I don’t usually start my day with a beef pie. Fried eggs with sea salt on buttery toast perhaps, hot coffee, definitely. But when news dropped recently that The Piefather – a small family-owned Sydney bakery – took home a silver medal for its beef creation at The Official Great Aussie Pie Competition, you better believe I was having it for breakfast. And the best news? I could order it on Uber Eats. An award-winning pie in my PJs? Hell yeah.
Now in its 36th year, The Official Great Aussie Pie Competition is Australia’s largest and longest-running contest for pies, sausage rolls and pasties. Each year, there are hundreds of entries, with the pies judged anonymously by a panel of experts on everything from appearance and flavour to overall texture and mouthfeel. The Piefather was runner-up only to Paradise Bakehouse on Queensland’s Bundaberg coast, meaning its classic beef pie is not only the best one in Sydney, it’s also the best in the whole state.
So I had to find out: how good is it really?
I want to begin by saying I love pies. They are delicious after a surf, bring you back to life when you’re hungover and should be mandatory on road trips. I’ve scoffed down golden beauties from Huskisson Bakery & Cafe, lined up at the Upper Crust and woffed down the ones from Hayden's Pies. And when I lived in New Zealand – the self-proclaimed pie country of the world – I ate them every week. This is all to say: I've had a few.
But back to The Piefather.
I placed my order – one beef pie, one tomato sauce – and waited with the kind of anticipation usually reserved for ATAR results. Would all my hopes and dreams be realised, or come crashing down? (Mostly a joke – no one really cares about ATAR except unis.)
I open the Uber Eats app and see that tiny bicycle move, and I know the pie is on its way. Soon it arrives, placed in a brown paper bag, still hot and carrying the intoxicating smell of a bakery. The pastry looks great: a perfectly golden and even top with a sturdy base. I take a bite and the pastry is buttery, flaky, and holds its shape – hello, structural integrity (how annoying is it when a pie collapses and the filling spills out on your top?). Inside is a mix of Aussie beef, both mince and hunks, all coated in a glossy, deeply savoury and well-seasoned gravy. The consistency is bang on too – with a great overall mouthfeel without being cloying. It’s hearty, comforting, generous and delicious. I add a squeeze of tomato sauce for sweetness, balance and zing and think to myself: this is one of the best pies I’ve ever had.
Two thoughts flow in succession: the first being, how good that I didn’t spill any on my PJs?
And the second: breakfast pies should be a thing.
But I’ll let you be the judge. Taste Sydney’s best pie – and the second best in Australia – at The Piefather in Rosebery, or have your tiny bicycle deliver one straight to your door.
Address: 437 Gardeners Rd, Rosebery NSW 2018
Find out more here.
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