The Botanist Birmingham Chicken and Chorizo Pie Review

Laura and the pies!

It’s now just over a year since The Botanist opened their doors in Birmingham, immediately becoming one of the better pie producers in the heart of Birmingham with a range of pies available on their menu. So when I was invited recently to go back and rate one of their other pies – the chicken and chorizo pie, which I’d had my eye on in the past – I certainly wasn’t going to say no!

I’d been told the pies had been improved since my visits to rate the Steak and Lamb Hotpot pies last year, so I eagerly awaited my visit! On top of that I’d arranged to meet up with award winning Birmingham blogger Laura from Full to the Brum (yep, she loves food puns as much as we do!) as it was British Pie Week and because, well, pie not?! Fans of her blog will know Laura enjoys a good pie too, and has put us to shame by doing her review on what she thought of the pie (having had the same one as me) a few weeks ago! There were some very positive comments in her review, even if she did chicken out a bit by not giving a pie rating! (This in spite of me taking a full “Pierateer in Training” pack with me!!!) No such worries here though – this is what we thought of The Botanist’s Chicken and Chorizo pie:

Hope Laura @FulltotheBrum forgives me for being a few minutes late when she sees her #PierateerInTraining pack! pic.twitter.com/umDuhmHNgv

— Pierate (@pierateers) March 8, 2016

As previously mentioned I had already tried the Lamb Hotpot pie back when The Botanist had only recently opened, which sadly fell down on our criteria as it was a mash-topped “pie” with pastry sides and base. However I had a much more enjoyable and filling ex-pie-rience in the form of a fully encased Steak and Stout pie the last time I went, which scored 4.5/7. There was however some room for improvement still and I’m delighted to say that The Botanist has delivered on a number of our recommendations.



Botanist Chicken Chorizo Pie Review

The clearest improvement was that of the packed capacity and content, which was far better filled and more enjoyable in this Chicken and Chorizo pie. There could have been a little more chicken, but overall this scored a lot better in this new pie. In fact, the scores had improved in nearly every one of our 7 Cs of pie rating, even if it must be remembered this is a different flavour pie filling.

Botanist Chicken Chorizo Pie cross-section

The colour was improved too, a lot more golden on the top and sides even if a little too crisp in places, and while the filling was a slightly shocking bright orange, this was understandable due to the flavours involved! The oozy orange sauce complemented the big chunks of chicken and chorizo (in fact, it was unusual to get such big pieces of chorizo in a pie, as normally they are tiny or even undetectable in pies I’ve rated before!), even if this did mean the larger pieces of chorizo were a bit chewy! However this is expected of the meat, so I can’t really fault it for this!

The condition was pretty good, again well-presented and golden, crisp and well made. The flavours were good – chicken and chorizo is a classic combo! And for £10.95 this meal is quite reasonable for a city centre meal, even if there are a few slightly cheaper options out there. I’d happily recommend it and look forward to trying the other pies on their menu too!

The Botanist Birmingham Chicken and Chorizo Pie
Score: 5.5/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6, Consistency 5, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 5, Content 6]

RAS

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Unfortunately it appears Sainsbury's are mis-labelling a tart as a pie on their "Homemade" website.

DROP EVERYTHING! Breakfast pies exist and we've got a recipe right here. #LifeMade https://t.co/zoTDft6UcG pic.twitter.com/WDcK9cpzjL

— Sainsbury's (@sainsburys) April 20, 2016

Despite the recipe on the website even saying "score a border into each tart roughly 2mm deep" they STILL have called this pastry product a "breakfast pie" - despite the fact that there is no "filling", because you can see all of the food items layered on top of the pastry rectangle! And don't even get me started on the lack of lid! Cue the...

Open letter to Sainsbury's

I have to admit it takes a lot to shock us aboard the Pierate Ship these days. Pies - our passion and dedication for over six and a half years now - have a tough press. People often mis-label many things as pies - the shepherds pie (which should be a shepherds potato bake), pumpkin pie (which is really a tart), even whole pizzas are called pies in America!

And yet in all my days of pie rating for the web's leading pie reviewing website (www.pierate.co.uk) - which it might be worth pointing out is the number one hit when you Google "Sainsbury's pie review" - and in fact in the 23+ years beforehand growing up, I have NEVER... EVER... seen a full English breakfast on top of a piece of pastry called a pie!

