"Food Wars" hosts Harry Kersh and Joe Avella travel across London to find the best pie and mash in the city. They'll be visiting five locations in just one day to see what the city has to offer. This is "Food Tours."
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00:00 All right, Joe, we're back at Borough Market.
00:01 Fantastic.
00:02 Brought you here because we wanted you to experience
00:03 an authentic British pork pie.
00:05 We're going to go to Mrs. King's Pies.
00:07 Mrs. King's, OK.
00:08 Now, the food looks excellent here,
00:10 and it's very traditional.
00:11 We're going to try it now, and I'll
00:12 explain to you a few things that make it
00:13 a classic British dish. - Fantastic.
00:15 I'm freezing.
00:16 Let's get some hot to eat.
00:17 Ooh, bad news.
00:18 What is up, my man?
00:26 Hello.
00:27 Could we get two small Melton Mowbray pork pies, please?
00:32 Grab one of those.
00:35 So I couldn't help but notice that this isn't hot.
00:38 No, so these are served cold.
00:40 Especially if you ask for a hot one at Mrs. King's,
00:42 there are Google reviews suggesting
00:44 that you will be yelled at.
00:45 So don't do that here.
00:47 But so how these are made, these are Melton Mowbray pork pies.
00:49 There is a distinction between a Melton Mowbray pork pie
00:51 and a regular pork pie.
00:53 To be called Melton Mowbray, they have to follow
00:54 a certain set of rules.
00:55 OK.
00:56 So a Melton Mowbray pork pie specifically
00:58 is cooked in a freestanding way.
01:01 So you notice that you kind of get this crimping
01:02 around the top.
01:03 That's because it's not being cooked in a mold.
01:05 The meat in here is obviously pork.
01:08 Some pork pies you might see are cooked so they're still
01:10 a bit pink in the middle.
01:10 But with a Melton Mowbray specifically,
01:12 they actually cook it all the way through.
01:13 So it's got that kind of more grayish color.
01:15 That's all right.
01:16 It's cooked.
01:17 During the cooking process, obviously,
01:18 because of the fat and the juices that are in the pork,
01:21 the pork will kind of shrink down.
01:22 So what they will then do is through these little holes
01:24 in the top--
01:25 Yeah, I see injection marks.
01:26 --little hole, pour some jelly in, wait for that to set.
01:29 But then that way, you don't have
01:31 the kind of cooked pork inside it rattling around in the pie.
01:34 Oh, nice.
01:35 It holds it all in place.
01:36 If I had to say--
01:37 I've had a guess.
01:38 I would say this weighs two American pounds.
01:41 Yeah, it's hefty, right?
01:43 I'm going to be honest with you.
01:44 I didn't know any of these were going to be served
01:46 cold or room temperature.
01:48 Sure.
01:48 But right now, this is kind of what I was expecting today.
01:51 OK.
01:52 I'm not excited about this at all.
01:53 Like visually or--
01:54 Visually and also the horror story of what's inside of it
01:58 and why.
01:59 And like cold pork.
02:01 Yeah, it's delicious.
02:03 Come on, man.
02:04 All right.
02:04 So I just bite into it?
02:06 Like, could you break it?
02:07 We're going to have to just bite into it.
02:07 I mean, you might want to--
02:08 like if we had a knife, we could cut it into slices.
02:10 But--
02:10 I guess I could kind of--
02:11 With this one, I'm just going to be biting straight in.
02:13 Oh, no.
02:14 I shouldn't have done that.
02:16 I really wish I didn't do that.
02:17 You don't want to see how the sausage is made, quite
02:19 literally.
02:19 All right.
02:20 Cheers, man.
02:21 [CRUNCHING]
02:25 Mm-hmm.
02:26 I love pork pies.
02:28 I shamelessly love pork pies.
02:30 I do really like this.
02:31 There you go.
02:32 But it's like I'm eating leftovers.
02:35 In the sense that the cold meat--
02:37 the pastry's nice, but you know, you usually eat pastries
02:40 when they're still warm.
02:41 The spice, the flavoring they put in the meat is fantastic.
02:44 It is what I come to expect from coming to this country.
02:46 For you guys, whenever you have any meat,
02:48 you guys are really good with lots of different spices.
02:51 You better be good with spices, considering.
02:55 So that flavor is really good.
02:57 I went from being completely put off by this
02:59 to being like, yeah, I kind of get it.
03:00 I'll take that.
03:01 I wouldn't be upset if I got this out of place, I guess.
03:06 I will say, usually, I would be eating this cold.
03:08 I would probably have some sauces with it,
03:10 I think, traditionally, which we don't have right now.
03:13 I think mustard goes excellently with a pork pie.
03:15 Also, maybe a chutney of some kind can be really good.
03:18 Yeah, sauce really hit the spot on this.
03:19 It feels a little dry, but the meat's flavored really well.
03:22 And I gotta say, the pastry, very impressive.
03:25 This is a hot watercress pastry, very little in it.
