Top Kiwi pie named at prestigious ceremony

  • 27/07/2016
Top Kiwi pie named at prestigious ceremony

New Zealand officially has a new favourite pie with the winners of this year's Bakels Supreme Pie Awards announced in Auckland on Tuesday evening.

Patrick Lam of Patrick's Pies in Tauranga took out the Supreme Award with his bacon and egg pie, beating out almost 600 other competitors.

It was Mr Lam's fifth supreme pie award after he first entered in 2003, and he expects his sales will increase following Tuesday's success.

"We'd normally sell 200-300 pies a day," he says. "It'll go out the roof, 1200 pies just overnight."

It wasn't the only prize Mr Lam was awarded -  his classic steak and cheese took out silver, while his gourmet fruit pie consisting of Cointreau pear, apple and cherry cheesecake managed a Highly Commended.

Celebrity judge and top chef Mark Southon says there was a huge variety in the entries, which were spread across 12 categories.

"We saw some interesting skills and flavours, such as alpaca and kimchi; braised lamb shank and butter chicken. There were nostalgic and Kiwi heritage pies like creamed paua, smoked fish and the addition of kumara to some pies."

It took 21 judges more than 10 hours to judge the 5284 pies entered in the competition.

"The judging process was very impressive, stringent, and obviously tried and true with over 20 years' experience," Mr Southon says.

But in the end, it was Mr Lam's bacon and egg pie which came out on top.

For his work, Mr Lam received the coveted Supreme Pie trophy and $7500 in prize money.

Gold winners:

Newshub.