It has recently come to our attention that New Zealand makes very good pies. If you ask the internet, they are much better than Australian pies in every conceivable way. People have Very Strong Opinions about this. 

Of course, we had to investigate this immediately. Pies are serious business, after all. And the more we looked into it, the more we realised that the internet might be on to something. Sure, we’ll never back down on pavlova or the flat white, but when it comes to pies, Australia may – just as we usually do in the rugby – have to admit defeat. 

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Before the pitchforks come out: a quick clarification

There’s something very important that needs to be made clear: there is no question that there are some truly magnificent pies to be found across Australia, each worthy of a road trip in and of itself. From Blood’s Bakery’s cult-status chashu pork belly and ramen egg pie in NSW to Mt Barker Country Bakery’s award-winning beef bourguignon pie in WA, top Aussie bakers across the country can proudly stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the world’s best. 

The type of Aussie pie we’re referring to here is the run-of-the-mill servo pie. The pie you get at the footy, or the 7-Eleven when you’ve had one too many beers and your judgement has been so severely compromised that you actually think getting a pie from the 7-Eleven is a good idea. These are not pies to be proud of. Think flabby, undercooked pastry and a bit of mystery meat floating around in a sea of gravy. This is the kind of pie that needs to up its game if it wants to reach the standards of our neighbours across the ditch. 

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What makes New Zealand pies so good?

The Kiwis take pride in their servo pies. There are entire social media series about pie fans driving across the country and tasting them all. And they’re good. They’re really good. We’re talking flaky, golden pastry and generous, rich fillings with hearty meat and cheese – yes, cheese – so gratifying, you probably don’t even need sauce. Choose your fillings – mince or steak and cheese, bacon and egg, butter chicken, cheeseburger. (Yes, more cheese. You can never have too much cheese.)

But it’s not just servos. You can get a good pie just about anywhere in New Zealand, and any road trip should be punctuated by regular pie stops at any bakeries you come across in your travels. There’s the iconic pāua (sea snail) pie, made famous by Cafe 35 at Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast of the North Island. The award-winning potato-topped potato gratin pie from Rosedale Bakery & Café in Auckland. Also in Auckland is the hāngi pie from Blue Rose Cafe, which features pork belly, stuffing, kumara and pumpkin. There’s Sanga’s Pie Co in the Central Otago region of the South Island, which offers the glorious ‘Morning Glory’ – a breakfast pie featuring a kransky sausage, an egg and a hash brown topping. Or Fairlie Bakehouse in the Canterbury region of the South Island, which does a pork belly pie with apple sauce and crackling. You hear that? Crackling.

Basically, if there’s a pie you’ve dreamt about, you’ll likely find it somewhere in New Zealand. 

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Why are Australian pies not stacking up?

According to Food Standards Australia New Zealand, the Food Standards Code “stipulates that a meat pie must contain a minimum of 25 percent of meat flesh”. ‘Meat flesh’ doesn’t just mean muscle; it can also mean “rind, fat, connective tissue, nerve, blood and blood vessels”. For large-scale pie producers, this offers a handy way to save money on ingredients. That answers the mystery meat question. And if only one-quarter of the entire pie has to be made up of ‘meat flesh’ to be legally sold as a meat pie, then that’s all they’ll add. Which explains all the gravy. This seems to be the route that many big-time Aussie pie makers have taken. 

New Zealand, on the other hand – with its national pie pride, insatiable pie appetite and discerning pie palate – appears to have taken the higher road. And it’s a pretty delicious one, bro. 

But there’s no need to fret into your Four’N Twenty – it’s not all doom and gloopy gravy for Aussie pie lovers. If you’re after a really good pie in Australia, just don’t go to the servo. Go to one of these amazing places, or seek out one of the countless other small, independent bakers and bakeries across the country that are doing incredible things with pastry.

Let’s lift our pie game, Australia – it’s time to stop settling for ‘good enough’ and start aiming for ‘better than New Zealand’. 

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