03:28 The meat, cooked, seasoned simply,
03:31 preserved with the jelly.
03:33 It's history in a bite.
03:35 History in a bite.
03:36 OK, quick pop quiz.
03:36 How well do you know your Cockney rhyming slang?
03:39 I'm going to assume not very.
03:40 Not at all.
03:42 What do you got for me?
03:42 So one of the most famous Cockney rhyming slang words,
03:46 which I think has now just become classic British parlance,
03:49 is actually from the pork pie.
03:51 So you used to be able to say that you're telling pork pies.
03:54 And they're telling lies.
03:55 Telling lies.
03:56 Pork pies lies.
03:57 Yeah, and it's kind of morphed now into porkies.
04:00 You're telling porkies.
04:01 You're telling porkies, mates.
04:03 Right? That's how you say it?
04:04 Pretty much, yeah.
04:05 It's kind of morphed now into like--
04:06 This guy's saying porkies, isn't it?
04:07 Telling porkies, telling lies.
04:09 Yeah.
04:09 Pork pies, there you go.
04:10 Great.
04:12 OK, I don't think either of us can finish this
04:14 because we have more pies to eat.
04:15 You ready?
04:16 Yeah, I am ready.
04:18 Let's go.
04:18 All right, let's do it.
04:19 So we're at M Manzy's.
04:26 We wanted to take you here because this is the oldest
04:28 pie and mash house in London right now still operating.
04:32 Wow.
04:32 When we're talking about pie and mash here,
04:34 we're talking about East End pie and mash.
04:36 It's slightly different to pie and mash
04:37 that you might find elsewhere.
04:39 East End used to be the kind of, I guess,
04:41 more underprivileged area.
04:42 The food that you find here tended to be, yeah,
04:44 a lot more kind of like the working man's dinners.
04:46 I'm assuming it's all going to be really heavy, really starchy.
04:50 I mean, to a degree, because this is kind of the food that,
04:52 I guess, like the Industrial Revolution was built upon
04:55 in the UK.
04:55 This will fill you up, keep you fueled for your day of work
04:58 at the factory.
04:59 And what's more appetizing than the Industrial Revolution?
05:01 That's a great question.
05:03 Let's eat.
05:04 All right, man.
05:04 Is there any sugar?
05:06 No, thank you.
05:07 Are you good?
05:08 Thank you.
05:11 I hope you're hungry.
05:12 Oh, hell yeah, dude.
05:13 Get that down, yeah.
05:14 I'm having that first impressions.
05:15 This looks really good.
05:16 Yeah?
05:16 Yeah.
05:17 Good.
05:18 OK, so this is not what I was expecting at all.
05:21 Over here, I'm like, what's happening over here?
05:23 All will be explained in due time.
05:24 So this is just kind of how they serve it up.
05:27 They obviously make big batches of mashed potato,
05:29 bring it up in the kind of dumb waiter thing.
05:31 And then they just kind of have--
05:32 it's not really a scoop.
05:33 It's more like a spatula.
05:34 So they just kind of like spatula some of it
05:36 and then smear it on the plate to get it off there.
05:38 I'm going to say, I love when something
05:40 that was meant to be efficient and probably cost prohibitive
05:44 suddenly turns into like an iconic way of serving it.
05:47 I love that.
05:47 I think in many ways, this is kind
05:49 of like London's original fast food, if that makes sense.
05:51 So I think what you're saying about just efficiency
05:53 being the key is really true.
05:55 So something else showed up.
05:56 Of course.
05:56 It looks like Jell-O in a horror movie.
06:00 What is this?
06:01 So these are the jellied eels.
06:03 They are a very historic dish in London,
06:05 particularly in the East End.
06:07 It does pretty much what it says on the tin.
06:09 They get the eels, they kind of stew them, chop them up,
06:12 and then put them in jelly to preserve them.
06:14 No.
06:14 So these are actually normally served cold.
06:17 You don't seem thrilled by that.
06:19 So I would like to fill up with the thing
06:21 that I actually want to eat.
06:22 Yeah, it's kind of up to you how you want to approach this.
06:24 You can generally just kind of like slice at it
06:26 and wait and see what comes out.
06:28 So the pie is mincemeat, quite a lot of like beef fat content
06:31 in there.
06:32 Sue it.
06:33 Cut yourself a perfect bite, and then we'll give it a try.
06:36 What would you say is a perfect bite?
06:38 Probably get some potato on it.
06:39 Just a bit of everything.
06:39 A little bit of mash, a little bit of the sauce.
06:42 OK.
06:42 Let's go.
06:43 Cheers, my man.
06:43 Cheers.
06:44 Yeah, this is really good.
06:48 Oh, this is fantastic.
06:50 It's one of those dishes that has just
06:51 been perfected over so many years.
06:53 Yeah.
06:53 Because everything on the plate works together so well,
06:55 there's like no wasted space whatsoever.
06:58 So you might have noticed this green sauce on the plate.
07:01 I have.
