Yeovil Town FC/Penny Lane - Chicken Curry Pie Review

Please note: When writing this article I believed that the pie I was reviewing was made by Wrights but Yeovil have told me they have a number of different pie suppliers (just to confuse us!) including Wrights, Pukka and some homemade pies. However, on this occasion the pie was made by a Somerset company called Penny Lane. This explains why it was different to the other Wrights pies we have previously reviewed.

Yeovil Town's calamitous plummet from the Championship to League Two provided a new club to add to our Football Pie League when we visited Huish Park on Tuesday. An enjoyable game saw Wycombe grab the 0-1 win. Whilst it was a decent performance from Wycombe, Yeovil offered very little and now sit bottom of League Two. Could a third successive relegation be on the cards? Certainly the heady Championship days seem a long time ago now with an attendance of only 2,963 for the match against Wycombe. Arriving at Huish Park it was hard to believe it was ever a Championship ground, it is only 9,565 capacity and one of the terraces is completely open to the elements. I believe this is traditionally where they put away fans but I was quite glad that we were sitting down undercover in a corner of the Screwfix stand.

The stand that we were in did seem fairly modern with decent enough facilities, but did this bode well for their ability to cook a pie properly? This being the South West I had feared that pasties might dominate but there was a healthy choice of 3 pies; Steak & Kidney, Chicken & Mushroom and Chicken Curry. There was no indication what company might make them but after some consultation the staff and myself concluded that they must be Wrights Pies as that was on the packaging of the Steak & Kidney pie. Those of you who know your football pies will know that Wrights are quite common at football grounds. We have previously reviewed their football pies at Cambridge, Northampton and Wolves as well as a review of their shop bought Chicken & Mushroom. Recently I have noticed them spreading further from their base in Stoke (I have recently spotted them in my local shops around Gloucester) so it seems there are growing their Em-pie-re.


Previously they have been solid but not outstanding performers and so it was again today. I opted for the Chicken Curry, I thought it was going to be the same as I had reviewed at Cambridge but was pleased to note that it was subtly different, that one having been Chicken Balti. This option had a filling more similar to chip shop curry sauce (a bit similar to the Peter's version). It wasn't particularly spicy, I found it a little boring but it was pleasant enough. It was very salty (too much so) but also slightly sweet in places. There were some small pieces of a red vegetable which I guess was chili. The chicken was in small chunks but was pleasant enough.

The pastry was soft and stodgy but fairly tasty. It was unbelievably greasy though, the underside of the pie was almost dripping in grease, perhaps the most greasy pie I have ever eaten which is saying something! The most positive aspect of this pie was that it was well cooked, we often complain about badly cooked or dried out football pies, but this was cooked through and piping hot. In fact it was really too hot, I was so hungry, it was burning me. It wasn't just burning my mouth because this pie was disintegrating as quickly as I was eating it, there was no structural integrity at all which is really not what you was when trying to eat it with your hands. At £3.20 it was on the more expensive side for League Two but it is good enough that I would have another on my next visit to Yeovil Town.

Chicken Curry (Yeovil Town/Penny Lane)
4.23/7
[Colour 4.0, Condition 4.5, Cheapness 3.0, Capacity 5.5, Chewiness 4.6, Content 4.0, Consistency 4.0]

SJL



P.P.S. Sorry about the title of this post, I think it is my worst attempt at a pun in a long time, but I couldn't think of anything better!