Don's & York Hotel: Battle of the Chicken Pies!

I loved chicken pies since I was a kid. From my first of Delifrance to the best-of-those-days of Sweet Secret, I was in constant search of a better chicken pie. Last week, I was lucky enough to get my hands on two of my current favourite chicken pies at the same time!

First up, Don's!



Don's Kids Pie (Personal Size) ($5.50)

I first had this in JC when my GP tutor treated our class to boxes of it. It comes in mainly 3 sizes, large, personal and quarters. And also, there's the normal version which came with lots of black pepper, the kid's pie which is non spicy, and the vegetable pie that contained no egg and chicken. The one shown above is the personal pie, with a diameter of about 14cm.



The pastry crust is wonderfully buttery and fluffy, one bite is enough to make flakes crumbling. The fillings of the pie is really generous, stuffed full of tender chicken pieces, savoury potatoes, mixed vegetables and half a hard-boiled egg.

However, I disliked the moderate overdose of black pepper in the pie, overpowering the original flavour and leaving a spicy aftertaste. The kid's pie also did not turn out too well, as somehow the total lack of pepper makes the pie loses its "kick".



Don's Sheperd's Pie ($?)

Btw, Don's also provided sheperd's pie, too much potato for my liking though, and again overkill of pepper.

The second one is from York Hotel!

Now I'm a bit lost on this. The York Hotel chicken pie seems to be rather popular through words-of-mouth, but I just can't seem to find any info of it on the Internet.

The chicken pie from Cafe 2000 of M hotel, on the other hand, is more well-known through the press/forums as it has been featured and recommended many times already. Judging from what I read, both beared striking resemblences. Furthermore, I had also been told that York Hotel actually get their chicken pies from M hotel! Anyone able to clarify?




York Hotel Chicken Pie ($?)

The size is smaller than Don'e but sill bigger than most chicken pies you get elsewhere. Though not as buttery, the pastry is even flufflier and more layered than Don's. And here's what I really like about this pie: The content is simmered in a creamy white sauce that tastes a lot like cream of mushroom, unlike the usual curry flavoured or potato-ish type. In fact, I don't think this even contains potatoes, as I found only carrots, mushroom slices and chicken chunks, with the inner side of the pastry nicely soaked with the sauce. Eating the pie is like drinking a bowl of musroom soup with puff pastry!

Alas, the real disappointment comes in the form of its choice of chicken part. Only breast meat was used and the tough, dry and rather tasteless meat minused a great deal of marks off this otherwise great pie.

So which pie I like better? Really hard to say, with each having its pros and cons.
Maybe one day I will find a better chicken pie that combines the best of both worlds. On a closing note:


Homemade salad with beef salami in sesame sauce

Delicious!