07:01 This is called the liquor.
07:03 There's alcohol in this?
07:04 So it's spelled like you would spell the alcohol,
07:07 but there is no alcohol in this, unfortunately.
07:09 What this actually is is a predominantly parsley sauce.
07:13 Which is kind of like a fragrant herbal sauce
07:15 to have with your pie and mash.
07:17 You had mentioned something about inside.
07:19 I've seen ground beef, gravy, and water.
07:22 Yeah, so what I normally do is roll out
07:24 like a big sheet of pastry, cut the little pie dish-sized
07:28 pieces, put it in there, and then hose it down with water.
07:31 Hose it down.
07:32 Hose it down.
07:32 There's like a hose involved.
07:34 Oh, yeah, got it.
07:36 This is kind of done for a few reasons.
07:38 It helps the base of the pie stick to the lid of the pie.
07:42 Because these are very much like self-contained pies.
07:44 Yeah, it was tough to get in there.
07:45 Yeah, it's like a sealed in little package of meat.
07:48 But then also, it just kind of bunks it out.
07:50 Because then you're putting the meat in there,
07:52 but it just stretches the sort of like meat juices
07:55 and the gravy that's in the pie a little bit further as well.
07:57 I think this is so fantastic.
07:58 You're right.
07:59 The gravy, the liquor, whatever you guys are calling it,
08:02 is so fantastic.
08:05 I would be remissed if I didn't at least try the jelly deals.
08:11 Yeah, I think we do have to, for science, if nothing else.
08:14 So I would eat the whole thing like a sushi roll,
08:18 just kind of like the whole thing pops right in?
08:20 I think pretty much just grab a piece, pop it in.
08:22 Looking for the smallest one.
08:24 I will say it again.
08:25 Watch out for bones.
08:26 Oh, you weren't kidding.
08:27 I like almost stabbed one.
08:28 Ready to go.
08:29 All right, cheers.
08:30 There's bones in here.
08:30 Welcome to London, man.
08:31 Thanks.
08:32 So good.
08:40 Jeez, I like an aftershock there.
08:41 Not my favorite thing.
08:47 Yep, that's fine.
08:48 It's OK that we couldn't bring you around on the jelly deals,
08:50 because you do seem to have enjoyed the pie mash
08:52 and liquorice.
08:52 I would absolutely kill this whole thing.
08:54 I think this is so fantastic.
08:55 Ready to eat some more?
08:56 Yes.
08:56 All right, let's head out.
08:57 Let's do it.
08:57 OK, Mother Mash.
09:05 Mother Mash.
09:06 We're here.
09:07 We are.
09:07 So we're taking you here because they're really
09:09 focused in on the mash, as the name suggests.
09:11 Offer a lot of different options here.
09:13 This is just some really elevated, nicely made pies
09:15 that we can discuss and try.
09:18 I'm surprisingly still hungry.
09:20 Yeah?
09:21 Got room for like two or three more pies?
09:24 So there's a couple of things I think we should try
09:26 on the menu at Mother Mash.
09:27 I think we should try a couple of like slightly jazzed up
09:31 mashes, for example.
09:32 I want to try the cheesy mustard and maybe the horseradish
09:34 as well.
09:35 Yeah.
09:35 Those sound pretty good.
09:36 And then we have a few pie options.
09:38 Definitely we want to try the steak and black heart
09:40 stout pie.
09:41 Stop what?
09:42 Steak and black heart stout.
09:45 OK, it's a black heart stout.
09:46 Yes.
09:47 I heard black and heart.
09:48 I was like, people eat anything over here.
09:50 There's no heart meat in it, so you're OK.
09:52 We're going to try that one because steak pies,
09:55 like steak and ale pies, steak and kidney pies
09:56 are a really big deal over here.
09:57 We eat a lot of those.
09:58 And I think this is going to be a good one to give you
10:00 an idea of what they like.
10:01 And then I think we should also maybe try the chicken pie
10:03 as well.
10:03 We have chicken, mushroom, and bacon one.
10:05 I bet that one's actually really good.
10:06 Sounds pretty good to me.
10:07 Yeah, this is great.
10:08 OK, so I've noticed my horseradish here.
10:13 It looks like they just gave us a dollop of horseradish
10:15 on the mash.
10:16 Yes.
10:16 Versus weren't you expecting they would mix it in?
10:18 I thought they might have grated and blended it in.
10:20 But it's still there.
10:21 You can just mix it yourself.
10:22 Yeah, perfect.
10:23 Job done.
10:23 I feel like we should just cut it and figure out
10:26 which pie is which.
10:28 Oh, this one is like--
10:29 Ooh, that's flaky pastry.
10:30 Yeah, I totally got the chicken one.
10:31 I got the beef.
10:32 OK.
10:32 OK, nice.
10:33 That's all right.
10:34 We can mix and match.
10:35 Yeah, here we go.
10:36 OK.
10:37 Cheers.
10:37 Oh, yeah.
10:42 This is very good.
10:44 This is really good.
