The eight best pies in London: As British Pie Week gets into full swing, we celebrate some of the capital’s very best examples of baked pastry
1. Polo Bar
Fish Pie, £9.50
Pie Week has even united London’s rival financial districts. The chef at Canary Wharf’s Parlour has created this boozy fish pie for Polo Bar opposite Liverpool Street station. Packed with white fish, salmon, haddock and prosecco, it’s so tasty even the fish are diving in.
167 Bishopsgate, EC2M
2. Bob Bob Ricard
Chicken, Mushroom & Champagne Pie, £18.50
For a truly posh pie, head to iconic Soho restaurant Bob Bob Ricard. It has such a shiny glaze and intricately patterned lid that it looks like its made from well-maintained Victorian tiles. And it tastes lovely, with big, meaty pieces of chicken and a rich, smooth sauce.
1 Upper James St, W1F 9DF
3. Piebury Corner
Steak & Guinness Pie, £5.75
Five years ago an entrepreneurial couple in Highbury had the bright idea to sell pies to the legions of pissed-up Arsenal fans stumbling past their garden after every game. Today their stall has grown into a bustling pie emporium, whose star pies include porter infused wonders like the Steak & Guinness pie.
209-211 Holloway Road, N7 8DL
4. The Ivy
Shepherd’s Pie, £17.75
Is a shepherd’s pie really a pie? Who cares when it’s as good as this, the most famous dish from that most famous of restaurants. More celebrities that you can remember have dined on this beef and lamb mince dish topped with mashed potato. It’s hearty and delicious: a good pie never goes out of style.
1-5 West Street, WC2H 9NQ
5. J Sheekey
Fish Pie, £15.75
This beautiful, creamy fish pie (cod or haddock) is perfect comfort food, filled with butter and double cream, with a little kick from some English mustard and Worcestershire sauce. J Sheekey is a London institution renowned for serving some of the best seafood in the city. The perfect way to celebrate British Pie Week.
28-32 St Martin’s Ct, WC2N 4AL
6. G. Kelly
Traditional Pie & Mash, £3.50
East London piemonger G. Kelly has been serving up traditional pie and mash since it first opened in 1937. This Roman Road institution is famed for its nonsense-averse piemanship, and also offers up such cockney staples as jellied eels and liquor (the parsley-based and non-boozy sauce). You’ll struggle to find a more authentic pie and mash spot in the city.
526 Roman Road Market, E3 5ES
7. Piquet
Snail Pithivier, £11
Piquet is a wonderful British-French restaurant in Fitzrovia. Its snail pithivier – basically a pie – features light, buttery pastry that gives way to a meaty payload of plump snails (not from France but Littlebourne in Kent). They’re coddled in crushed peas and topped with a ever-so-slightly sharp medeira jus; a perfect union between French thinking and British ingredients.
92 Newman St, W1T 3EZ
8. Darwin Brasserie
Duck Confit Pie, £15.50
The Darwin Brasserie at 20 Fenchurch Street is serving a limited edition pie in the sky until 13 March. It may look like an ordinary cottage pie at first glance, but underneath the creamy mash it’s piled high with succulent confit duck. Get your walkie-talkie around that.
1 Sky Garden Walk, EC3M
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