Syd's Pies, Loganholme

See YOU, Jimmy

Before I launch into this week's update, please allow me to draw your attention to the Twitter feed over to your right there....

After scratching my head for the last couple of years, I think I've finally come up with something to tweet about! All my tweets will feed through into the blog here, but if you have your own account and want to follow me over there, I'm @thepieologist. I'm happy to take suggestions for future reviews vie Twitter, am interested in what you've just eaten (pie-wise), and will probably reply to your comments fairly quickly as pie-related issues take precedence over most others in my life.

This whole Twitter thing came about because Roobs and his lovely but long-suffering family and I called into Yatala on the way to a thing on the Gold Coast a while back. We took the opportunity to call in and sample the then-recently-reviewed-by-The Pieologist Lamb and coconut curry pie. It was pretty awful. Lukewarm, lacking in character, too much gravy, and generally ordinary. I immediately broke out in hives with worry that hordes of blog followers would make the long trek down there, find the pie not as described, begin to think me a dumbass, and rebel en masse, online. I just can't take that sort of criticism.

If only there was some way, I thought, rubbing my stubble and staring into the distance, of giving real-time updates; so that people could be forewarned that - for example -  I had just purchased the last dozen Rock N Roll lamb curry pies and there wouldn't be any more available until tomorrow.....or that Yatala may have a problem with consistency (remember they also gave me lamb and pea instead of lamb curry that time at the drive-thru?). 

I think it may have been Roobs' son Will-I am (I didn't realise he could hear the voices in my head) who, without looking up from his PSP, said, 'why don't you tweet it?' Bright kid, that. Gets it from his Mum.

So I decided to get bejiggity with it, and create a Twitter account. I'm no Quade Cooper, so I won't tweet every time I think I need to fart, re-tweet when I have, then again to let you know how it smells; but I will try and keep it relevant. I'm sure you'll let me know if otherwise. So on to this week's review:

Braddles and Juice had been onto me about Syd's and there is quite a bit of good feedback on the web around this bright yellow and red beacon that sits alongside the northbound M1 at Logan. Syd's has a giant banner out the front proclaiming that it has been voted winner of Brisbane's Best Pies...by 4BC listeners. Hmmmm.

According to the signage and the web the store itself specializes in British food, and has fridges-full of exotica such as black and white pudding, haggis, faggots (no kidding) and Irn-Bru - which, for those of you who haven't had the pleasure, is like Red Bull but without all the sweat-inducing, pulse-racing, artery-bursting gear that makes Red Bull so awesome. BTW is it just me, or is all that 'British' food actually Scottish food?

So I wheeled the big silver bus in there and was immediately greeted by a buxom wee lassie behind the counter. The pie cabinet looked very appetizing, but with a belly already bursting with  lamb coconut curry pie from 10 minutes south, I decided to pick up a couple of coldies for the freezer. The lady suggested her favourite, a curry beef (a woman after my own heart) and the pepper steak. I think the price was around the $5-mark for a standard sized pie.

They cooked up quite nicely without any egg wash due to the good quality puff pastry lid, although the bottom casing was a bit thin for my liking. I recently had a conversation with the plumber to the stars, and we agreed that a slightly soft base is a good thing in most instances - as long as it still holds the pie together. A hard, crumbly,  biscuit-like base is often dry and awful, but at the other end of the pastry spectrum so is a soft, thick, undercooked base. Those are OK for blokes like the plumber who eat their pies upside down whilst driving between jobs doing the work of 10 men and 50 women, but for those of us that return to the air conditioned confines of an office environment, those heavy bases can sit in your guts like a lead ball for the rest of the afternoon. Not nice. Takes your mind right off all the porn you're downloading.

The curry beef base would have been OK had the filling been less sloppy - it just needed a bit more structure to hold it all in and pass the driving test. As it was, I wouldn't recommend that a novice try eating this pie in a moving vehicle. 

The plumber to the stars could probably get away with it due to his years of training (and undeniable pedigree), but not your average schmo. A bloke like Garnet the Magnificent wouldn't have trouble eating it whilst punching 16 gears in a crash box with no synchro, but he's a law unto himself. As you can see from the photo, I'm holding the pie tipped up on its end and Elvis is still trying to depart the building on the right hand side. You've been warned.

The mince itself was a type 1 Keens curry, and had a good balance of flavour without being hot. The curry powder-waver could have been a bit more enthusiastic over the pot with this one, but it was OK. My score is a 6.5/10, which means it doesn't qualify for a mention on the leaderboard.

The pepper steak was pretty good, with nice chunks of beef and a decent hit of pepper in a fairly thick and well-seasoned gravy. As you can see from the photo, the base looks to be a bit thicker than the curry pie for some reason: it was actually pretty good and had no trouble holding together. This pie isn't going to set the world on fire, but you won't hate it either. I'm awarding a 7/10.

I subsequently returned several weeks later and had the Steak Dianne pie, which as you can see also looked like a million bucks. That dried black thing on top is baked parsley. I didn't add it - it was already stuck to the pie.

The flavour, as per the others, was pretty good without being great. It didn't seem to have any standout flavours of the 3 main 'Dianne' ingredients though: Worcestershire, brandy, or cream, but overall flavour was OK and the meat was quite tender. It's another 7/10. Unremarkable, but inoffensive.

All in all, Syd's is worth a stop if you're travelling north up the M1 and you're sick of Yatala and want to try something new. Sizes are pretty good, and prices are reasonable....and that bonnie wee lassie...hoots, man!