The offending Sainsbury's Breakfast Tart

May I just take this opportunity to remind you that we run www.pierate.co.uk and not "ratemytart" or any such thing. We have a readership of over 12,000 readers a month at present and have almost reached 500,000 views, and they want to read our PIE reviews, not tart reviews. And when they visit your "homemade" website for recipe ideas, they don't want to get all excited reading about a breakfast pie, only to find out it actually is a tart after all. Sure, to some of your customers the mis-labelling of a tart as a pie won't even generate the batting of an eyelid. And many people will see the photo on the website and just laugh at how Sainsbury's don't even appear to know what a pie is!!! But I am sure you will understand that we want to promote pies as much as we can and a tart is NOT a pie!!!

To help you out here, our Pierate Pie Dictionary clearly states what a true pie actually is:- filling fully encased in pastry with clearly defined base, sides and lid. A tart does not meet these stringent criteria and I'm shocked that in the recipe itself you even refer to it being a tart, only to later call the product a pie!!! Even the British Pie Awards - who have a far more liberal definition of a pie than us and even let a blooming pasty win their top award in 2016(?!) - would not consider a tart to be a pie!

As I bring this letter to a conclusion, I hope this has been useful to explain the issues surrounding the mis-labelling of food (we only need to mention "Horsemeat" from a few years ago to kick that off again) and will lead to a correction on your website to avoid future dissapointment/outrage. I am happy to speak to you further if you wish to - just email pierateship@yahoo.co.uk to arrange this.

Yours in pie,

Pierateer RAS

You'll be pleased to know that we would never rate a tart on our website - and that there are in fact very highly rated actual proper fully encased "Full English Breakfast" Pies available from producers such as:

Simple Simon's Perfect Pies - 6.07/7
Dee's Pies - 5.79/7
The Real Pie Company - Eaten and to be rated shortly and available in their range soon!
MyPie London - Still to get our hands on one of these but previous MyPie's have been awesome!

It therefore begs the question why would you call a tart a pie, unless you are just trying to get the pie-blicity by jumping on the pie bandwagon?! We, for one, aren't impressed.

In fact, we're pie-irate!

RAS

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One of the things we really enjoy on the Pierate Ship is meeting the guys and girls up and down the land who make the pies that we really enjoy eating. As such we’ve created a “Meet the Pie-ducer” series of interviews, where we lift the lid on those who are looking to piefect their trade…

“Baked today, sold today” is just one of the mottos Stephen recounts to me as we both tuck into a World Scotch Pie Champion winning pie on a sunny Thursday afternoon in British Pie Week 2016. And it’s the dedication of Stephen, his wife Rona and his wonderful 83-strong team of bakers, shop assistants and other employees that is clearly evident as we chat. Stephen has been the owner of The Kandy Bar Bakery since 1991 and despite it being just the past few years that they have really shone in the limelight with their 3 big wins at the Scotch Pie Club Awards (overall winners in 2014 and 2016, plus best football pie in 2015), he is adamant the team of workers have been doing a great job for years.

And who can deny him that, with numerous gold, silver and bronze awards over the years before their big triumphs the past few years! I asked what the title win at the Scotch Pie Club Awards, for the second time in three years, meant to him. He quickly corrected me as to what it meant for “Team Kandy Bar” – each and every one of their employees a key asset to their continued success – by responding “It’s a fantastic feeling for the whole team.”

And without wanting to exaggerate, I think it’s safe to say the double win at the Scotch Pie Club Awards has firmly put Saltcoats on the map! Traditionally a small coastal town 40 minutes away from Glasgow popular with tourists, the pie wins have led to a whole host of visitors to the town, particularly wanting to visit and try their winning scotch pie. Pies continue to be a large part of the community there.

The pies available at Kandy Bar Bakery include - alongside the Award winning Scotch pie - the Scotch Onion pie (you guessed it - a scotch pie featuring more onion than the standard version), a haggis pie, macaroni pie and apple pie. We focused on the fully encased pies on offer, rating the Scotch pie, Scotch Onion Pie and Apple pies all as Pierate Highly Recommended (above 6 out of 7), which is a great achievement and sign of true quality across their range. Do check out the review for more details of why they were so good!

On my visit I was delighted to be given a short tour of the bakery facilities, before the all-important taste test! The shells of the scotch pies are something Stephen is particularly proud of, informing me that they are a bit softer than the average scotch pie available which makes them ideal for re-heating at home to whatever crispiness the customer wants. As we all know, the customer is always right! And the Kandy Bar Bakery are able to provide a pie that is firm but soft enough pre-heating to cater for a range of pie crispiness levels, where as other naturally firmer scotch pies cannot provide a softer, less crispy finish to the pastry like the Kandy Bar ones. This is to cater specifically for the Kandy Bar customers, who prefer to take their pie home to cook and eat it, and due to a secret recipe Stephen wasn’t going to share with me, of course, but he said it is the same recipe his father used in the 1960s, which had been passed down to him.

