Simply Good Pies prides themselves in offering handmade pies using only the best ingredients i.e. free-range meats, wild fish, and organic vegetables. 

Small-batch pies with weird, wacky flavour combinations

Their pies are prepared in small batches and their range of offerings includes both classic and bizarre varieties.

Some of their most weird and wacky flavours include the English breakfast pie, filled with sausage, egg and baked beans, as well as a cheese and marmite pie – most unusual for me to comprehend.

However there are, of course, other flavours which were much more appealing to my taste buds.

The pies I had

The ones which I ended up trying were as follows.

• Beef and Guinness pie ($10.50)
• Beef, stilton and pear pie ($11.00)
• Mala spice meat pie ($11.00)
• Chicken, leek and cider pie ($10.50)
• Kong bak pie ($11.00)
• Beef rendang pie ($10.50)

Pies frozen for delivery

The pies are prepared fresh, and subsequently frozen prior to delivery.

They arrived frozen, with reheating instructions being provided in the packaging.

Delivery time slot was scheduled from 4pm-8pm on a weekday afternoon. The pies arrived punctually just after 4pm.

Pastry is buttery

For the pastry of the pies, there are strong buttery notes coming from it, which was good. It was crunchy, however I found the pastry to be a tad on the hard side.

There are only three ingredients used in the preparation of the pastry: flour, butter and water.

What the flavours were like

The Beef and Guinness pie is stuffed with tender chunks of prime ribeye steak swimming in a rich dark gravy.

The beef was definitely meaty and chunky, offering a good mouth feel. However the texture  of the meat was a tad dry. 

The Guinness notes were strong during the reheating process, but I couldn’t really detect much Guinness flavour when I ate it.

The Beef Pear Stilton Pie comprises of seven hour ale-stewed beef with balsamic roasted pears and Stilton cheese.

I thought this flavour combination was very unusual. The pie, on first bite, had very strong beefy + stout notes. The alcohol taste, unlike the Guinness, was prominent and more apparent.

The bits of pear is very chunky. While I could taste the pear when I bit on a large chunk of it, the pear notes otherwise don’t come out strongly when combined with the beef and alcohol in the same mouthful.

The Mala Spice Meat Pie consists of mince meat and onions in a rich brown gravy topped with Szechuan pepper, chili and spices.

It is meaty, with a strong spicy Mala flavour, which made the flavour very unusual and interesting for a pie. I quite enjoyed this one, with its hint of a fiery kick that added a nice oomph to it.

The Chicken, Leek and Cider Pie, comprises, as the name suggests, chicken, cooked with leek and a toss of cider. The chicken meat was quite chunky and substantially more moist compared to the beef pies. It was very clear on first bite that this was a chicken pie.

I would say that the Kong Bak Pie was my favourite out of the lot. The pie, as the name suggests, consists of a mix of Chinese-style soft pork and aromatics in a sweet, thick dark soya sauce, with water chestnuts thrown in for some crunch. 

It is immediately apparent at first bite, that the meat is pork. The soya flavour is very strong and hits you at once, and though it’s pretty overwhelming at the beginning, the contrast of soya sauce and soft pork flavours goes very well together.

This is definitely a winner. It was a very enjoyable pie and I savoured every mouthful of it.

And last but not least, the Beef Rendang Pie comprises of prime steak, coconut cream and authentic spices, in an east meets west combination of flavours. 

The beef rendang notes in this pie is very strong and authentic. The beefy note is definitely apparent as well, together with the spicy kick from the rendang which added an oomph to the pie.

Though the texture of the pie was a tad on the dry side, I thought this combination of flavours was pretty interesting and eye-catching. 

While I have eaten beef rendang, it has never before been in a pie format. I would definitely be keen to have a beef rendang pie again, though, as the contrast does go together quite well.

Conclusion

At $10.50 or more for a pie, Simply Good Pies may appear to be on the pricey side for a 220-gram pie, in contrast to many of the Singaporean dishes at the local hawker centre that can be bought for lunch or dinner at a fraction of the price. 

But after trying their pies, the quality of the ingredients and care in crafting the flavours definitely shines through. What you pay for is definitely what you get; the phrase can’t be more true. These pies are definitely yummy and delicious.

Simply Good Pies is available at https://www.simplygoodpies.com.