Good Pies

71 Vincent Street, Daylesford, Victoria

• 71 Vincent St, Daylesford, VIC, Australia

I love a country drive on the weekend, I do. Jump in the car, point it somewhere vaguely out of town and off the main roads then just see where the bitumen takes you for the day. It’s such a fun thing to do that it’s almost certainly bad for the environment and should be banned. I recommend getting amongst it while you still can.

Daylesford is a nice short jaunt out of Melbourne, and you can comfortably do it from Melbourne in about 90 minutes if you don’t get too much traffic. There’s all kinds of things to do there, but frankly I don’t care about any of them because I am just a one-track mind for pies. You’ll be glad to know that Daylesford has an absolute cracker of a bakery, complete with the comfort of BOOTHS. Yep, you can sit in a booth and eat pies like a pastry-monarch and if that isn’t why my grandfather died twice in two world wars then what even is this country about?

I went orthodox and ordered the steak and pepper pie because it was pretty early in the morning (wasn’t even 9am yet) and my stomach demanded it. A lot of people demand chunks in their steak pies, but I am happy to go with the flow when a minced-steak pie as good as this one comes along and shows you how to have a good time. The pepper gravy is light, sharp, and long-lasting enough to keep you thinking about it later in the morning. The casing and lid are somehow on the cusp of being short-crust, but it all holds together well enough that you don’t end up with a lap full of pastry-dandruff. At least not entirely. Quick dance when you stand up and nobody’s the wiser.

It’s a square pie, and if you eat it right there in the bakery, they give you a knife and fork like you’re a people. I guess that’s nice if you’re fancy, but to me a pie is almost always a hand-food so they had to wash that cutlery for nothing. Now who’s thinking about the environment hey? Yours truly.

By the way, a lot of people have been asking me to weigh in on the frankly sectarian and internecine battle between the square pie and the circular pie. I am a peacemaker and I like all pies equally unless they are oval because that is apostasy. 🥧