Given my fondness for pies, it’s rather strange that I hadn’t previously visited Piemaker. The place doesn’t exactly radiate charm, but the selection on offer has always intrigued me, but clearly not enough to actually make me cross their threshold. But today was the day!

Steak pasty

I was joined in this venture by Gary, who has quested many times. He joined on a recent quest to Mark Greenaway’s restaurant at Picardy Place, which we hear will be moving to larger premises in the next wee while. It sounds like there are exciting times ahead for one of Edinburgh’s culinary gems.

Piemaker’s selection of pies is certainly impressive. There were more than a dozen on offer today. I opted to match a lasagne pie with some of their chicken noodle soup. Gary opted for the lentil soup with a steak pasty. The smiling counter girl did the needful, and we were soon on our way back to the land of office work.

Lentil soup

Gary really enjoyed his pasty, which he described as “jam full of quality steaky goodness with a lovely peppery bite.” His soup was less successful. It was well seasoned and reasonably good, but lacked body and wasn’t the world’s most attractive colour.

My soup was pretty decent. The broth was thin, clear and lightly flavoured, and there was good evidence of chicken and noodles. The lasagne pie wasn’t up to much, though. There was some meatiness to it, but things didn’t really come together into satisfying mouthfuls, somehow. I’ll be sticking to macaroni pies, in the future, I think.

Lasagne pie

So Piemaker was alright. I found my pie underwhelming, but Gary had better luck, so I imagine that, as with most places, it has strengths and weaknesses. In terms of cost, I paid £2.25 for my two items and Gary paid somewhere around £1 more for his, so as a quick, cheap bite, it represents a reasonable option for the luncher on the go.

We did spot a hot dog seller, across the street, just as we were exiting, so I imagine we might be back in these parts, fairly soon, to give that place a go.

Chicken noodle soup

Scores

Blythe scores Piemaker
3/5 for food
2.5/5 for presentation
3/5 for service
2.5/5 for setting
giving an overall 11/20

Today’s questers were: Gary, Blythe

We ate: chicken noodle soup; lentil soup; peppered steak pasty; lasagne pie

We drank: nowt

We wore: smart new suit; www.tieclub.co.uk tie

Total bill: c.£5.50