Pieminister, Stokes Croft: Festive Pie Review

Every year, Pieminister roll out their festive pie range for Christmas: a selection of seasonal pies that are available in their restaurants, at the Tobacco Factory Market and via Ocado. This year, they have four different options available – and we were invited to their Stokes Croft restaurant to try them out.

The restaurant was packed on the night of our visit – and there were plenty of people coming in to pick up pies to take home too. It’s an attractive place to sit and eat: its industrial look incorporates an exposed brick wall with grey and black paint throughout the rest of the venue; red neon “live & eat pie” slogans, and wood/metal tables and chairs.

You can see right through to the open plan kitchen at the back, whether you’re sitting at a normal table, a booth or one of the high seats in the window.

Ordering’s simple: you grab a table, take a look at the menu, then head over to the counter, which is laden with Kilner jars of pickled eggs, crisps, pickles, olives and other lovely snacky things.

I started my evening with a cocktail: a Spiked Cider (£7.95) which incorporated Appleton’s Rum, ginger beer and cider. I was a little surprised when it arrived in a pint class (a whole pint of cocktail?!) but it wasn’t that strong, and the ginger had plenty of fire, which I loved.

After looking at the menu, we decided to skip the snacks and go straight for the festive pies. My choice? The Mistle Moo (£5.20) – a combination of British steak, Long Clawson Stilton, chestnut, bacon and port.

The pastry, as ever, was beautiful, and the filling rich and warming – the steak was lovely and tender, and the flavour of the bacon and chestnuts really came through. The only disappointment was the lack of Stilton flavour – I reckon they could do with adding a bit more as that expected tang just wasn’t cutting through the richness of the rest of the ingredients.

I chose to enjoy my pie with the obligatory mound of creamy, perfectly smooth mash (£2), a bowl of braised red cabbage with a lovely sweet flavour (£2.80) and Pieminister’s festive gravy – a cranberry and port concoction that I worried would be too sweet, but which added a great festive touch.

My dining partner chose the Deer Santa (also £5.20): his conclusion was that the flavours were fantastic, but that the venison was sadly a little dry. “But what’s that poking out of his pie?”, I hear you say. Well…Pieminister give you the opportunity to “pimp up your pie” by adding things on sticks: priced at £1.50 a stick or four for £5, you can choose from British chorizo, courgette fritter, halloumi, onion rings or the pigs in blankets that you can see in the picture below – a generous portion for £1.50, and quickly devoured.

I was too full for dessert, but on the other side of the table an order for a toffee apple dessert pie (£4.50) was placed. Smaller than the main course pies and with a sweeter pastry, the combination of pastry, apple, toffee sauce, granola and ice cream was deemed to be a hit.

While our main courses were a little hit and miss, there’s no denying that Pieminister’s festive offering is great value for money – and we certainly left feeling full. I love the fact that you can order a cocktail (or one of a range of other alcoholic drinks) alongside your meal, and the amount of choice on the menu is impressive. They’re even offering Christmas party nights for £20 a head, which seems like a great deal. I’ll definitely be back.

Please note: Our food and drinks were complimentary, but this in no way impacted on our opinion. We were not obliged to write a positive review, and the venue did not see this review before it was put up on the site.