It’s mightily gratifying and encouraging to see four of the establishments listed here have the word ‘pie’ in their business’s name. That shows pride and confidence in what they supply. Without further ado, here are the best places in the New Zealand capital to try out a Kiwi staple.
If you want to sit in scenic wonder while you bite into your nuclear-hot pie and spill gravy all over your new tan trousers, then head down to Blue Belle Cafe. It’s situated on the stupidly pretty Island Bay in Wellington, and does some of the best pies to be found in the city. It’s a wonderful place to grab a bite to eat. Impeccably clean – until you spill mouthfuls of unbelievably rich flaky pastry all over the place – and with a lovely relaxed vibe, which is cosy in the winter and laid-back in the summer.
If you drive 10 minutes out of the centre of Wellington you will come to Johnsonville. It’s home to a couple of pie establishments on our list and seems to have new great little cafes popping up all the time. Our favourite aspect of Nada Bakery is its hot savoury platter. This is basically a selection of miniature pies that will see you breeze onto the Employee of the Month wall if you share it with your workmates, or breeze into a bigger pair of trousers if you decide to hide in your car and eat them all. No one will judge you if you go for option two. These pies are good.
Trisha’s Pies has achieved cult status in Wellington and beyond. Tourists will seek out this unassuming bakery on Cambridge Terrace to spend $4.20 NZD on a Kiwi culinary experience that they’ll be telling all their friends about when they get home. They have all sorts of pies here, and even have a lasagna pie! What an age we live in.
Yes, the coffee is good. Yes, the smoothies are great. There is a n outdoor area to relax in and the staff are brilliant. This all pales in comparison to how epic the pies are. Really, the pastry is solid, the gravy-to-meat ratio is calculated with scientific accuracy. Really, the pies here are pastry-clad marvels that rival the Pyramids in their engineering mystery.
Pickle and Pie is less a traditional New Zealand cafe, and more a New York-style deli. A brilliant option for the pie-lover is the family pie. These bad-boys weigh one kilogram and serve 3-4 people. What’s great is that you can pick them up cold with heating instructions or – and this is phenomenal if you want to pull the wool over your mate’s eyes at a pot-luck dinner – you can call 15 minutes ahead of time and pick it up piping hot. Flavours vary week by week, but expect something like lamb and chorizo to spice up your life.
Patrisha’s Pies is another little independent bakery that quietly attracts a host of love and support from the Wellington people. If you want a taste of a real Anglo-Kiwi classic then get your hands on the steak and kidney pie. You won’t find anything better in the city.
In contrast to the rest of the establishments on our list, Jesters is a chain pie shop. Yes, we can hear your groans, but don’t let the term ‘chain’ ring synonymous with rubbish in your mind. Because it is far from that. An example of the quality is the salmon, cream cheese and dill pie. Decadence in a pie-shell. And the shell is something that should receive due recognition. The pastry shell that Jesters uses is somehow less leaky than others, in our opinion. So, you can grab one on the way to a hot date, and not have to worry about spilling a drop of gravy on your shirt.