In fact, the history of pies in Stephen’s family goes back much further than the 1960s, with his grandfather having set up a bakery in 1929, before his father decided to set up a sweet shop but one selling scotch pies! The name Kandy Bar – which does admittedly seem a slightly odd name for a bakery! – comes from the sweet shop Stephen’s father used to run and the name stuck despite Stephen reverting back to a more typical bakery offering of bread, patisseries and – most importantly – pies!



Stephen and The Kandy Bar Bakery

And boy does Team Kandy Bar make pies! Around 1,200 a day are made early in the week, with a surge to around 1,600 on a Saturday, though shortly after winning the Scotch Pie World Champion title again in 2016 there was a natural surge of customers from far afield! This is on top of the rugby clubs (Stephen is a keen rugby fan and past player), football clubs, schools and other local facilities Kandy Bar Bakery supplies to, and Stephen even recalled past deliveries to local Church Sunday School classes when he was younger!

It was certainly a long way to go but was great to have visited and met Stephen, his wife Rona and the fabulous “Team Kandy Bar”. I certainly hope to visit again sometime and wish the team all the best in their attempt later this year at the World Scotch Pie Champion hat-trick!

RAS

Rank	Pie Producer	Pie Flavour	Score	By
1	Kandy Bar Bakery	Scotch Pie	6.21	R/S
2	Kandy Bar Bakery	Scotch Onion Pie	6.21	SJL
3	Kandy Bar Bakery	Apple Pie	6.07	R/S

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Weighbridge Inn, Near Nailsworth, Gloucestershire

I am currently working on an article charting where the best pies in Gloucestershire can be found. Given that this has been my adopted home since 2014 it is perhaps surprising that I only recently found out about quite a famous local pub called The Weighbridge Inn. It is surprising because this country pub situationed near Nailsworth specialises in pies. And not just any pies, what the Weighbridge Inn is famous for is their 2 in 1 pies. So much so that their twitter handle is @2in1pie. I can only assume that people travel from miles around to try these pies as it is actually quite tricky to get a table on a Friday or Saturday, booking in advanced in advised.

Steak & Kidney with Cauliflower Cheese 2 in 1 pie

But what is a 2 in 1 pie I hear you cry?! The basic premise is that instead of having your meat pie with vegetables on the side, the veg actually arrives inside the pie with the content being divided in half rather than mixed together. What a great idea, I have long since advocated that anything can be encased in pastry and that actually non-pie food is unnecessary.

The Weighbridge Inn is lovely inside, a classic country pub with some interesting retro decor. They have opted against plastering the walls in kitsch pie related paraphernalia like many other pie pubs. Upon opening the menu there is a choice of quite a few protein pie fillings and and a few different vegetable fillings. I go decided to go for their most popular combination; Steak & Kidney with Cauliflower Cheese. Given that you could mix and match your veg choice with your protein choice, there were a huge number of theoretical possibilities which made me feel I would have to come back even before I had tried the pie! There was also the option to have a 1 in 1 pie if you wished. They did a Gluten Free pastry which was great as it allowed Pierateer ALE to have a pie as well and is quite unusual. She chose the Chicken and Root Vegetable options. In addition you could choose a 'standard' or 'giant' size at £12.20 and £14.80 respectively. Given that I would only be eating pie I thought it would take a large one to fill me up whereas ALE went for the standard. I also felt that given the quite big size difference the large was better value!

View inside the Steak & Kidney side of the 2 in 1 pie

When the pie arrived there was an elephant in the room to address and I am not talking about the colossal size of the pie (which really was giant). Not only was this pie in a dish rather than fully encased in pastry, the half with cauliflower cheese didn't even have a pastry lid! That right, this was only half a top crust pie! This meant that the actually pastry content was oddly low considering this was a pie. Of course, being advocates of a pie being fully encased in pastry I wouldn't really call this a pie. In fact I am at a loss what to call it. But putting that aside for a moment I will let you know my thoughts on this gigantic meal.

The dish was served on a slab of wood and was already overflowing before I attempted to negotiate my way into it with cutlery. It really did look volcanic and an eruption was inevitable. The juices oozed out and made quite a mess although I barely worried about this as all my attention was turned to stuffing my face with food. The large chunks of meat were just what I enjoy in a pie. They were not too chewy but not too soft. There was plenty to get your teeth into which appealed to my carnivorous side. There was a good mix of steak and kidney chunks with neither dominating too much. The meat gravy was tasty although not overly thick, it might have struggle to work had the pie not been in a dish. It was odd because the meat gravy began to mingle with the cauliflower cheese, there was nothing separating the two types of content, unlike when our Ship's Cook went for a multi-stage pie where she went for pastry dividers. The mixing of the fillings wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as we have often found, steak and cheese can work well together in a pie. The cauliflower itself passed me by. It was done well with a good balance of cheese flavour but I always find cauliflower cheese a bit mushy and that was the case here. Next time I would go for one of the other vegetable options but I am sure if you are a fan of cauliflower cheese this would be a good one.

