Moturoa Cafe Steak and Cheese Pie Review

This time I was shopping around in the Moturoa shops. Walked past Moturoa cafe, the smell of freshly baked goods was too tempting to resist so in I went and, as usual, took the shortest path to the pie warmer to check out what was on offer. Excellent, only one steak and cheese pie left, must be good if there's only one left right? It's my go to pie type to review and judge a place for its pies so I snapped it up and scoffed it down.

First Impressions
Lack of colour on the pastry; I remember it having a distinctly pale look about it. Also, taking it out of the warmer; the nice lady behind the counter gave me a hand with the comment "oh, you have to use this scooper to pick it up rather than the tongs. I had a customer the other day mess the pie up..." Right, so structural integrity of pie was not fantastic - in fact, quite soft and flimsy.

The Analysis 

Pastry was easy to bite into but it lacked flavour or any kind of texture - it was just soft, not soggy but not crisp either. Perhaps it needed just a bit more time in the oven?


The filling had a couple of chunky bits of steak but again tasteless and generic filling like a supermarket pie. There was a wee bit of mince, a lot of gravy and piss all cheese. Not tasty at all, I think they forgot the salt or something.

In the end...

Think the pie cost $4.50. OK price for what I got but I would rather a reheated pre-frozen supermarket pie for a similar price. The pastry lacked texture, colour and flavour. Whilst the filling was generic and lacked salt. Not the best pie, certainly not the worst but I wouldn't go out of my way to get another. However, I'd have another if I was hungry and in a hurry, especially if I was in the area often. They have a pie loyalty card - every tenth pie is free at Moturoa Cafe, 498 St Aubyn Street, Moturoa, New Plymouth, New Zealand.

Oscars Kiwi Kafe Steak and Blue Cheese Pie Review

Drove to Inglewood with my partner to return a baby capsule we hired. The hire place was closed (despite the lady saying they'd be open over the phone) so in an annoyed state we decided to go to a cafe for lunch and basically bitch about it over a coffee. Having commuted through Inglewood for work quite a bit, my partner suggested Oscar's Kiwi Kafe so off we went to order some consoling coffee. However, they also had one handmade pie left in the warmer, a lonely steak and blue cheese pie. Thought it'd be rude not to try it, especially given I'm a bit of a blue cheese fiend.

First Impressions
What an interesting take on the classic steak and cheese pie, I love blue cheese so this just sounded like an awesome pie and it really was. The height of the pie was a little large - ended up having to tilt my head and eat it side on with the occasional slurp of the filling followed by a pastry bite. Hmmmmm - damn this is one tasty pie.

The Analysis 

Pastry was good, easy to bite into and tasty. Was a little soggy on the bottom but this may be because we had a late lunch, it was the last pie and had been in the warmer for a while. If it had been a while in the warmer, the moisture in the filling was not adversely affected and the pastry was still crispy on top - both the melted cheese and flakey pastry on top.

The filling had good chunky bits of steak, the ratios of mince, gravy, steak and blue cheese was perfect. Every bite was delicious and had a hint of cheesy goodness to it.

My only qualm I have is the height of the pie dish used to make it - it's too high and makes the pie too thick to easily bite into. I think they are going for the fancy 'knife and fork' type of pie in which case it's fine but I prefer to be able to just hold and eat. After all, I hate to leave good pie juices on a plate because I used a knife and fork to eat it!

In the end...

Think the pie set us back $6.50. Pastry was acceptable, filling was excellent. It was one of the best pies I have ever eaten and I will definitely be revisiting Oscar's Kiwi Kafe on Rata Street in Inglewood, New Zealand.

Kinda left me thinking there should be more places making steak and blue cheese pies.