ni.chol.as

There’s a few places around town that I really get excited about eating or drinking at. For me, they represent something particularly tasty or different and are sufficiently good to keep me visiting over and over again. I have been meaning to write about two of them for ages: Square Pie and the Monmouth Coffee shops.

Square Pie is a small chain of pie shops that has grown up around the business districts of the east side of the city. Pie and mash is a historical working-class London meal and is about as traditional a London meal as you can have. Historically it would have been eel pie served with mashed potato which you would have been able to buy commonly as long ago as the 18th century and, in certain parts of town, still can. Square Pie has taken the concept of pie and mash and serves the same meal to a different class altogether: white collar city workers! The reason it works so well is simplicity and speed combined with a quality menu and regular specials. The food is additive free and locally sourced. Their mash is potatoes, butter, milk and a bit of salt and mashed by hand in the shop. You can even witness the poor chef’s efforts if you’re there at the right time. Square Pie also keep a keen eye on communication with informal, fun signage and promo material. The typical Square Pie experience is also mercifully quick – you need to get back to your desk, after all – but the food is top notch and it feels like a treat every time.

This month, and for the whole of the World Cup, Square Pie are holding their Pie World Cup. They’ve invented a pie for every country competing and on the day that country plays in the World Cup they sell that pie in their shops around town. The most sales of a given country’s pie wins the cup. There are 32 countries in this year’s World Cup so that’s a LOT of pie variety to choose from; you can even bet on the winner of the Pie World Cup at William Hill! Aussie Kangaroo pie has made a strong early showing but sadly is doomed to failure unless the country proceeds to the next round of games. My own hot tip is Spain – the Chorizo sausage with spicy potato pie is absolutely divine. They do it as a special for one month a year and it always goes down well.
So that’s Square Pie for you. They’ve just launched their new website which is much more outward facing than before with a (still nascent) forum for talking about your pie-related loves. If you’re local to one or you go to any of the special events round the country that they turn up at, then you could do much worse than try them out.