Every Friday I break my budget, and my belly, with a good ole’ chow down. Being a major foodie, I will take you on a tour each week as I go to ” Nom” Town and hunt down the tastiest eats around.

This week I found myself searching for the best meat pie in all of Auckland. What is a meat pie? Quite possibly the best food invention of our time and something I can see myself getting happily fat eating all the time. This hand-held flavor grenade is chock full of ingredients from meats and cheese to fish and veggies. I have heard about meat pies since I arrived in Auckland, yet I never came across this mythical morsel until today.

Today I woke up on a mission, a hunger mission, and I would not give up until I found a meat pie. I was starving and all that was coursing through my brain was to find a meat pie. I scoured the streets of downtown Auckland city looking in every mall and shopping center with no luck. I went up and down Queen Street checking to see if a food stand might have one, even though I knew it wouldn’t be the best I was getting desperate. The hunger pains were starting and I knew I had to find something fast, and I even starting thinking about abandoning my mission today for some fast food.

There it was, glistening in the summer sun before my eyes. I was walking the harbor in a last-ditch effort when I passed by a small opening in the Britomart area of Auckland when something caught attention. Sitting there in a small park sat a polished silver Airstream that read “Sarge’s Met Pies” in small cursive. It was the law of attraction at it’s finest, and I am quite surprised that I spotted the name, but I was brought there for a reason: To eat!

Since I had never tried a meat pie before, I had no clue what I was looking for when I gazed up at the glass display of meat pies, so I decided to ask a dumb question: “Which is the best meat pie?”

Mince and Cheese

The girl behind the counter listed off all the flavors they had, and recommended I try the mince and cheese. But hunger was clawing at my stomach so I decided to buy that and the peppersteak. I sat nearby in the shade under a tree, excitement building as I unveiled the first pie into the sunlight.

The mince and cheese, golden and flaky, daring me to dig in. Screw the fork, I took the little golden UFO of meat and cheese with my bare hands and took a bite. Now it may have been the sun, but I swear fat angels sang from the heavens. The cheese was creamy and the mince was tender. The crust of the meat pie was perfect, a little buttery, sweet and crispy. The outer crust almost reminded me of a croissant, I smiled, then woofed down the rest.

Round two was a little harder. Even though they look small, these lil’ guys pack and punch and my stomach definitely had bigger eyes than I could handle. I was feeling full, but sitting in the little paper sleeve beside me was another delicious pie.

Peppersteak

The Peppersteak, same browned flaky crust as the mince and cheese, completely different taste. The peppersteak had fresh peppercorns on top baked into the crust, and the first bite was shocking and zesty. Inside was packed with meat and gravy and oozing with flavor. I was feeling a little overwhelmed at this point, but I did manage to eat 90% and loved every bite. It almost reminded me of biscuits and gravy back home, another one of my favorites and gave it a homey taste.

At the end of this surprisingly enormous feast, the little meat pie that could, did fill me up and end any doubt I had to what everyone was saying. I now know that one is probably enough and anytime I want a handful of crispy heaven I’ll head over to Sarge’s near the harbor.

For under $10 you can have an epic lunch, so if you visiting Auckland do you and your taste buds a favor and grab a flavor grenade AKA meat pie.

 


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