Update 2015 - Sadly the Newman Arms is under new management after having been in the same family for 20 years. They are no longer specialising in pies, the current menu doesn't seem to feature them at all, they are instead focusing on promoting food from the county of Cornwall. Obviously this is a shame given the fact that the pies were so popular.

The Newman Arms - London Pie Review

One problem I have as a professional pie eater is that there is a limit to how much I can partake in my craft at any one time. Unfortunately there are only three meals in a day and once I've had my seven between meal pie snacks I find I just don't have room for more pies. Which is a shame because as you might have gathered if you have ever looked at this blog before my colleagues and I REALLY like pies. Imagine a professional artist, if he wishes he can paint and paint and paint and never stop, there are no barriers between himself and his passion. Some would say this is a completely unfair situation. But never fear, this imbalance in life has been address by the pub The Newman Arms in Fitzrovia, London. They have a whole PIE ROOM upstairs meaning there is always room for more pies.

The pub is a hugely quaint old establishment with a narrow alley running alongside. It was built in 1730 and has been frequented by the likes of George Orwell and Dylan Thomas. The pie room is upstairs and despite my earlier comments there is infact very little room at all. There are only about 5 tables and if you haven't booked you don't stand much chance of getting a table. Much about the room is typical of an old pub but the menu is truly special. Every meal involves pastry (there are suet puddings available but we'll let them off for being a close relative of pies). There are some interesting pies available including a roasted vegetable option and the one I went for Chicken and Broccoli in a pepper sauce.


Of course the most important thing is are the pies any good??? For just under ten British pounds you get a very hearty meal. The pie is a decent size and you get potatoes and three portions of veg included so for London this scores highly on the cheapness front. It is much more fulfilling that The Fitzrovia around the corner. The puff pastry is light, flaky and inflated into a massive dome on top of the pie, it takes a while to cut through it to find the filling. It is almost as if the pastry has swelled under its own pride at being part of such a delicious pie. The pastry has some of the most lovely golden shades of colour I have ever seen on a pie. If the pie room had been around in Dylan Thomas' day I'm sure he would have waxed lyrical about how it reminded him of a Welsh sunrise.... or something or other.

The content was top notch, I wouldn't have thought pepper sauce instead of traditional gravy would work but it really did. The capacity was bigger than your average pub pie and it was presumably filled with some of the finest bits of chicken as it was not at all chewy. The only downside, if you're being a purest, is that these were "top-crust" pies and lack pastry around the sides. It is surprising to see such an establishment not sticking to the strictest definition of what makes a pie a pie. However with the excitement of being in a pie room I barely noticed and this by no means reduced my enjoyment. So in summary this is unique, there are just not enough dedicated pie restaurants and it is no surprise to see it score highly. If you're ever visiting London you might be busy but please make some pie room in your schedule for a visit to The Newman Arms.

Newman Arms Chicken and Broccoli in a pepper sauce Pie
Score: 6.0/7
SJL

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After a hard morning at work, what better way to unwind than with a cheeky lunchtime pie?! For as it says on the menu – “Pie not?” Heading into the local Scream pub, the “Pies! Pies! Pies! Pies!” slogan on the bar gave me a welcome boost on my lunch break from work (yes, sadly even the top Pierateers have to work hard for their dollar dollar to fund their enormous pie consumption). And there was certainly no lack of pies on the pub menu – 4 to be precise including an intriguing Chicken and Limerick Ham Pie which I went for. (There was also a Butternut Squash Pie on the menu which wouldn’t really float my boat but certainly provides a random alternative for the veggie pie lovers out there!) And with curly fries on the side, I certainly wasn’t gonna hold back!

So to the pie! The pie came served with a layer of beef gravy on top of the pie and the accompanying curly fries and peas...which I have to say has become a staple of recent Chicken Pie purchases for me. While it certainly re-raised the debate of ‘does beef gravy really go best with a white wine pie sauce?’ personally it didn’t ruin the pie for me. I do think if there’s a nice white wine sauce in the pie then it doesn’t need the dinner to be caked in beef gravy too (and the lads who know me well will know that I love a little bit of dinner with my gravy!) Anyhow... the pie was made with short crust pastry and the lid of the pie was particularly crisp and tasty, even if the base was slightly less tasty and probably on the ‘too thick’ side. But certainly the content was very good – particularly the chicken pieces but the ham was good too (even if you did need a microscope to see the pieces of ham!). Not sure what the ‘Limerick’ part of the ham was all about though! And the leek in there was a little OTT for my liking but complemented the meal in proportion. One thing’s for certain – you wouldn’t be screaming like a baby after downing a pie from your local Scream Pub! Here’s hoping the pies continue to be a staple of their menu, so we’ve got something to continue screaming about here at Pierate!

