The best pies in Sydney to try right now

We're starting off the list with none other than Australia's best pie. We don't say that lightly, considering this title was determined by the experts at the Baking Association of Australia. Bronte-based pie masterchefs Nonna Tina's took home a gold for their beefy bolognese number. Made with a Napoletana sauce, grass-fed beef, onion, mozzarella and parmesan (and love from Nonna), their bol pie is one to add to your hit-list. You can get your hands on Nonna Tina’s pies online, and at Bondi’s Saturday markets. 

While the sweets might get much of the glory, the signature layers of Lode's pastry extend all the way to their pies. The crusts are flaky, yet structurally sound, in part due to the thoughtful preparation of the contents. If you're after a classic, sloppy meat pie, this isn't it. The filling includes chunks of wagyu beef and caramelised onion, topped off with a pie crust hat with so many airy layers that it's almost as tall as the filling part. There are Lode locations in Surry Hills and Circular Quay.

Bechamel sauce is one of the best things about cold-weather eating, which is why the delicious chimera that is the moussaka pie is worth a trip to Kingsford. The layers feature savoury mince as a base, followed by strata of veg like eggplant and potato slices, and then it’s topped with bechamel and baked so that the white sauce develops crisp bronze ridges on top.

One of the longest standing offerings on the best Sydney pie line-up is Bourke Street Bakery’s rich and earthy beef brisket with red wine and mushroom. You can taste each of the individual components, the pastry lid is crisp and flaky and you can get pies here year round so if your love for savoury pastries transcends seasons, this is for you.

This Northern Beaches bakery is all about championing the ingredients in their rustic baked goods. They use real butter in their puff pastry and meat from local butchers in their chicken pies. They’re popular, so get in quick for an early lunch, or better yet shake of the icy chill after a dip at Freshwater beach and embrace the joys of a breakfast pie – they come out of the oven from as early as 7am.

In swish new digs on King Street in Newtown most people are queuing for the sweets, but what’s in the pie warmer is worth your attention. The pastry is excellent here, as you’d expect, but what really sets these pies apart from the pack is the condiments. Your Japanese curry chicken pie is a comforting, gently spiced hot pocket, but it’s the Kewpie mayo and pickled ginger that comes with it that scores the bonus points. Same for the mint sauce accompanying the outrageously rich lamb pie.

What started as a pie cart for ferry commuters on the Ferry has expanded into a dedicated gourmet pie business with stalls at food-centric weekend markets across the city. The classic mince is a rich and savoury flavour bomb, but for us the chicken pie, filled with buttery soft leeks and anointed with just a whisper of mustard heat is the star player. Don’t eat meat? Try the cheese and onion with white pepper, nutmeg and panko crumbs. You can get your hands on them direct, at Carriageworks Farmers Markets, or from Vic’s Meat online.

The canele justify the trip to this tiny traditional bakery in Dulwich Hill, but eponymous French-trained baker Keiran McKay is filling the compact pie warmer with three daily offerings. Get in early for the cauliflower and cheese (there are fewer of the vegetarian pies than their meaty counterparts), but if the curry chicken is available, embrace the fragrant tingle of that classic curry flavour reminiscent of childhood dinners like curried sausages or Coronation chicken.

They proudly display their litany of awards on the wall of this devoted pie bakery on the Northern Beaches, and there are a lot of options for your pie-loving pals. Maybe you like the simplicity of a chicken in a mild, creamy white sauce. But for stronger flavours the butter chicken is the pie equivalent of a tikka roll. Prefer beef? They put a slice of fresh tomato between the mince filling and the potato top, almost like saucing it from the inside.

This popular little bake shop for takeaway lunches does a classic run of pies, including lamb, beef and chicken, but if you’re eating a bit less meat these days, your faith will not be betrayed by the ratatouille pie here. The crisp top and thick base encase a soft, slow cooked melange of eggplant, tomato, and capsicum, which is comforting in both a digestive and karmic sense.

Unless you use to work in the airline industry, or its affiliates, you might not know about Patchett’s Pies, a pastry shop tucked in near the domestic airport with a little covered outdoor courtyard if you like your pies al fresco. But don’t let its quasi-industrial locale fool you, their beef and burgundy pie could hold its own, flavour wise, with anything in the city. You can taste the red wine and the mushrooms are still bouncy and juicy. Julia Child would not be upset by this pie.