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.

Dan's Bakery Steak & Pepper Pie Review

Went for a 3 hour walk of discovery along New Plymouth's coastal walkway including Te Henui walkway. I ended up in the centre of town feeling very hungry. Eventually found a place still open at 2pm called Dan's Bakery. Small quaint bakery which by that time had run out of steak and cheese, mince and cheeses and steack, bacon and cheese pies. I settled for a steak and pepper pie which was quite a surprise.

First Impressions
Soft, easy to hold pie that smelt delicious (although I was extremely hungry at this point). Easy to bite into, filling was nice temperature to scoff if need be. Tasty and the filling had a good thickness to it.

The Analysis 

Pastry was good, soft and easy to bite into; was delicious and not too crisp so near on perfect. Filling had many chunks of steak. Most of which were tender and had a good meaty flavour. However, there was one chuck that was so big I had to stomach it in three bites and that particular piece was unfortunately dry and tasteless. Gravy consistency was excellent. I could see mince and it was perfectly thickened; not gluggy at all. The amount of pepper in the mix suited my tastebuds. This pie was delicious.

In the end...

Can't remember how much this pie set me back but it was less that $5 and worth it. Pastry was great, gravy was excellent and aside from the large dry, tasteless piece of steak, the filling was yum with a good meat/gravy ratio. Overall, this pie was very tasty and I'm looking forward to trying a Dan's bakery steak and cheese pie at 41 Deven Street, New Plymouth.

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