So in summary – while the “Scream Burger” has become a bit of an institution of the Scream chain of pubs, here’s hoping that the “Scream Pies” become a bit of a fans favourite as well!

Score: 4.2/7

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The end of the year brings time for reflection. It seems that 2010 was a good year for pies, it is well documented that pie sales have been increasing and we here at pierate.co.uk have eaten a fair few ourselves. But that isn't going to stop me making a new year's resolution to eat more pies. Some might question whether this is sheer lunacy, I must have eaten hundreds this year will there be a risk of a pie overdose? I would say to those people not to worry, this is perfectly safe, I am a trained professional in pie eating. I will have a healthcare expert on standby and I have been preparing myself mentally for the challenge. There is a plate of salad in the fridge in case of emergency but I doubt I will be needing it.

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Belgium Apple Pie Review

A recent trip on the Eurostar left me pining for pies in Belgium, so I’m sure you will join me in being delighted to find that Apple Pie with or without ice cream is available in Brugges for pie lovers on the continent. While there was a lack of savoury pies in the establishments visited in Belgium, the Apple Pie was a great addition to the puddings menu. You could find the Apple Pie just a stone’s throw away from Brugges Train Station in the Brasserie Tuf Tuf, which is also cleverly located near the winter attraction of the Snow and Ice Sculpture Festival just to bring in even more pie-loving punters!

So what does the “Warme Appeltaart met Ijs” taste like - I hear you cry! Well the pastry isn’t firm all the way round the pie, just on the bottom and side of the pudding, which is a first concern when you see that the French menu mentions “tart” rather than “pie” straight out. What’s good to see is that it is classified as a “pie” on the English translation, and although there is a lattice design on top it is still reasonably solid between the nice saucy apple filling. The layer of sugar on top cheekily hides the lattice pastry topping, but it is definitely not your normal solid pastry pie lid. However it does do the same job at the end of the day, and keeps the filling inside the pie well enough. Mixed with the lovely ice cream, the pie does however go down a real treat.



While there may be some debate over the tart/pie consistency of the pudding, I certainly enjoyed it as the Apple Pie it clearly states on the menu. It may not be as crisp a pastry coating as we would expect in Britain, but still well worth going for a visit next time you pop over to Brugges!

Brasserie Tuf Tuf "Warme Appeltaart" (Apple Pie)
Score: 4.3/7
RAS

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We love a good Battle of the Pies here at The Pierate Ship, so I have pitched two heavyweight contenders against each other in the December 2010 Homemade Pie Challenge.

First up is the homemade Steak and Ale pie, made by housemate A.










This really is a stormingly good pie. The meat is succulent with absolutely no chewiness - pure melt in the mouth texture. The gravy is light and the vegetables within are fluffy and flavoursome. A really top pie.


Next up is the homemade Apple Pie, made by housemate B.













It's packed to the rafters with juicy chunks of apple, and the golden pastry is flaking off beautifully. It is an absolute appley delight.

The Battle really has reached fever pitch here, with two such strong contenders in opposite corners. Which will win, the sweet or savoury?

I can't decide. It's not fair to make a man choose between his pies. I think a rematch may be necessary?

Many thanks to both Housemates A and B for cooking such delightful pies, without even being asked!

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The Fitzrovia Pub London, Pie Review

As a product that has been around for hundreds of years you might think there are no original ways to sell a pie. That's why it was good to see that The Fitzrovia pub in London are really thinking outside the pastry. Having recently come under the Taylor Walker brand name they have launched a new menu including something called a Mini Pie Platter. This novel concept includes 4 mini pies and is an easy way of getting towards your weekly allowance of five pies as recommended by us here at Pierate. The pies included are steak & kidney, steak & ale, chicken & mushroom and shepherd’s pie served with mashed potatoes, mushy peas and gravy.

The price was far from tiny however, this collection of petite pies will set you back a giant £10.49, so not a winner on the cheapness front, even in London. Continuing with the bad news there were no peas (I had forgotten they were advertised) and two of the pies were chicken and mushroom and the steak and kidney was notable for its absence. Upon being served with this I didn't really feel it looked like a meal. It arrived on a piece of wood with a bowl of mash and I wasn't quite sure how I was actually supposed to eat it. I mean where are you supposed to pour the gravy?! I poured the gravy on the mash and ripped bits of pie off and dipped it in. It really made me appreciate how good an invention the plate actually is.

