To celebrate British Pie Week, I read quite a lot of articles on the best pies in London. There were numerous contenders, mostly leading to The Windmill, but many others had their accolades too. It's surprising how much a pie costs around here - I suppose it's a far cry from the old AFL footy Four'n'Twenty ones. It isn't common at all to get pies as a sit down main in Australia (maybe at a pub with peas and mash) but I've always preferred them from bakeries with their exquisite skills in buttery pastry.
But when in London during British Pie Week, fork out for a pie. And fork out I did at the remarkably fancy looking Holborn Dining Room. The scene and setting is beautiful - there's no doubt about that. A continuous series of taxis and chauffeurs bring diners or hotel guests back to the safety of this compound.
Unfortunately what I was most looking forward to was the craft pie menu they have online, particularly the multi-pork version with 4 different cuts. However there were no special pies available, only the standard menu Curried Mutton Pie with mango salsa £19. It's a very high price for a pie with no sides. They told me each one is made to order. I suppose that adds a bit of price to it.
The pie is quite nice with a thick-ish pastry that is more on the crisp side than the chewy. The pastry wasn't overly rich or buttery. The filling was a very mild flavoured but reasonable quality cut of lamb, with an also mild curry sauce. The mango gives a bit of sweet contrast. Overall it was nice but nothing too special.
The other items tried were the Chicken Salad (with avocado & smoked bacon) £10 (ie. a fancy person's caesar), a Mac & Cheese that lacked the strong umami cheese flavour that it desperately needs, and an excellent umami Truffle & Parmesan Fries £6 that really made up for the weaker flavours in the other things.
The setting is lovely, the service is really exceptional and attentive, and I can't doubt that the cooking skill is there. But I'd much prefer to spend that amount of money elsewhere for the amount of pure flavour the food had.