The Banana Cabana - Chillingham NSW

Your resident Pieologist has travelled to the far-flung reaches of this great brown land to you bring you the best - and worst - that Australia's bakeries have to offer. This week, it's northern NSW, but first, a very important community service announcement regarding Safer Communities Together:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7UX8KASASU

Tremendous stuff - thanks Mike.

This place was recommended by Macca, a Kiwi….as the best pie ever. Between you and me, I think he’s as bent as a 9-bob note, but I had had some good pies from Georgie Pie in Auckland (more on that another time), so gave him the benefit of the doubt and a bunch of us headed down to Chillingham on the bikes through the picturesque Numinbah Valley; aka Smugglers Way.

Perhaps Macca knew the route because he'd smuggled drugs over the border in the past – I don’t know….but mid-pie, a black Ferrari drove past, closely followed by a Lamborghini Gallardo (also in stealth black). Both were driven by early 30-somethings, who no doubt had regular jobs as bank johnnies or plumbers. Coincidence? I think not.

First impressions of the shop. Well, see for yourself…the thing is a tin shed beside the road, fer Chrissakes, so first impressions were not good. Secondly, it’s called ‘The Banana Cabana’; not the most confidence-inspiring title for a good pie shop. More like something you’d find in the laneways of Fortitude Valley, where a gentleman might go to relax with other gentlemen after a hard day at the office. Hmmmm, this is the sort of place a kiwi would lead you to, I thought to myself. Then while you’re trying to enjoy your pie, he’d go on to tell you how Richie McCaw is the best player to ever live, and how his Mum bumped into Dan Carter’s Mum in the Qantas Club one day, and they had a great chat, she was such a lovely person, just like Dan….you can see where he gets it from, etc. etc. Do me a favour.

So I made my way past the cartons of green mangoes and organic finger limes and found a very friendly and welcoming chap who asked how he could help. I secured a curry beef, a curry chicken, and a can of Coke (diet, natch) for the very reasonable sum of $10 even.

The pastry looked a little underdone in the baking stakes, as the picture shows, and this was confirmed in the tasting. The top pastry could have been browned some more (see previous Maleny posting), but the bottom pastry was well cooked and held together very nicely without the help of a little foil nest. It would definitely pass the driving test.

Curry Beef Pie

Temperature was absolutely perfect: hot enough to satisfy without scalding. This was your Type 1 curry pie (Keens curry powder), and it had a very good mixture of beef mince and beef chunks (often it’s only one or the other), while the amount of curry in the mix was finely judged: enough to let you know about it, without worrying about the 2 hour drive home. There was also a reasonable amount of filling, and a perfect level of viscosity. This pie would never dribble out into your lap leaving you with an embarrassing explanation when you collect ‘the package’ from Bruno the Bandido outside town.

Score is an 8.5/10 (with half a point deducted for the top)

Curry Beef Innards

Surprisingly, the chicken curry pie wasn’t as well balanced, was runnier, and had corn in it (which probably accounted for the extra liquid). Now, chicken and corn go together very well in many dishes: soup, quesadillas, and the like – but there’s no place for corn in a pie. Unless it’s a pot pie, which isn’t a ‘real’ pie anyway – it’s an American casserole. If you have to add any veges other than onion, I can live with potato, sweet potato, and peas but spare me the corn. I didn't bother taking a photo.

Score: 5/10

Ned Kelly Pie

Just as an aside, Pedro the barrister-at-large ordered this Ned Kelly pie (the barrister naturally choosing a pie named after a criminal), and raved about it. For those unfamiliar with the Ned Kelly, they are usually mince, topped with an egg, then bacon, then cheese - sans lid.

Pedro didn’t share, so it was obviously good, but he agreed to stop demolishing it long enough for me to take this photo. Yes friends, that is a large chunk of corned beef / brisket that’s about to drop into his well-manicured palm and tumble onto the sleeve of his Hugo Boss lumberjack shirt; and the top was all melty cheese, bacon and egg. Now that’s a gourmet pie!

So whilst I don’t have it in me to take back all the nasty things I said about Macca the Kiwi, I will say that if you ever find yourself heading over the border with a paper bag full of unmarked bills, do yourself a favour and make a quick stop at the Chillingham Banana Cabana – tell ‘em The Pieologist sent you.

And that's it for 2011, folks - but don't worry; I'll be doing plenty of research over the Christmas break on your behalf. If anyone would like to volunteer to accompany me on a road trip to Yatala over the holidays to satisfy the thousands of demands for a review, please let me know. Just a reminder, if you do have a pie you like, take a photo and email it to me. I've had several solid leads so far from readers, but a picture is worth 1000 words, as they say.

So merry Christmas to you and your families, and stay safe. Feliz navidad....or as Flair would say,
'release my fat duck....
release my fat duck....
I wanna wish you a Maori Christmas
I wanna wish you a Maori Christmas
I wanna wish you a Maori Christmas, from the bottom of my heaaaaaaart!'

If you need help with the tune:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMtuVP8Mj4o