Gluten Free

The pastry itself was quite thick which helped offset the lack of it to some extent. The taste was fine, although a bit floury. There was a slightly spongy texture, perhaps on account of the thickness, but the pastry went well when mixed with the filling

Overall I did enjoy this meal, it was extremely satisfying in more ways than one. I would come back as I enjoyed the ambiance of the pub and I would be interested to try some of the other combinations. The 2 in 1 pie novelty didn't really quite work for me personally. It did look quite spectacular but given that there was so little pastry I don't see how it would be much different if it were to be served on a plate. It would be good to see a fully encased 2 in 1 pie option for those of us who are purists regarding their pie definition and it really needed more pastry. In terms of local competition, we gave a good review to the Farmers Boy Inn who offer both the 'top-crust' dish pie option and fully encased option. The Farmers Boy Inn also have a 2 in 1 dish pie but we haven't tried that. For me the Farmers Boy Inn currently have the edge over The Weighbridge Inn. We also enjoyed similar 2 in 1 dish pies at Mad O' Rouckes in the West Midlands so perhaps this novelty is not as rare as you might think. I haven't given the Weighbridge Inn an official Pierate score as I don't think it is a pie (and doesn't meet our pie definition). But it is worth a visit, I certainly plan to go again so they must be doing something right.

SJL

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The Kandy Bar Bakery Scotch Pie, Scotch Onion Pie and Apple Pie Reviews

Stephen and The Kandy Bar Bakery

There are very few pies that have had the accolades that a certain minced beef offering on the West Coast of Scotland has had. Not only did it win the World Scotch Pie Championship in 2014 but they repeated the feat again in 2016 – while the pie still won “Best Scottish Football Pie” in 2015 when they kindly let someone else have the honour of World Scotch Pie Champ! We are of course talking about the Kandy Bar Bakery Scotch Pie, sold in the family run Kandy Bar Bakery based in Saltcoats on the Scottish west coast.

Shortly after it won the World Scotch Pie Championships in 2014 – which Pierateer Sam was a judge at but in the steak pie category – the Kandy Bar Bakery Scotch pie was added to our “Pierate Pie Hit List” as one we wanted to get our hands on, though being based in southern England it had proved a logistical challenge. However upon hearing they had bagged the top title at the Scotch Pie Club Awards 2016, thus re-affirming their status as the top scotch pie producer for the second time in three years, we knew it was a pie we needed to get rating! Therefore as part of Pierateer Rob’s Pie Pledge for British Pie Week, he made the mammoth 300+ mile journey to the west coast of Scotland to find out what all the fuss was about and get a tour of the bakery by owner Stephen.



The World Scotch Pie Awards Winners Trophy

Having had a look around the bakery – which you’ll find out more about in our “Meet the Pie-ducer” article coming soon – I sat down with Stephen to talk pie and, of course, eat one! I ate one of the award winning Scotch Pies in the shop, with another eaten on the plane journey back to Birmingham – part of my “Pie in the Sky” pie pledge! I then ate another with Pierateer Sam back in Birmingham, alongside the apple pie, while Sam also tried the Scotch Onion Pie a day later. Here’s how the pies rated:

Kandy Bar Bakery Scotch Pie



Kandy Bar Bakery Scotch Pie

We have to kick off with the World Champion Scotch Pie, which was the best Scotch pie Rob had tasted and one of the best Sam had tried. Sam has purveyed a number of Scotch Pie outlets when in Scotland for the Scotch Pie Club Awards a few years back and on holiday in Scotland last year, creating our “What is a Scotch Pie?” article and leader board. He particularly noticed the softer crisp outer shell, which Stephen had already told me in my visit is intentionally softer than most other scotch pie providers. The pastry certainly wasn’t too soft though, with a noticeable crunch through the pastry rim and holding together well as we ate it by hand.

The colour of a scotch pie is generally a lot paler than traditional shortcrust or puff pastry pies, which does naturally bring the colour score down a bit when considering the whole spectrum of pies available but was still very good for a scotch pie. Likewise the content of the pie was very good for a scotch pie, though a minced beef filling - however well-seasoned - will struggle a bit with more illustrious steak fillings! Overall though, these were small criticisms of scotch pies in general, and this was a premium example of Scotch Pies done well!

