Brisbane food: Where are the best meat pies in Brisbane and Queensland?

PIES topped with chicken wings or laced with bourbon. Some so good they don’t need tomato sauce. These are the best pies you will find in the southeast.

Matt Roman’s pies at Piefection, Mt.Gravatt. Picture: Anthony Weate

FROM golden, flaky pastry to chunky, gravy-rich fillings, our Taste team of Chelsea Clark and Anooska Tucker-Evans have searched southeast Queensland to find the best meat pies to celebrate Australia Day.

PIEFECTION

1373 Logan Rd, Mt Gravatt

JACK DANIELS BBQ PORK RIBS PIE, $6.50

Chef Matt Roman challenges and excites tastebuds daily with his ever-changing line-up of globally-inspired gourmet pies. One day you could tuck into a buffalo pork rib pie with shredded pork soaked in a lip-tingling, vinegary pepper sauce topped with a chicken wing, while the next it could be a beef option with a juicy pork rib baked into the pastry lid. But bringing you back time and time again will be the Jack Daniels BBQ pork ribs version. This is the ultimate self-saucing pie with a sweet, sticky barbecue glaze swelling around chunks of melt-in-the-mouth pork encased in golden pastry just thick enough to hold in all the finger-lickin’ goodness.

Missed your favourite? Nominate your best pie in the comments section below

The beef and red wine pie from Jocelyn's Provisions.

BIG DAD’S PIES

Boondall, Margate, Pinkenba and Deception Bay

CHUNKY LAMB AND ROSEMARY, $5

If flaky pastry gets you salivating then you’ll be drooling more than a basset hound with its head out a car window at the bubbly, blistering, herb-topped crust on this pie. Underneath the pastry perfection lies hunks of tender, juicy lamb in a light rosemary-scented gravy so satisfying it doesn’t even need tomato sauce.

BEEFY’S

Cannon Hill, Mango Hill, North Lakes, Ningi, Gympie, Buderim, Aussie World and Glasshouse Mountains

SIGNATURE STEAK, $5.95

Don’t let its chain status put you off, there’s a reason their signature beef pie has won a string of awards, including gold in Australia’s official pie competition. It’s how an Aussie meat pie should taste. Rich with thick gravy and morsels of tender steak enveloped in pastry of just the right thickness, it’s hearty grub you can eat with your hands.

THE PIE GURU

2 Park Pl, Caloundra

STEAK, CHEESE AND BACON, $5.90

Generosity is the key to the classic flavour combo at this family-run business on the Sunshine Coast. Each beautifully brittle pastry case is filled with hearty minced beef, lashings of melted, oozy cheese and an abundance of salty bacon. The result is a lipsmacking treat that’ll take you back to your childhood. For extra appeal, try topping it with their signature mix of mash, gravy and mushy peas.

PACIFIC HAVEN BAKERY

3/30 Buderim St, Currimundi

CHICKEN SATAY, $4.50

The team at this small, local bakery had just the right amount of imagination and restraint when they created this mix of fine chicken pieces in a thick, peanut sauce inspired by Thailand. Its creamy, rich filling enclosed in a perfectly laminated dough crust will satisfy your cravings for both a pie and Thai takeaway in one hot mouthful. If you’re a purist though, you can’t go past this bakery’s classic steak pie.

The chicken satay pie from Pacific Haven Bakery, Currimundi.

THE STORES

404 Montague Rd, West End

CHICKEN AND LEEK, $5.50

Fresh food mecca The Stores is on to a winner with their rich chicken and leek pie, which is a combination of chunky chicken pieces, strips of sweet leek, a soft creamy white sauce and a perfectly flaky pasty top. With just the right amount of filling and a base that is sturdy without being too heavy, this is a definite must-try for pie lovers.

HORNERS OF SORRENTO PATISSERIE

20 Bundall Rd, Sorrento

SRI LANKAN LAMB CURRY, $6

Lovers of curry pies, it’s time to listen up ... and warm up the car for a trip down the coast. Here is a pie with generous chunks of lamb enveloped in a flavoursome curry sauce for a spot on combination. And rather than merely bulking out the filling, the inclusion of rice in the curry sauce adds a degree of authenticity.

Missed your favourite? Nominate your best pie in the comments section below

QUINNEY’S PIES

32 Taree St, Burleigh Heads

BEEF AND RED WINE, $5.90

Tucked away in the middle of an industrial estate in Burleigh Heads, this pie joint serves up deep-dish goodness with plenty of filling and ample chunks of melt-in-your-mouth beef. The filling is a mix of chunky beef and mince so the texture is mixed up with every mouthful and the red wine gravy, a perfect accompaniment.

Chicken and leek pie from The Stores, West End.

STORY BRIDGE HOTEL

200 Main St, Kangaroo Point

BEEF AND GUINNESS, $15.90

If you’re in the mood for a sit-down meal but you just can’t get the flaky goodness of a meat pie out of your head, the iconic Story Bridge Hotel is just the place. Their beef and Guinness pie is served with a generous helping of chips and coleslaw or creamed potatoes and greens. Hints of garlic and black pepper set the beefy filling off and the caramelised onion served on top is the ideal finishing touch.

JOCELYN’S PROVISIONS

8 Doggett St, Fortitude Valley

BEEF AND RED WINE, $7.90

Feel guilty about indulging your pie craving? Head to Jocelyn’s where the beef and red wine pie is packed with so many vegies it’s practically a health food. Well maybe that’s going a bit far, but the charmingly uneven pie casing (a dead giveaway the pie is hand made) is almost bursting at the seams with chunky slow-cooked beef, peas, carrots, potatoes and mushrooms.

Story Bridge Hotel’s beef and Guinness.

Sri Lankan lamb curry pie at Horner's of Sorrento.