Ocean Grove’s Rolling Pin Pies and Cakes officially has Australia’s best pie, a mushroom and truffle variety, and its creator cannot stand the taste or texture of the polarising fungi.
Rolling Pin dominated the Baking Association of Australia’s national Best Pie Competition, taking out Australia’s best pie overall for the second consecutive year. It also won best mushroom pie, best seafood pie, three gold, 11 silver and one bronze medal.
Rolling Pin owner Nathan Williams said he relied on others to give the pie the thumbs up.
“I do not like mushrooms,” he said.
“This one definitely wasn’t for me. My wife is a lover of mushrooms and we sell a lot of steak and mushroom pies so I knew there was a market for it.
“Some don’t like the taste or texture and some don’t like both and that includes me.
“We’ve had a lot of people say they don’t like mushrooms, but like the flavour of this pie.”
Rolling Pin has won the major award three times. Once in 2013, last year and now in 2022.
“They’re not easy to win,” Mr Williams said.
“Going up against 300 to 400 bakeries around Australia and 1500 pies.”
So how did Mr Williams give the mushroom pie the tick of approval when he despises them?
“I felt like the flavour was good even though I don’t like mushrooms,” he said.
I felt like it was a good flavoured pie but I did rely on feedback from others.”
The winning pie has been in high demand this week, but an equipment malfunction slowed down its production.
It sold out quickly, but Mr Wiliams reassures customers that it is back in the warmers.
“It’s definitely back in,” he said.
“We did sell out in a couple of stores yesterday.
“When you’re advertising that you’ve got Australia’s best pie, you sell out quickly.”
