A quick search on the internet for "Lord of the Pies" brought up their two social media links which were full of rave reviews and mentions of their numerous award winning pies. An ideal stop for a lunch time meat then!
The little shop with its clean white and grey appearance outside is a quaint little cafe inside with a small number of timber tables and benches for eating in, or all food is available to take away. The wall to the right has an impressive collection of awards hung on the wall, but does the food live up to these awards?
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| Lord of the Pies |
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| Interior |
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| Awards |
To the back is a small kitchen which looked to be being kept very busy on a Friday-pieday!
The counter displays freshly bagged uncooked pies ready to take away, while to the side there's a hot oven with only a small number of ready to eat pies in it. As they offer cooked pies all day long it proves that the pies aren't all left pre-cooked under a heat lamp all day and that they're continually cooking fresh pies through the day. So the pie you buy probably won't have been out of the oven long.
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| Uncooked pies |
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| Cooked pies |
They have quite a selection of traditional pie flavours each with their individual touch on the recipes. They don't have a set menu online as I presume they often change the flavours available, however to get some idea, there's a link to their September menu at the end of this memoir.
With the pies comes the offering of various traditional side servings such as mashed potato (traditional, cheesy or mustard), mushy peas, braised red cabbage, or red wine gravy.
As well as meat pies and all the sides, they also offer pork pies, sausage rolls, soup of the days and various sweet desserts.
It took some time to decide due to the delicious choice but I opted for the beef and blue cheese pie and a sausage roll (just to compare following the recent sausage roll review in "Butcher the Blog Part 1" here: Meat Memoirs; Butcher the Blog Part 1
The sausage roll was the first thing unwrapped as it didn't feel as hot as the pie. Opening the paper bag exposed a thin but long, broken crusted sausage roll, with a light pink meat inside.
The pastry was seasoned with herbs and very crunchy, no grease at all in these sausage rolls.
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| Sausage Roll (£1.50) |
Taking a bite the flaking pastry made it impossible to avoid making a mess. The soft pork meat inside was obviously of a high quality with no gristle or obvious fatty chunks making up the meat.
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| Inside the sausage roll |
Then it was onto the pie. A very generous size for what is expected to be a top quality pie based on the certificates and awards. Outside the pie pastry and crust is a perfect golden colour with a sprinkling of crumbs and herbs.
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| Beef & Blue Cheese Pie (£3.25 - takeout / £3.90 eat in) |
Cutting open the pie, the thick gravy inside spills out along with the meat suspended within it. And it's a lot of meat! It's instantly obvious that there's a lot more meat in this pie compare to some famous branded pies.
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| Inside the Beef & Blue pie |
Take a bite and the pastry taste is the first taste on the tongue. The herbs and crumbs almost make it taste like a seasoned pizza crust, yet it's crumbly pastry rather than a soft bread. The smooth gravy inside holds the juicy beef which is full of flavour and very well cooked. Like the sausage roll, there's no gristle or chewy meat to be found within the whole pie. Just juicy, mouth watering meat throughout.
The blacksticks blue cheese within these beef and blue pies isn't instantly obvious, but then every now and again you get a hit of it on the pallet. As I ate the pie I thought it could do with a little more blue cheese flavour, but once I'd finished it my mouth was left with the taste of blue cheese more than anything else. This may or may not be the intention of the recipe used to make these pies but it works as it means the cheese doesn't overpower the other flavours of the pie, in particular the juicy meat and gravy, yet your still offered the taste of the cheese.
Conclusion
Lord of the Pies certainly lives up to it's name! Really well seasoned pastries surrounding high quality meats and gravies. These pies are very moreish! If you're a fan of pies then I'd definitely suggest that you give Lord of the Pies a try. Their awards seem well deserved from this first experience! Now to make pieday-Friday a regular thing to sample more of the menu.Also a comment regarding the exceptionally friendly customer service received within the shop on Friday. The staff were very welcoming and more than happy for me to take a few photos for the meat memoirs. All adds to the great experience received from this small shop.
Here is the September menu which was available at the time of this memoir being written:
Lord of the Pies Menu (September 2014)
Lord of the Pies on Facebook
@LordofthePiesGB
Meat Rating: 10/10 (the first 10 for the Meat Memoirs. Congratulations Lord of the Pies!)
Money for Meat: Paid in Full
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