10:45 Can I get a little swishy for sure?
10:48 Hit that horseradish, though.
10:49 It's not powerful at all.
10:50 It's like--
10:51 No?
10:51 --right around a horseradish flavor
10:53 without being too powerful.
10:55 Nice gentle, gentle kick.
10:56 Yeah.
10:58 Man, that is too big of a bite, but--
11:01 No such thing, man.
11:02 We're professional eaters.
11:04 Oh, wow.
11:06 The stout.
11:09 The stout gravy, man, that's really good.
11:13 I'm glad I've tried both.
11:14 I think I probably do slightly prefer the beef one.
11:16 I definitely prefer this one, too.
11:17 There's just something about that combination of,
11:19 I guess, the richness of the alcohol kind of cooked away,
11:22 leaving you with this like--
11:24 Definitely the richness of a stout.
11:25 Yes.
11:26 But not so much in the sense of it tastes like beer.
11:28 No, definitely not.
11:28 It just has that stout richness to it.
11:30 And it really works with the meat, I think.
11:32 Yes.
11:33 The red meat particularly.
11:34 It's such a nice little harmony there.
11:36 It's really comforting.
11:37 How's the mash?
11:38 You liking the mash here?
11:39 The mash is fantastic here.
11:40 It's in the name.
11:41 It's a star of the show.
11:41 I will say, so the first place we went to,
11:43 the mashed potatoes were fine.
11:45 If I was going to eat that whole plate,
11:47 I probably would have salted it.
11:47 I did really like that gravy.
11:49 But this, these potatoes are perfect.
11:50 No notes.
11:52 Oh, wow.
11:54 This is it for me.
11:56 This is what I'd imagine it'd be.
11:57 It feels like--
11:59 I know we've been to places that have been around longer.
12:01 But if I would think traditionally what I'd expect,
12:03 it'd be this.
12:04 And this is maybe of the highest caliber of what I think
12:08 you could get in this country.
12:09 Yeah, I think it's a very traditional pie,
12:10 but just done really well, like slightly elevated levels.
12:13 I think the pastry, I really like the texture of it.
12:16 I want to just do a little bit of the pastry.
12:18 I think maybe compared to a Manzi's or something,
12:20 it's not as thick a pastry.
12:23 I feel like maybe those pies are more transportable,
12:26 whereas this is very much designed to be like,
12:27 you're sitting down, you have a plate or a bowl,
12:29 you're slicing into it and eating it like that.
12:31 If you were carrying this around in your pocket,
12:33 it's a little bit too flaky.
12:34 And I think we'd just fall apart.
12:36 Yeah, you're not getting very far.
12:36 That'd be funny to get to the office.
12:38 Oh, brought my own pie to swap.
12:40 I'm at desk.
12:41 Your keys is like covered in gravy.
12:43 Yeah, oh, Harry.
12:44 Sorry, guys.
12:44 This is really fantastic.
12:49 I like the chicken pie.
12:50 I get a lot of the bacon flavor, actually.
12:52 I feel like there's a good amount of bacon in here.
12:54 That richness, meatiness really does come through as well.
12:57 I'm wondering, how popular is a chicken pie with this?
13:02 I feel like not very, right?
13:04 They're pretty popular.
13:05 Yeah, and not only that, but they are historic.
13:08 And they've been popular all throughout history as well.
13:10 Oh, yeah?
13:11 Oh, yeah.
13:11 All right, fine.
13:12 I guess I was wrong.
13:12 You want some proof, Joe?
13:14 Archaeologists actually discovered a tablet
13:17 in Mesopotamian Sumeria, which is about 4,000 years old.
13:21 That's old.
13:22 Can you guess what was written on this tablet?
13:24 The Ten Commandments?
13:25 I don't know.
13:26 Close enough.
13:26 It was a recipe for chicken pie.
13:30 And this is preserved.
13:31 We can translate, and we can read this.
13:33 And you can, if you want, make a 4,000-year-old chicken pie.
13:36 Oh, interesting.
13:37 So is that better or worse than chicken pot pies
13:39 that you've had in the States?
13:40 Way better.
13:40 Way better.
13:41 But I've not had a chicken pot pie that even touched this.
13:44 OK.
13:44 Yeah, this is fantastic.
13:45 That's high praise.
13:46 I really like it here.
13:47 And of these two, that one is-- oh, my god.
13:50 That is so great.
13:51 I think overall, this has been a really excellent meal.
13:53 This has been fantastic.
13:54 I love this place.
13:55 Good call.
13:55 All right, but we do still have more pies to eat.
13:58 Let's hit it.
13:59 All right.
13:59 [MUSIC PLAYING]
14:04 OK, Joe.
14:05 We're right in front of a Gregg's.
14:07 That's really cool.
14:07 I feel like we couldn't let you come to London
14:09 and talk about meat in pastry without experiencing a Gregg's.
14:13 You've never had one before, right?
14:14 That's right.
