The 11 best pies in London to eat during British Pie Week
If there is one thing of which we can be certain in these unpredictable times, it is that the British know how to make a good pie. And what better way to support the land’s pastry-slingers than by treating yourself one during British Pie Week. Now in full swing, you have until Sunday to head to a local pub or restaurant and indulge in meat and/or veg encased in flaky, buttery pastry. If you’re having trouble deciding where to go, we have an idea or two…
The Jugged Hare, Barbican
Winner of our Toast the City Award for Best Casual Dining, The Jugged Hare is a staple for Square Mile dining. Located beside Barbican, the restaurant-cum-gastropub is marking British Pie Week with a trio of game-focused pies. Options include braised Norfolk rabbit and offal pie with wild leeks, Scottish Blackface lamb suet pudding (£28) and wild boar, black pudding and ham hock pâté en croûte (£18).
The Trafalgar, King’s Road
The Trafalgar on King’s Road is celebrating British Pie Week with a limited-edition beef shin and Guinness pie. Priced at £21 and available for this week only, it is served with mash, seasonal vegetables and gravy. The pub, which opened in October, is the first new pub built on King’s Road in decades. The pie joins dishes added in February including crab rarebit, roasted monkfish and lion’s mane mushroom. Other pies rotate seasonally alongside favourites such as oxtail croquettes.
Pivot Bar & Bistro, Covent Garden
Pivot Bar and Bistro is offering a “pie flight” featuring three mini pies: shorthorn beef (£8), chicken and mushroom (£8) and celeriac and lentil (£7). Available all week, guests can order one, two or all three and add toppings including gravy, mash, crispy onions or beef brisket. In keeping with the classic pie and pint tradition, you can also add a pint for £4.50. Pie-fection.
Brumus, West End
Brumus, the brasserie at the Haymarket Hotel, is marking this week of pies with a menu dedicated entirely to… You guessed it: pies. Head chef Richard Wilkins has created starters, mains and desserts all featuring the great British pie. Starters include gala pie with mustard and a potato and cheddar Cornish pasty. For mains you can have stargazy pie with sardines, prawns, mackerel and bacon, and steak and London Pride pie with mash. Desserts include apple pie with olive oil ice cream. The menu is served all day, with starters coming in at £13, mains at £28 and desserts at £11.
Galvin, Shoreditch
At Galvin Bistrot & Bar in Shoreditch, there’s steak and rib of beef pie (£20), which combines slow-cooked beef in golden pastry, served with mash and red wine sauce. At Galvin Green Man in Chelmsford, the chicken, chestnut mushroom and wild garlic pie (£16.50) pairs tender chicken with mushrooms and seasonal wild garlic. Both celebrate classic British pies using seasonal ingredients and traditional techniques. What’s not to love?
The Wolseley, Square Mile
The Wolseley City is marking British Pie Week with two limited-edition pies created with famous London pie and mash shop M.Manze. Available for one week only, the pies use Manze’s signature pastry and rump of beef and smoked bone marrow, while the vegetarian option combines curried lentils, roasted root vegetables and mushrooms. Both are served with mashed potato, parsley liquor and chilli vinegar. A short cocktail list will also be available, including a Caribbean sour daiquiri and a Carib & Med tonic with Tanqueray gin, sarsaparilla and Mediterranean tonic.
Berners Tavern, Fitzrovia
The Wolseley isn’t the only one teaming up with M.Manze: Berners Tavern in Fitzrovia is marking British Pie Week with a limited-edition pie created in collaboration with M.Manze. Available until 22 March, the dish pairs Manze’s signature pastry with a beef and onion filling developed by Jason Atherton. It is served with smoked bone marrow mash, bordelaise sauce and parsley liquor. The pie is £26, with an additional pie available for £9.
The Cadogan Arms, Chelsea
The Cadogan Arms is marking British Pie Week with a sustainable fish pie (£27) inspired by the Churchill fish pie, a recipe said to have been enjoyed by Winston Churchill during the Second World War. Made with smoked cod and salmon in a béchamel with English mustard, shallot, dill and cheddar, it is topped with olive oil mash. Half of the profits from every fish pie sold will be donated to the RNLI.
Hoodwood, Kentish Town
Kentish Town Caribbean takeaway Hoodwood, by Omar Shah, is offering a creamy jerk chicken and mushroom patty pie. The filling combines slow-cooked oak-smoked jerk chicken with a rich mushroom sauce, seasoned with jerk spices. It is wrapped in Hoodwood’s flaky patty pie pastry and baked until crisp. Available throughout the week, the pie is served with mash for £14.
The Libertine, Square Mile
This underground bar and restaurant below The Royal Exchange is worth your time regardless of National Pie Week. It is bizarrely where they formerly kept bears in the 17th century for jousting matches, although these days the space is a little more sophisticated. The venue has collaborated with Lisa Goodwin-Allen, head chef at Michelin-starred Lancashire restaurant Northcote, to create three pies. There’s a traditional Lancastrian Brown Butter Pie with brown sauce, a native lobster number and a chicken turnover pie, all with a commitment to celebrating the best of British produce. They’re also on the menu all month long.
Guinness Open Gate Brewery, Covent Garden
The new Guinness experience in Covent Garden has been received fairly badly, so badly that its launch temporarily threatened to extinguish the clout the Irish stout firm have been enjoying over the last few years. Why not just go to actual Dublin when it’s less than an hour away than pay through the nose to go to a Guinness ‘experience’ in London where they don’t even brew Guinness?
But this week could be as good a time as any to go. For National Pie Week the Guinness Open Gate Brewery is plating up a rich braised beef and Guinness pie, with slow cooked beef cheek and caramelised onion and Guinness gravy. It’s recommended to pair it with a Martini… Just kidding, you’re supposed to get a Guinness, too. This is the Guinness experience, after all.