This week (7 -13 March) is British Pie Week which gives us the perfect opportunity to tell you about the traditions of pie and mash in London and recommend where you can enjoy this traditional dish in the capital.
Pies can have a sweet or savoury filling and have been eaten since the time of the Pharoahs. Over the centuries, they have been popular as an economical and portable meal, with seasonal, regional fillings and the pastry casing keeping the filling (and heat) inside.
Pies were popularised in the Docks of London as a working-class meal during the Victorian era. Cheap and with a pastry lid to keep the dirt out, they were originally sold from carts to dock workers who didn’t have the means to cook at home. In 1844, the first pie and mash shop, Blanchard’s, opened.
Pie and mash is still a very popular dish in London and one of the best places to try it is M.Manze on Tower Bridge Road, which was opened in 1892 and is the capital’s oldest surviving pie and mash shop. It still uses most of its original recipes (an exception being an adaptation to create a vegetarian option for the menu) and retains the traditional, easy-clean interior of tiled walls, mirrors and marble worktops. Traditionally, pie is eaten with mash (mashed potato) and liquor (a parsley sauce); both options remain very popular. The staff are extremely friendly which makes it such a wonderful place to visit, and it is a restaurant of choice for many Londoners as a special treat.
Other pie and mash shops in London include MotherMash (New Row), Greenaways Pies (Villiers Street) and Battersea Pie Station (Covent Garden).