14:15 Ever since we started Food Wars, I've
14:16 been getting nothing but messages
14:17 from assuming teenagers here in Great Britain who are like,
14:21 you've got to try Gregg's, mate.
14:22 So let's try Gregg's.
14:24 We're finally making their dreams,
14:25 and hopefully yours come true.
14:26 Up for debate as to whether or not they actually serve pies,
14:29 it's like meat in pastry.
14:31 We'll have a discussion about that.
14:32 But I think we're going to grab a steak, make in a sausage roll,
14:34 just so you can experience a Gregg's.
14:36 All right, let's do it.
14:37 All right, cool.
14:39 And I want to go in here and see what it's like.
14:42 Joe, I'm handing you a Gregg's sausage roll.
14:44 Gotcha.
14:45 These are iconic.
14:46 They're extremely cheap.
14:47 That's kind of half of the appeal of Gregg's,
14:49 is that it's very affordable, hot and fresh.
14:51 They're pumping these out throughout the day.
14:52 So you can go in.
14:53 You need to give this a try.
14:54 They also do a vegan one.
14:55 We haven't got that one.
14:56 Are you going to try it as well?
14:57 Do you want me to save you a bite?
14:57 Yeah, save me a bite.
14:58 OK, OK.
14:59 My first time ever trying a Gregg's sausage roll.
15:01 I love Gregg's so much.
15:02 Talk us through it.
15:09 Wheels are turning.
15:10 This is very good.
15:11 This sausage reminds me of American sausage.
15:14 Sure.
15:14 Yeah?
15:15 The pastry is cooked really well.
15:16 Yeah, I can tell that these are kind of mass produced.
15:19 But still, all right.
15:23 Definitely eat it outside.
15:24 Yep.
15:25 Flaky pastry.
15:25 Yeah, very flaky.
15:26 Overall, yeah, it's very good.
15:28 Right.
15:28 Yeah.
15:29 It's like a sort of hot and ready snack for like--
15:30 it's like a one pound 20 or something.
15:32 It's really that cheap?
15:33 It's really cheap.
15:33 Oh, wow.
15:34 That's good.
15:35 That price is nice.
15:37 You walk into Gregg's and you come out with so much food.
15:39 Yeah, and high blood pressure.
15:40 Yeah.
15:41 We're swapping around.
15:42 Next up, you have a steak bake.
15:44 Be careful, because half the experience of these
15:46 is biting into it and it's like molten lava inside.
15:49 OK.
15:49 So just have a little-- you know, have some caution.
15:51 Is it good?
15:52 Go for it, man.
15:53 I'm nibbling from the other end of this one.
15:56 This tastes kind of off.
15:57 [LAUGHTER]
16:00 You might have some angry Geordies in the comments, but--
16:04 I want you to take a bite of this.
16:05 Uh-huh.
16:06 And I want you to think of one word.
16:08 And that word is seafood.
16:09 [LAUGHTER]
16:12 Do you want me to taste like that,
16:17 or do we get an off one?
16:19 This is how they normally taste, and I do not taste seafood.
16:21 I don't know what you've got there, man.
16:23 [LAUGHTER]
16:24 Does that not taste pretty similar to, like,
16:28 the steak filling that we've had before?
16:30 No, not really.
16:32 This, I don't know.
16:34 But you're going in for more, so you seem to like it.
16:36 Because I'm like, am I losing my mind?
16:38 [LAUGHTER]
16:40 You're kind of, like, doing some work on that thing, man.
16:43 Well, I just want to make sure.
16:45 Yeah, this I don't like.
16:47 This I do not like.
16:48 OK, fine.
16:49 I would be-- and I'm glad we had this for the show.
16:53 So I was definitely planning on coming
16:54 to Greg's while I was here.
16:55 And I'm glad I know that this is terrible and you paid for it.
17:00 But that sausage roll, man, that's really good.
17:02 That's the one.
17:02 Yeah, that might be the one to beat.
17:03 I'm kidding.
17:04 It's not.
17:04 [LAUGHTER]
17:05 It's not.
17:05 Do you think this qualifies as a pie?
17:07 Because it is like two layers of pastry encasing some meat.
17:11 Yeah, I think pastry with hot meat inside of it,
17:14 and like a gravy or a sauce.
17:17 Pie, if it's Italian, it's a calzone.
17:19 If it's American, it's a Hot Pocket.
17:22 Yeah, that's a pie.
17:24 Well, I'm glad that you've experienced to Greg's.
17:26 I'm sad that you didn't like the steak bake.
17:27 Terrible.
17:28 I feel like in terms of this video,
17:29 this might not be a favorite.
17:30 But are you glad that you've at least tried Greg's now?
17:32 Yeah, very happy with Greg's.
17:34 And the flagship one.
17:35 And wait, Leicester Square?
17:37 Leicester Square?
17:38 Leicester Square, yeah.
17:39 I keep adding the Escher like it's a Worcestershire sauce.
17:42 Leicestershire.
17:43 Yeah, OK, great.
