yoxford Antique Centre, Suffolk, IP17 3JW)
5.16/7
SJL
continue reading "Sam's Pie Review"
Home made pie. Those few words will invariably bring a smile to my face and I don’t think I am alone in this. There are some people who will say that a mass produced pie cannot taste the same. Take The Pie Kitchen who we reviewed recently, they refuse to stop making their pies at home in the kitchen because they don’t think they can taste the same. I have been looking for pies to add to our list of the best pies in Suffolk. Hence I was delighted to find a chalk board advertising home made ‘Sam’s Apple Pie’ at the Flying Goose Café which is part of Yoxford Antiques Centre in Suffolk. Why they called it ‘Sam’s Apple Pie’ I have no idea and the sign hooked me in by promising free pie if you could guess the cultural reference in the name. Sadly my knowledge of pie didn’t help me out, I had no clue as to the answer, but I decided that pie was worth paying the £3.00 for.
Upon arrival I could tell this was a home made pie straight away. It arrived in good condition but had a slightly irregular shape. The top of the pie seemed to be supported by the apple underneath. This certainly didn’t detract from the taste. The pastry was soft, crumbly shortcrust, just what I like to see with a sweet pie. The apple was firm which gave the pie a wonderful texture. The apple tasted nice on its own but the additional cinnamon and cloves complemented it nicely, if perhaps the clove taste was boardering on too much. All in all the pie slipped down well as a before lunch snack and it was nice to sit outside amongst the random assortment of antiques, it certainly was different to the usual places I eat pies.
Once I finished the pie I went back inside and asked to take a picture of the whole pie. I then learnt that it had been made by the owner of the antique centre, Mr Goose which explained the name of the café. He was pleased to have his photo taken with the pie and explain the local ingredients he had used in it. I certainly hope he doesn’t get too busy running the centre to make the pies himself. The only feedback I would give is that the shape of this pie was somewhat unusual. While the pie certainly had a clear base and lid, the sides weren’t very well defined and it got worryingly thin towards the edge. However, on this occasion I overlooked it (as I hadn’t even realised when eating the pie). My complements go to Mr Goose who proved that you can find great pies in completely unexpected places! Keep your eyes out for pies!
Sam’s Apple Pie (Yoxford Antique Centre, Suffolk, IP17 3JW)
5.16/7
SJL
See where this pie ended up in the our Suffolk Pie Leaderboard and our overall Pie Rankings.
Make sure you Follow @pierateers
and let us know your thoughts!
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