The Pie Tin, Newtown

I like pie. You guys up for pies? Course. Cooool. Conversation seems so short and to the point these days. Take that conversation for instance, 2 replies and it was organised with a group of old friends. But with pie involved, need there be much disagreement? Pie in itself is only a 3 letter word. What on earth am I talking about. Anyway of late, it seems like The Pie Tin in Newtown is quite possibly the most blogged about eatery this year. I mean who doesn't like a little braised portion of meat with good old puff pastry slapped down with some ketchup? It's not far from my uni; just a 10 minute walk down City Road into the hip part of New Town. Wait hold that, all of New Town seems pretty exciting, from your second hand stores, book shops and some $6.50 Thai to cure an academic's ailing stomach so pretty much all of it is worth exploring.

Autumn. It's the season of cardigans, gloves, heavy boots and scarves, sunny yellow/ burnt orangey hues, apples, hearty roasts, pumpkins, cinnamon and cocoa. Its the season with that hit of coolness; a reason to get all cosied up and take brisk strolls around the park while watching the occasional Autumn sky light up with a burst of crimson purple. It's the season where all those cheesy childhood memories of running around while brown leaves were spin/floating around come to be. From the tree, the transition from summer into autumn is so apparent with the shock of vibrant maroon gradually taking over. Autumn's such a wonderful season.

Communal tables down the centre, hanging lamps, exposed brickwork with a dash of quirky colour and vintage  decorations make this a very welcoming dining area. I'm already won over immediately stepping in. 

Tender Steak, cheddar cheese, smokey bacon 11 with chips

Lamb and Rosemary 6.80

Slow Roast Beef Brisket, hickory smoke and mushrooms 12 with sides

My beef brisket pie was quite good. There were quite a lot of grisly and chewy bits and they could of been chopped up a bit more but that pastry was a stand out, with the smokey peppers lighting up every bite. There were only 3 sides on display, fortunately the sides I ordered were well done. The coleslaw didn't have the living life chopped out of it and it retained a lot of the crunch factor which made it so delicious.

There wasn't too much sharing go around but I did manage to be force fed a stack of chips. Thanks to Heston Blumenthal, I can't even look at the humble chip the same anymore. They way he describes it: a glass like outer layer with a fluffy inside just makes me want to make some. Now I view all chips with a critical eye. These ones were soft and not particularly crunchy and thanks to my high salt tolerance, the over seasoning was only just bearable.

Lemon Meringue Pie 7.50

You might think that is a whopping amount of meringue but it works really well to counteract the tartness of the lemon and I love a good acidic creamy lemon curd. You might want to have some of that with the more neutral double cream which does wonders counteracting that sweetness. 

Snickers Pie 7-50

My peanut butter obsession sees me ordering the Snickers Pie. Quite selfishly actually, I neglected J and his peanut allergy. Sorry mate. I was pretty disappointed a Reeses pie wasn't out on display but the Snickers one surely made up for it. Creamy layer after layer of thick caramel and peanut butter mouse punctuated with snickers bits on top of chocolate and a chocolate biscuit base topped with more snickers. Delicious.

When you factor in the ginormous portions, Pie Tin comes at pretty good value. Deviate off the main road into the quiet neighbourhood and it's hard not to be drawn in to the allure of fresh home-made pies. Look forward to the next on my list of Newtown eats: Black Star.



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Posted in: autumn, coleslaw, lamb, Meringue, Newtown, pie, Snickers