17:44 So I feel like I got one more in me.
17:46 Yeah, so we're going to go straight to M&M's World.
17:49 And then we'll go get some more pies.
17:50 OK, cool.
17:50 Pie M&M's.
17:51 Let's go.
17:52 So we're at Willy's Pies.
18:00 These guys only really started kind of in lockdown,
18:02 actually, but have achieved huge renown and success
18:05 across London.
18:06 You're intrigued by the filling.
18:08 Yeah, I saw they had the Oregon Josh.
18:10 So you have the beef Oregon Josh pie.
18:13 I have the steak and Stichelton pie.
18:16 Basically, Willy's Pies are known for doing some slightly
18:18 more like gourmet, I suppose, approach to pie fillings.
18:21 You wouldn't find these on the average pub menu in the UK,
18:24 for example.
18:24 OK, cool.
18:25 Well, I'm excited to try it.
18:26 Which one do you want to do first?
18:27 Let's start with-- I feel like that's more of a main one.
18:30 That's more of a fun one, right?
18:32 You said this is steak and what?
18:33 This is steak and Stichelton.
18:35 What's Stichelton?
18:37 So Stichelton is a cheese, basically a blue cheese.
18:40 I'm hoping it will pair nicely with the richness.
18:44 Yeah, the blue cheese is a surprise.
18:46 Yeah?
18:47 Yeah.
18:47 Look at this guy.
18:48 Here we go.
18:51 That's going to go in my hands, right?
18:52 That is a--
18:54 Yeah, you see the inside there?
18:55 It's a well-filled pie.
18:56 And I just want to say, for the record,
18:57 they didn't fill those with jelly,
18:59 and it's perfectly fine.
19:01 I have no problem with this.
19:02 No?
19:02 No issues whatsoever?
19:03 No.
19:04 Oh, I can smell the--
19:05 you smell a bit of the cheese there?
19:06 Yeah.
19:06 Oh, man, that smells really good.
19:08 That does smell good, actually.
19:09 I always like it when we get to this stage of the shoot,
19:11 we're always very tired, don't really want to eat pies.
19:13 And then the food is in front of us, and we're like, woohoo.
19:16 I literally feel like I'm--
19:18 like what is it, those old cartoons where
19:20 they put the pie on the sill, and it's--
19:22 and then Bugs Bunny gets it, and he's
19:24 like floating through the sky to the pie, and like, eh.
19:26 Yeah, so I'm ready to bite into this.
19:28 Ready to go?
19:28 Last pies of the day.
19:29 Let's give it a try.
19:30 Let's give it a try.
19:31 Mm.
19:36 OK.
19:37 Because you told me blue cheese, I could taste it,
19:39 but I wouldn't have thought-- if you'd just given it to me
19:41 like straight up, I wouldn't have thought like, oh,
19:43 and I wouldn't even thought there was cheese in it.
19:45 All it did was really accent the flavor,
19:47 give it a perfect savory taste to it.
19:51 Yeah.
19:51 By the way, this pastry, oof, is really good.
19:54 That's really good, right?
19:55 Yeah.
19:56 Yeah, I like the use of the blue cheese in here.
19:58 Yeah.
19:59 I think it gives it that like--
20:01 just a bit of something different, you know?
20:02 Yeah.
20:03 I think, obviously, like the steak and stout one
20:06 that we had earlier, for example, was brilliant.
20:08 But it was kind of a lot of the same flavors.
20:10 It's a lot of that like beefy richness, really punchy.
20:13 Can I make an observation that maybe you're about to make?
20:14 Go on.
20:15 This place is doing more with the pie than any other place.
20:20 Other places have been doing it like, this is classic.
20:22 This is how it's always been done.
20:23 Maybe mixing up a little bit with the classics.
20:25 But I feel like the attitude here is like,
20:27 there's so much more to do with pies and meat and flavor,
20:30 right?
20:30 Yeah.
20:31 Yeah.
20:31 I think so.
20:32 I think these guys are doing it--
20:33 like I say, adding that blue cheese really
20:34 gives you that extra like funk, that little bit of like tang
20:37 and sourness.
20:38 Helps kind of cut through.
20:39 Because it can be something that's
20:40 very heavy and very dense and very rich.
20:42 Yeah.
20:43 And I think, actually, almost ironically,
20:45 adding cheese to that kind of helps it.
20:46 Yeah.
20:47 Yeah.
20:47 That's very good.
20:48 All right.
20:49 And then--
20:49 Speaking of innovation, pie innovation in the UK.
20:51 Speaking of pie innovation, speaking
20:53 of doing different things with pies,
20:55 this is a beef Rogan Josh pie.
20:57 Wow.
20:57 Now, what makes it Rogan Josh?
21:01 So a Rogan Josh is a popular curry dish here in the UK.
21:04 Yes.
21:05 Very tasty.
21:06 And obviously, they've just taken
21:07 some of the flavors from that, added them to the beef,
21:09 and then put it in a pie.