The good news now and you'll be pleased to know the pies were in fact pretty good. The short crust pastry didn't come up short for these not even pint-sized pies. It gave them the classic golden brown colour which is a very desirable asset amongst gourmet pies these days. The content was maxed out in all these pies with quality meat which was pretty much a necessity give the cramped capacity. These minute morsels boasted a solid, unsoggy pastry, just a bit crumbley and not at all chewy. The cottage pie was tasty and all the better for the pastry around the edge but with its mash potato lid was it really a pie? A debate for another day!

They say good things come in small packages which seems appropriate in this situation, it was good. Not great, just good. However hats off to Taylor Walker for trying something new, it was a mini adventure.


Score: 4.4/7

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A large sized pie offers greater value than a smaller sized pie, but I have often been deterred from capitalising on this economic proposition simply because I'm not sure I could manage to eat the whole thing. But I have finally manned up! And I am pleased to announce that I did indeed manage to eat the whole pie (though not in one sitting, I had to reheat some of it in the microwave later). In future, I will not be so hasty in declining a family-sized pie if I can see it makes clear economic sense. I would urge you to do the same.

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If you cast your mind back to the golden days of 1898. I'm sure we all visited Uruguay that year, and probably passed through a little unassuming town called Fray Bentos. You almost certainly didn't know it at the time, but the very next year Fray Bentos was going to get shot to fame thanks to the production of corned beef there by a company called Anglo. From here, the company of Fray Bentos was developed, diversifying into tinned soups, tinned fruit, and eventually tinned pies. Big business in the UK in the 70s and 80s, Fray Bentos tinned pies have somewhat fallen out of fashion in recent days thanks to the advent of many affordable fresh non-tinned pies on the market. However, they are still stocked by supermarkets; and when they're on offer, a Pierateer can't turn down the opportunity to trial one!

I've got my can opener ready. It is a little odd feeling to be using a tin opener to be opening a pie, but let's just roll with it and see what happens. I fully encircle the tin, fold the lid back and...






Well initially it certainly doesn't look very appetising, that's for sure. Although I'm surprised that I'm surprised at its appearance, if you understand what I mean. I wasn't sure what sort of condition I was expecting this pie to arrive in - clearly I wasn't expecting it to be cooked and puffy - but both the anaemic, fatty looking colour, and the way the pastry peeled off the surface and stuck to the lid, was a little repulsive in my opinion. But hey, this is what I should have expected, given that the puff pastry was still raw. So I must continue, and follow the instructions on the back of the tin...

Pie in oven...








Pie out of oven. It's risen nicely, and is engaging in some beautiful orange and brown sunset tones. The surface of the pie is mountaineous and ravaged by crevasses. Is this a sign that I left it in the oven for too long? Probably. But oh well. The proof of quality is in the eating of the pie.




I wasn't sure of the protocol of eating this tinned pie. I checked the instructions, and it is still unclear as to whether I eat the pie in the tin, or whether I dish it out onto the plate. I opt for the plate option, since this will provide me with a better photo opportunity of the content. And the content is a bit unpleasant actually, if I'm honest. I'm not really sure what's going on beneath that pastry (which is actually very applaudable, especially the gooey "secondary layer" beneath the main puffy bulk). I try some of the filling. The steak has, in my view, a chewy texture consistent with the fact that it's a pie in a tin. Which brings me on to my next point. Why pie in a tin? What is the point? I certainly appreciate that some people do savour the taste, but this pie is no more economical than your average fresh pie, and in my opinion certainly not as nice. In fact, the single tinned pies when they're not on offer are more expensive. Sure, they have a shelf life of infinity (my pie would last until the latter half of 2012) which means they're good for the cupboards...but when might you need such an "emergency pie"? Normal pies last a decent amount of time in the fridge anyway, so it's easy to have one to hand that way. I'm sure you can think of many fanciful situations when a non-refrigeratable pie would be necessary, but in our day to day lives, I will just be sticking for the cold section of my supermarket.

And the rest of this pie review? Well, after I'd finished the gooey secondary layer and picked a bit at the meat, I just wasn't that hungry any more...

Score: 3.8/7

(NOTE: This score includes a boost because of the fact that Fray Bentos allows the consumer to always have a pie to hand when climbing a mountain [although where's the oven?] or during a nuclear fallout).

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If you have ever wondered what a Scotch Pie actually is, then you may be interested to read this post. We also have a more detailed description of what a Scotch Pie is and where you can find the best ones.

