Bill Hornadge, author of the bestseller The Australian Slanguage wrote, “One should not
underestimate the importance of the meat pie in Australian culture.”

Opened in 2003, Down Under Bakery (DUB) is supposedly the first specialty bakery to bring handmade, authentic New Zealand-Australian meat pies to New York City. It’s also a cozy hang with free wireless serving traditional meat (and vegetable) pies, smoothies, coffee, tea, and sweets including the beloved dessert Lamingtons, a chocolate-covered cake named for a late 19th-century Baron of Queensland.

The classic down-under meat pie is a round, 5-inch, pastry-topped savory filled with
ground beef or steak. In the last twenty years, gourmet versions with chicken, seafood or
vegetarian fillings have become more popular. The soul food of Australia, meat pies are
often served with a blob of tomato sauce. Nearly every cuisine has its own version of the
meat pie, from the Ancient Egyptians to the English steak and kidney pie to Jamaican beef patties to Venezuela’s empanadas. The Australian national dish is neater than the American “pot pie” because it doesn’t leak gravy, making it an ideal street food or bar snack, best consumed hot from a paper bag.

We loved both the steak and cheese and the curry vegetarian versions of DUB Pies. The steak and cheese pie has chunks of top round steak in onion gravy with white cheddar cheese - great with a few pints. The aromatic curry vegetarian is full of fresh vegetables. The delicious soft and flaky crust makes it easy to eat while, say…typing on the computer or watching a game of footy with your blokes.

DUB Pies - Let Them Eat Cake
193 Columbia Street

Originally published on Until Monday: Brooklyn