Leederville’s new takeaway has fine-dining DNA and nostalgia in spades

Pies feature in key moments in chef Richard Overbye’s life, from bakery pies eaten straight off the plane after returning Perth from travels (good) to post-hike pies he and fiance Grace ate after completing the Whistlepipe Gully trail in Forrestfield (not-so-good; the pies, that is, not the hike).

“Grace made this throwaway comment saying, you could do better than this, and I thought, yeah, I can,” says Overbye. “I might have had a little bit too much coffee that morning, but that idea spitballed very, very quickly to become the basis of a business plan.”

If everything goes as intended, that business plan fruits this summer as Angelwood, a cosy nostalgia-fuelled takeaway pie shop in Leederville.

Overbye with business partner Patrick Wallis.Credit: Rachel Claire

Overbye has chalked up time at some very demanding kitchens including Restaurant Amuse and Wildflower here in Perth, plus Oslo’s three-Michelin-starred Maaemo and Melbourne’s three-hatted fine-diner Amaru. While in Melbourne during the week, I bumped into Amaru owner Clinton McIver who, unprompted, told me what a key role Overbye had played in the evolution of the restaurant. So although Overbye’s medium of choice might be the humble pie, it’s safe to assume it will be informed by plenty of kitchen know-how.

For now, the plan is to serve 10 different pies each day, most of them savoury. Some fillings will be familiar (mince pies, steak and mushroom, say). Some, such as apricot chicken, Korean-braised eggplant and Japanese-style golden curry will be more left of centre, not least because Overbye is committed to ensuring vegetarians get in on the action. Vegetarians such as Patrick Wallis, the former operations manager at Modus and Overbye’s business partner at Angelwood, who’ll be overseeing the shop’s back-end.

Another of Overbye’s commitments will be “real ingredients”, from mushrooms grown by urban farmers The Mushroom Guys and thoughtfully raised meats to the butter – not margarine – he’ll use in pastry. Speaking of which, Angelwood’s pies will feature two different pastries: a shortcrust, sturdier pastry for the bases and a flakier laminated pastry for the lids: “the best of both worlds,” says Overbye.

Sweet pie fillings might include cherry and pecan, while Overbye has hinted that trad Aussie bakery items such as vanilla slices may also make appearances. Sausages rolls are another item our man is looking forward to re-examining through the Angelwood lens.

Although takeaway is the name of the game, the shop will feature a small counter for people to park up at while waiting for orders and coffees. The rest of the beverage range will follow the same new-meets-old spirit: expect Bundaberg ginger beer and chocolate milk sharing fridge space with small-batch sodas and kombucha from Margaret River’s Waves & Caves.

Angelwood (18B 663 Newcastle Street, Leederville) will open Wednesday to Sunday and is due to open this summer.

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