Fuller’s can take the pies out of Melton Mowbray...

Pie Reviews from the Melton Mowbray Pub in Holborn, part of the Fuller's Ale and Pie House chain

They say you can take the pies out of Melton Mowbray but you can’t take Melton Mowbray out of the pie. Or come to think of it, perhaps they don’t say that and we just completely made that up... Anyways, the important thing to clarify here was that these pies were eaten in the Melton Mowbray pub, which is actually a pub in... well, London. But their “house pie” (the Dickinson & Morris Pork Pie) was brought down from Melton Mowbray, as all top pork pies should be! In any case, with another Fuller’s Ale and Pie House on the horizon, two of the Pierateers – TJP and RAS – honed in on the Melton Mowbray pub in Holborn, central London for another pie. And intriguingly, the pies on offer were all different to any of the other Fuller’s Ale and Pie Houses they had been to (bar the classic “Steak and Fuller’s Ale” pie, which you would expect at every Fuller’s establishment). And with such a variety of new pies on offer, the talk immediately turned to the Pie Tasting Board. With 5 pies – four new pies and a Dickinson & Morris Pork Pie to follow – the Pierateers were in for a busy evening!



Melton Mowbray Pie Platter

The Steak and Fuller’s Ale pie contained very tender pieces of steak, with some delicious nuggets of steak-ness in nice gravy. While the Fuller’s Ale flavouring to the gravy could have been a bit more apparent and a couple of pieces of steak were a bit well-done and therefore dry, the overall flavour of this pie was very good. It was certainly better than the Steak and Fuller’s Ale pie eaten in the Mad Hatter pub previously. The capacity was very strong for such a small pie and the meatilicious filling made it the top rated new pie of the evening.

While the Ham and Leek pie was slightly less packed with meat than its steak neighbour, the capacity of ham and leek goodness was apparent when cutting into this pie (despite the size). It was an interesting choice, as there had been few pies eaten by the Pierateers where ham played the leading role. While often second fiddle to chicken in a joint pie, the ham was very good quality and the white wine cream sauce complemented the ham and leek well. The main detractor from this pie was a rather overly strong hint of mustard seed throughout this pie, which particularly for such a small pie was slightly too much.

After finally getting our hands on a Somerset Brie and Sweet Potato pie, we were intrigued as to what it would taste like. Cutting through the pie, there was quite a potent aroma which could be pinned down to the Somerset Brie. Within the pie, there were some large pieces of Sweet Potato which made the capacity of the pie particularly impressive. The Brie was primarily within the cheesy sauce which encapsulated the sweet potato, though there was a small piece in the corner of the pie which was quite strong. The sweet potato was quite nice, soft and not at all mushy. The flavour idea seemed good and it was an interesting change to the standard vegetarian pies on offer in pubs, however the flavour quickly became rather overpowering and while a small pie was acceptable, it was imagined that a full sized pie would be rather sickening.

Overall, it was a good selection of pies at the Melton Mowbray pub, which expand the variety of pies offered by the Fuller’s Ale and Pie House chain but the quality and quantity could be slightly improved on to be one of the top rated pies we’ve eaten.

Posted by The Pierateers at 20:30

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Labels: brie, chicken, Fullers, ham, leek, steak, steak and ale, sweet potato, vegetarian