Tucked away from the bustle of King Street in Newtown is The Pie Tin, a place that serves all things pie.
Whether you’re in the mood for savoury pies, sweet pies or sweet pies in a milkshake they have you covered.
Savoury pies range from $6.00.95 to $8.00.95, and for an extra $6.00 you can add two hot sides/salads or chips. This is the Sweet Roasted Duck with Cointreau & Seasonal Vegetables.
The pies are much deeper than your standard pie, giving much space for the delicious innards. The sauce brought everything together with a very enjoyable mild sweetness that complements the melt-in-your mouth tender duck and the soft vegetables (spinach and carrots). I’d eat this pie again!
N tried the Butter Chicken with Green Beans with sweet potato fries. The pie is packed to the brim with chicken and green beans, which N enjoyed, although it could have been more moist or had more curry sauce even though it’d make it messier to eat. This led her to compare the butter chicken to the type you can get at food courts as it lacked the sweet and creamy sauce that bathes the butter chicken at Paradise Biryani House.
The kumara fries a bit heavily salted, but otherwise lightly crispy on the outside.
T went for the Slow Roasted Shredded Pork with Apple & BBQ Sauce dusted with paprika. Again, this pie is packed with innards as seems to be the norm here. The pie was flavoursome, although T couldn’t detect any apple in his sauce. Unlike N’s, this pie is filled with meat juices, which T would have enjoyed more if it were of a gravy (or BBQ sauce) consistency.
But onto the sweet pies, which are 7.95-$8.00.95 per slice, with slices of the apple pie being $10.00.95. This is the Whipped Lime Pie. N and I like our citrus hits to be strong, and unfortunately, this one did not hit the spot. The lime cream was sweet without being zesty or sour in the least. The disproportionate amount of plain whipped cream piled on top mellowed the lime flavour even further. T enjoyed the subtle flavours of this pie, though.
And this is the Maple Soaked Strawberry & Chocolate Pie. I was drawn to the maple aspect of this pie, and unfortunately found no hint of it in either the strawberries on top nor in the chocolate pie itself. As a chocolate pie, though, it’s much like a good, rich brownie with the cocoa adding an extra hit of bitterness to cut through the sweetness and the crust providing some crunchy variety in texture.
The Pie Tin makes some decent pies, with the slow cooked duck being the standout. We must return to try their other pies, particularly the sweet ones, to unearth some more standouts.
The Pie Tin made such a good impression with their slow roasted duck pie, that N and I agreed that to return at one point to give their sweet pies another try. And so we return some four months later. But not before we try some different savoury pies –
This is the Chicken Carbonara Pie (savoury pies are $6.95 to $8.95) with mushroom.
The flavours of this pie were immensely enjoyable, with the chicken being juicy and tender, just on the right side of cooked, and the mushrooms imparting their delicious umami. There was just a slight hint of cheese in the carbonara sauce, which was odd, but the flavour was well balanced, giving the pie just enough moisture. The pie crust was crispy and toasty all around.
N tries their Beef Brisket after hearing good things about it online.
She enjoy the pie, finding the brisket tender and juicy, with just enough moisture without the pie falling apart or leaking everywhere upon on eating. The brisket was well seasoned, although a little too salty by the end. Overall, though, it was an enjoyable pie that she’d eat again.
This time for dessert, N tries her luck with the Lemon Creme Brulee (sweet pies are $7.95-$8.95 per slice). We love a tangy and zesty lemon flavour, but here, it tastes much like a custard flavoured with lemon pub squash (or Solo by Schweppes). The texture is smooth and creamy, but the flavour was all sweetness. Critically, the pie lacked the sugar crust that is quintessential to a creme brulee. There seems to be some attempt at torching the top, but it has the same custard texture just with more caramelised flavour.
I still had my heart set on The Apple Pie That Ate Newtown, but with that not on the menu when we visited, I go for the Apple Crumble ($10.95).
The slice is a generously deep with crispy apple slices piled high and berries throughout to give it the purple tinge. The cinnamon was pronounced, but still enjoyable. While I enjoyed the innards, the pastry was very undercooked throughout and the crumble tasted very floury, without the crispy crust and toasty crumble expected from an apple crumble.
So in the future, we’ll visit The Pie Tin for the savoury pies and go elsewhere in Newtown for dessert. And there is no shortage of options!
The Pie Tin is at 1a Brown St, Newtown NSW 2042.