A Scotch pie is believed to originate from Scotland and is a small pie that contains just minced meat. They are fully encased in pastry and have a tight encasement, meaning their capacity is strong. They are made with hot water pastry which makes the pastry more solid. In Scotland you can obtain these for as little as £1 or less, which goes someway to explaining why Scotch pies are such a success story and are being eaten around the World!


I particularly liked the crustiness of the pastry, and the slightly spicy character of the meat. However, I felt the density of the pie detracted somewhat from its overall enjoyable factor - in fact, towards the end of the second pie I felt it was becoming more of a struggle and less of a pleasure. But in any case, it would be unfair to let this trivial negative point overshadow what was otherwise an excellent first experience eating a Scotch pie. I would not hesistate to have one again (although maybe not two in one go).

Scotch pies we've eaten and rated include a 5.96/7 rated Scotch Pie brought down from west Scotland and sold in London at Piebury Corner.

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Imagine this scenario: you're soaking up the sun on the longest pier in the world at 1.34 miles in Southend-on-Sea and you suddenly fancy a pie. Well, you'd be in luck. Simply head back to the mainland and head over the Rose Restaurant on the seafront. For a fiver and a bit of loose change (if you haven't already spent that on the 2p machines!) you can grab a pie and vegetables with gravy!

This dish could be seen as a cheaper cousin to Dino's, given the similarities with the 3 vegetables, pie and gravy. However, unlike at Dino's, both the carrots and the peas were not dissimilar to the tinned variety.

Let's not get carried away with the vegetables though, we're here to review the pies. And what a pie! This quarter pie packed all the required punches for one to munch on a lunch that oozed not only meatylicious gravy but also quality.

Recommended.

Score: 5/7

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One of the main reasons you would want to go to a museum is to find out more about the rich history of pie making in many ancient and modern civilizations across the world...but the second main reason would be to visit their canteen and have a pie yourself. So, weary laden from having already walked round a number of floors in Liverpool’s World Museum (which is highly recommended if you’ve got a few hours to spend in Liverpool having just been at the Ward’s great wedding in Birkenhead), it was an obvious choice to stop off at the canteen and check the produce on offer. And on the day’s menu was a lovely steak pie, with chips and carrots.

So I guess the first thing to say was that this pie probably emulated from the late morning oven baking session that was widespread across the Liverpool museum canteen, during a dramatic ‘era’ in food production (most commonly known as “lunchtime”). James and I decided to hit the food stall and I was delighted to see a very meaty-licious looking Steak pie on the specials for that day. So with food ordered I tucked in. And there was certainly nothing fishy about the pie I ate. In fact, there was no prehistoric gone-off meat from the time of the dinosaurs or any need to send my dinner into space.


The pie itself was rich in big chunks of steak, well cooked and which went down a treat. The mix of meat to pastry was pretty good (considering it was a slice of pie, and therefore lacking a surrounding of pastry on all sides) and the gravy was good too. The only downside for this reviewer was the large pieces of onion in it, but hey, you can’t please everyone! The chips were fine, though not out of this world, and the carrots were nice too. All in all, a nice meal for a slightly expensive price (but hey, the museum was free to look round) and well worth a stop at while exploring the rest of the exhibits.

Score: 5/7

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With all the thought and fore planning put into any wedding, you want to know that the wedding reception venue will sort out the food and remove any food-related worries from the to-do list come the big day. So what better to know than that the lovely wedding venue of Birmingham Botanical Gardens had apple pie and custard on the menu, which would surely go down a treat! For the last thing you’d want when the wedding bells were ringing would be the alarm bells ringing too, over whether the dessert would be top notch or not! The wedding cake was certainly in tiers, but the guests wouldn’t have been over the quality of pudding (unless the great taste overwhelmed them with emotion!) My only criticism would be, why bother having cheesecake as an alternative?!

So may I start by congratulating the new Mr and Mrs Rogers not only on their marriage (most importantly) but on their dessert choice (second most important thing). So...onto the reviewing!



As you can see, the pie slice was lavishly topped with lovely runny custard which really brought out the tasty apple chunks and complemented the crisp shortbread pastry encasing the pie contents. The pie was a good mix of apple chunks and apple-y flavouring and was in great proportion to the pastry, making it one of the best dessert pies I’ve ever eaten (and believe me, I’ve not held back on my apple pies!) Well worth eating there again...maybe I’ll have to consider it as a wedding venue if I’m ever fortunate enough to need one!

Score: 6/7

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