21:10 So there's curry in this?
21:11 It's like a curry sauce in a pie, yeah.
21:14 OK.
21:14 That does sound exciting.
21:15 Yeah, it does sound.
21:16 Do you want to do the honors here?
21:17 No, this one already has the other beef on it.
21:18 So if you want to go ahead.
21:19 I don't know how you do it.
21:21 [LAUGHTER]
21:22 You ever heard the expression, shall I be mother?
21:24 No, what does that mean?
21:26 So if I was offering to cut or something or serve you pie--
21:28 Because your mom would cut you things in your head.
21:30 --you'd be like, shall I be mother?
21:31 All right.
21:32 I mean, visually, it looks about the same.
21:34 I don't think I could do a line.
21:34 It may be a little more light of day.
21:36 Oh, now look at that.
21:37 I see a little curry green in there.
21:40 Oh, another Rogan smell.
21:41 Ooh, the smell, though.
21:42 Ooh.
21:42 Ooh.
21:43 Ooh.
21:44 I'm smelling like coconuts.
21:46 Yeah.
21:46 Let's do it.
21:47 Cheers.
21:47 Yeah.
21:52 Mm.
21:53 Yeah.
21:54 That's good.
21:55 The curry is perfect.
21:56 It pairs so well with the pastry, right?
21:59 It does, yeah.
21:59 Right?
22:00 Because when you have naan bread, usually we have a roogehosh.
22:04 Like, it does have a little bit of sweetness to it.
22:06 It's also very garlicky, usually.
22:07 Yeah.
22:08 So it's almost like that in a bite.
22:10 Mm-hmm.
22:11 I like the creaminess of the coconut.
22:14 There's some heat from ginger going on there.
22:16 Very good.
22:17 I agree.
22:18 I think it's almost like a sort of British version
22:20 of a samosa, in a way.
22:21 Because you've got the pastry with this kind of filling in it.
22:24 That is true.
22:24 That's the kind of image that's coming to mind.
22:26 Yeah.
22:26 That's really good.
22:27 The beef is so tender.
22:28 You can tell they've really taken their time
22:30 and simmered this.
22:31 This whole place has really opened my eyes to the fact
22:33 that you can make a pie with all types of different flavor
22:36 profiles.
22:37 And you can even reach across to other cuisines
22:40 and put it in here, too.
22:41 I mean, sky's the limit, really, what you can do.
22:44 And good for them.
22:45 Good on them for doing that.
22:46 This is fantastic.
22:47 These both are very good.
22:48 They are really good.
22:48 I'm very impressed.
22:49 Yeah.
22:49 I mean, a Rogan Josh pie has kind of
22:51 got me thinking about all the other things
22:53 that I've seen put in pies before.
22:55 It's kind of like a historical thing in the UK
22:57 to just put random stuff in pies.
22:58 Have you ever heard of Geoffrey Hudson?
23:00 I don't think I know Geoff now.
23:01 How about Lord Minimus?
23:02 I don't think I know him.
23:05 I'm not too fond of my lords.
23:07 Please allow me to educate you.
23:09 Lord Minimus, a.k.a.
23:10 Geoffrey Hudson, was a small person
23:13 who was presented to the court of King Charles in a pie.
23:16 No.
23:17 That didn't happen, but go on.
23:18 Burst out of the pie wearing a tiny suit of armor
23:21 and recited poetry to everyone.
23:23 Come on.
23:23 You can't be running up on royalty in the 1600s
23:26 back then, right?
23:27 They didn't have TV back then.
23:28 They had to come up with ways to entertain themselves.
23:30 Putting people in pies apparently
23:31 was the chosen option.
23:31 No, I understand all that.
23:32 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
23:33 But the surprise is like-- that to me is like, get him.
23:38 Right?
23:39 Because let's think of it the other way.
23:40 An assassin comes to get the king, and he jumps down.
23:42 He's like, I'm going to get you.
23:44 The king's like, all right, now before we kill you,
23:46 is this for entertainment?
23:48 Yeah, for fun.
23:48 What's going on here?
23:50 Right.
23:50 As much as I would love to sit here all evening discussing
23:53 whether or not there was a Lord Minimus,
23:56 I guess we have to make a decision about what the best
23:59 pie in London actually is.
24:01 OK.
24:01 Should we go through the ones that we've had today?
24:02 Yeah.
24:03 OK.
24:04 We had a classic Melton Mowbray pork pie.
24:07 OK.
24:07 So maybe because I went into that thinking that it
24:10 was going to be inedible, I actually was like, wow,
24:13 this is pretty good.
24:16 If I could describe it to an American audience,
24:18 I will say it's as good as either the leftovers
24:22 of a roast dinner or your Thanksgiving leftovers.
24:24 And people think that's disparaging,
24:26 but they even mention it in a Friends episode.
24:28 I think it was the moist maker sandwich.
24:30 That seems like pretty high praise.
24:31 Oh, that's very high praise.
24:32 Yeah.
24:33 I really enjoyed it.
