Golden King Bakery, Ashgrove

After being chastised two weeks ago “how can I trust your Pie reviews if you can’t get your geography right”, I have consulted Google Maps and located another bakery in Brisbane’s inner north (or is that inner north west?) for today’s pie test: Golden King Bakery in Ashgrove.

The Golden King Bakery is another pie test venue that has come to me with some very high recommendations which, suffice it to say, lead to some very high expectations when it came to testing its plain meat pie (which in this case was the plain steak pie).  

Whilst this pie was quite a good pie it did have some parts to it which lead to my expectations not being fully met!

Here is how I rated the Golden King Bakery’s plain steak pie: 

Taste

Yet again, right from my first bite of this pie I was bowled over by how good the pie tasted.  All of the elements of this pie worked together perfectly to produce a very tasty offering. 

Meat and Gravy

The star of this pie was, as has been the case often already in my search for Brisbane’s Best Pie, its gravy.  The gravy here was thick and full of flavour without overpowering the meat.  The meat was in bountiful supply and quite tender.  On these two elements of this pie I simply can not find fault. 

Pastry

I was accused during the week of becoming a “Pastry Snob” and that may well be a fair assessment.  However the pastry is a vitally important element to the success of not only the taste but the eating of a pie so I am going to continue judge each pie I eat paying particular attention to the pastry.  If that makes me a “Pastry Snob”, so be it.  

Back to the review of the Golden King Bakery and its plain steak pie, I have to say that the pastry on this pie its weakness.  Again, the pie was presented in a foil casing which was a warning sign that proved true when the base of pie was soft and the pie started to fall apart in the eating. 

Size

This pie was slightly bigger than the pies I have tested so far.  

Temperature

Some readers are going to object to this finding however I have to say that this pie was just a little bit too hot.  I found myself, after the first two bites, reaching swiftly for my drink to cool my mouth down and then let the pie cool for a few minutes before finishing it.  This is certainly a pie you could purchase and then drive home before eating it. 

Price

This pie was priced at $4.50.

The Final Word

The plain steak pie from the Golden King Bakery almost lived up to expectations – it tasted great and the meat and gravy I was unable to fault.  Add to that the pie being slightly oversized and this is certainly a pie I will come back to have again.  Only this time I might wait until I get home to eat it so as to save the skin on the roof of my mouth! As I have said before in many of the reviews to far: the pastry could also have been a cooked a little bit better. 

Postscript

The Golden King Bakery is located on Waterworks Road in Ashgrove.  It is a traditional bakery and sells everything you could ever need in the baked goods area from bread through to its pies.  A tip for first time buyers from the Golden King: take some cash with you as the bakery does not have EFTPOS facilities.