Who Ate All The Pies?! *

It was me, as ever! I ate all the pies and if I had space I’d of ordered more!

Right, lets put this into context shall we?! I was invited over to The Hope in Farringdon, minutes from Smithfields Meat Market to try their range of pie and mash in true British style. Growing up with a family from the East End, there was a lot of pie and mash involved! I’d like to think I can tell a good pie from a bad pie, but I’m an awful Londoner when it comes to liquor. NO THANK YOU! I’m all about the gravy.

The Hope has recently become the new home for Pieminister Pies, and The Hope consists of two floors; Downstairs in the bar you will find a large range of cask ales, craft beers and your usual pub favourites. Upstairs, the Juniper room, plays host to over 20 premium gins for you to sample including Sipsmith, distilled close by in London Town and this is where we sat.

We began with a starter, as we always do. We opted to share two to just give them a little go, and we opted for the Mega crisps & No.11 condiment which were awesome! HUGE crisps with dips and jalapenos. And Cumberland sausages with wholegrain mustard; a firm favourite of mine. These were lovely too!

 When it comes to Pieminister you know you’re getting good pies; The meat is 100% British, 100% free range, 100% of the time and comes from farms with the highest welfare standards. They have won many awards including the Great Taste Awards and British Pie Awards so you know you’re onto a winner with a Pieminister pie.

 So, for our pies I went for the Chicken Of Aragon; A free range British chicken, smoked bacon & tarragon pie, as the name cracked me up. The pie was cooked perfectly with a slightly browned top layer of pastry to give it a little crisp and the tarragon didn’t overpower the flavours at all.

Mike had the Free Ranger; a Free range British chicken & Wiltshire ham pie with leek & thyme that he devoured all of. We both had a side of mash and gravy!

The portions sizes were perfect as they filled us up nicely and for once, we didn’t have room for desserts!

As we were sat up in the Gin Bar, Mike tried the Rare Gin with Mediterran tonic and rosemary which he said was really refreshing. I have to take his word for it as I’m still off the good stuff… not too long to go now!

I would highly recommend the hearty pies from Pieminister as they leave you feeling happy full, and the setting of the Gin Bar is super relaxing too.