24:34 My only drawback of this-- and like,
24:35 I don't think anybody cares what I think, but like, it's a lot.
24:38 And that thing was big.
24:39 I know people go, it didn't look that big,
24:40 but like, that thing was solid.
24:42 That was hefty.
24:42 I will say they're not all that size.
24:44 Yeah, I was eyeballing it.
24:45 If it wasn't two pounds, it's close.
24:47 Two American pounds.
24:49 So obviously we had the manzy pie.
24:51 Classic.
24:52 Felt like I was eating history on a plate.
24:53 Of course.
24:54 I was very pleasantly surprised with the pie that
24:58 made to feeling everything.
24:59 Less so with the jelly eels.
25:01 Yeah, but that's not part of the video, right?
25:02 Jelly eels are a nightmare, but whatever.
25:04 I love that bite, that everything bite
25:06 that you had said yourself is like,
25:08 it's kind of you kind of want to mix it together.
25:10 Ooh!
25:11 That could change anyone's mind.
25:13 Yeah, I think I have to agree.
25:14 It's amazing to like, eat a bite of history like that.
25:16 It's really good.
25:18 We went to Mother Mash.
25:19 Dude.
25:21 Wow.
25:22 Yeah.
25:22 First of all, a place that is emphasizing mash.
25:25 It's in the title.
25:26 And they have like, a lot of different mashes
25:28 you do not get in the United States.
25:30 That was kind of like, what I was expecting.
25:32 It's in a dish.
25:33 It's on top of the mash.
25:34 It's smothered in gravy.
25:36 Big plate that's kind of like a bowl.
25:39 Did that first bite, the--
25:41 Yeah, the steak and stout.
25:44 Wow.
25:44 The chicken one was no slouch either.
25:46 No.
25:47 Really fantastic.
25:48 Very impressed, yeah.
25:49 Yeah, I think that's a really good like, standard pie.
25:51 If you go to a pub, they're going
25:53 to have something pretty similar to that on the menu.
25:55 And it was done really well.
25:56 Yeah.
25:56 Of course, we had Gregg's.
25:57 Yeah, I mean--
25:58 I love Gregg's.
25:59 You seemed less sold on Gregg's.
26:00 I like that.
26:01 I mean, the sausage roll was fine.
26:03 I liked it.
26:03 And what was the other thing we got?
26:04 Steak bake.
26:05 Yeah, it sucked.
26:05 The fish bake.
26:07 Thumbs down on that.
26:08 I still don't think I've tasted any fish in there,
26:09 but that's your experience, and I'm not
26:11 going to challenge you on it.
26:12 And of course, we ended here at Willie's Pies.
26:15 I've really enjoyed these.
26:16 How about you?
26:17 This is great.
26:17 I love the meat.
26:18 Very flavorful.
26:19 The pastry of this one, if I was judging pastries,
26:22 this might have been my favorite pastry.
26:23 But we've got to pick one.
26:25 We do.
26:25 So as the tourist, if you were to come back to London,
26:29 or if a friend of yours was visiting,
26:30 and you had to recommend one spot, which one
26:33 are you picking, and why?
26:34 I'm going to have to go with Mother Mash.
26:37 That was the one I was like, can I just stay here and finish it?
26:39 I loved it.
26:40 It lit me up.
26:40 We'd been eating all day, and even that one, I was like,
26:43 whoa.
26:43 That one just really awoken me.
26:45 What I think this pie's supposed to do
26:47 is get you that, like, get you going, right?
26:49 Yeah.
26:50 It was fantastic.
26:50 I loved it.
26:51 What was your favorite?
26:52 I think just maybe because, as a British person,
26:55 I've had a lot more pies.
26:56 I've had a similar pie to that more often,
27:00 whereas I think Willy's pies, for me,
27:02 might be the standout, just because, for me,
27:05 it's doing something new.
27:06 It's doing something a little bit different.
27:07 And you like that.
27:08 It's doing it really well.
27:09 I think it's easy to try new things
27:11 and make it gimmicky or kind of weird.
27:14 That is true.
27:15 This does not feel gimmicky at all.
27:16 No, definitely not.
27:17 For the seasoned pie heads who want something
27:19 a little bit different, I think this is great.
27:21 Mother Mash was up there as well.
27:23 I like Manzi's as well.
27:24 They're all good.
27:25 They're all fantastic.
27:26 It's really going to boil down to,
27:28 while I stay here or ever come back,
27:30 when I want pie and mash, it's literally going to be like,
27:31 I'm going to the closest one.
27:33 It's all fantastic.
27:34 They're all good.
27:34 I think we chose well.
27:35 We've given you a good cross-section,
27:37 and I hope we've proven that pies can be a lot of things,
27:40 anything you want them to be.
27:41 Thanks for taking me here.
27:42 My pleasure.
27:43 Cheers, man.
27:44 Cheers.
27:47 There's no way they put that guy in a pie.
27:50 All right?
27:51 I'm not budging on that.