Having got through the initial pastry layer, it was then that we were confronted with a lovely, juicy and packed flling. A bit of juice oozed out of the pies as we bit into them, which kinda comes with the territory with a scotch pie! To be fair it would be far too dry and taste worse without the bit of fat you get oozing out of a scotch pie! The beef mince was nicely flavoured and not at all bland, leaving a little kick in the mouth as you tucked in. What I hadn’t realised until talking to Stephen is that Scotch pies tend to be far more seasoned on the West coast of Scotland than the East coast, which does explain the range of seasoning found in many of Sam’s range of pie reviews!



Kandy Bar Bakery Scotch Pie cross-section

The filling was very good and capacity was pretty much spot on! Once aware of the juicy filling, which meant the plate I was eating off came in very handy, I thoroughly enjoyed the pie and the minced beef was very good quality. At 86p cold or £1.03 hot (due to the UK VAT laws on hot food) it’s almost rude not to take a box home with you! I was certainly glad to!

The Kandy Bar Bakery Scotch Pie
Score: 6.21/7
[Colour 5.5/7; Consistency 6.25/7; Cheapness 7/7; Chewiness 6.25/7; Condition 6/7; Content 6/7; Capacity 6.5/7]

Kandy Bar Bakery Scotch Onion Pie

Sam also tucked into the Scotch Onion pie. Often shortened to the Onion Pie – as a distinction to the more famed Scotch pie but not to be confused as being just a pie filled with Onion! – the Scotch Onion Pie was naturally very similar to Scotch pie in terms of the pastry quality, crispness and filling capacity, but with the added flavour of the onion. Sam had expected more of a strong onion flavour, it wasn't as oniony as the Simpson's one he had tried, in fact it was pretty similar to the Scotch pie with perhaps a little more flavour. There were some small pieces of onion that could be found. Many people would be pleased that that the onion wasn't overpowering. It was hard to separate the two, so we've given the Scotch pie and Scotch Onion pie the same score and will let you decide which one you'd prefer!



Kandy Bar Bakery Scotch Onion Pie

The Kandy Bar Bakery Scotch Onion Pie
Score: 6.21/7
[Colour 5.5/7; Consistency 6.25/7; Cheapness 7/7; Chewiness 6.25/7; Condition 6/7; Content 6/7; Capacity 6.5/7]

Kandy Bar Bakery Apple Pie

Kandy Bar Bakery Apple Pie

Finally, Rob had taken home a family apple pie from the bakery, which did very well to survive the flight and journey home with not even the slightest crumbling! Upon tasting it, from the first bite Rob commented this was one of the best apple pies he’d eaten and we were immediately likening it to the Pierate Highly Recommended Apple Pie we had enjoyed from Graham Aimson at Morecambe Football Club, which was not only highly rated by us but also won Supreme Champion at the British Pie Awards 2014! Sam noted that it was sweet but not too sweet with a great crunch to the pastry. The chunks of apple were tender but retained some bite.

The pie was a fair bit shallower than the apple pie at Morecambe, containing less apple filling, which divided opinion slightly with the Pierateers. Rob preferred the slightly higher ratio of sweet pastry to apple filling, while Sam would have preferred a bit more apple in the pie. But at £1.75 for the family apple pie, which would easily have catered for 4 people, we both agreed this was a great apple pie at a very reasonable price. I was certainly pleased to have picked one up on the way out of the shop! Despite being a bit hesitant as to whether it would last the flight intact, it certainly proved me wrong and was delicious! I’d love to try the rest of the fruit pie range on my next visit!

The Kandy Bar Bakery Apple Pie
Score: 6.07/7
[Colour 5.5/7; Consistency 6.25/7; Cheapness 6.25/7; Chewiness 6/7; Condition 6.25/7; Content 6.25/7; Capacity 6/7]


All that really is left to say is that – while I totally understand Stephen’s reasons for not supplying his produce outside of the family bakery he runs – I sure wish there was a Kandy Bar bakery outlet nearer to where I live! The quality ingredients and craftsmanship of all three of these Pierate Highly Recommended pies is obvious and yet the prices provide such good value. You’d be foolish if in the Glasgow area not to take a detour down to Saltcoats for a World Champion Scotch pie – or any other of the Kandy Bar Bakery’s top produce! Thanks once again to Stephen for his time with me and who knows – maybe he will be a hat-trick hero when it comes to the World Scotch Pie 2017 title? With the passion Team Kandy Bar show for quality pies, I certainly wouldn’t be surprised!

RAS and SJL

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