Bill Lenh Liem – the man with the Midas touch

BY KATHRYN STEANE

Apparently Bill Lenh Liem has won so many awards for his pies; he’s run out of room to display them. I find this hard to believe, given that one corner of his shop – Greenland Café in Pukekohe – is already choc-a-bloc with tributes. But sure enough, his wife Roselina shows me to a cupboard and, with a laugh, points to more inside.

You’d be laughing too, if you had 32 awards from the Bakels New Zealand Supreme Pie Awards under your belt. “We’ve won a Gold Award in almost every category,” Roselina tells me proudly. “Some of our pies have even won a Gold Award three times.”

Bar the Supreme title, the Gold Award is the highest honour at the annual event and is given to one pie in each of 11 categories. Last year Bill received a Gold Award for his vegetarian pie (a combination of potatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms, red and green peppers, spinach, broccoli and courgettes); while his brother, David, won a Gold Award using his recipe for a seafood pie (a combination of salmon, prawns, scallops, clams, corn and red and green peppers in a hollandaise sauce).

So what’s the secret to a good pie? Bill claims it’s in the pastry, which he likes to make “very flakey.” Without giving too much away, he can tell me that he uses a vegetable fat shortening from Bakels as part of his recipe.

What makes Bill’s success particularly impressive is the fact that he’s Cambodian (as is Roselina) – therefore pies are not something he’s naturally familiar with. However he says he’s always been interested in baking; and has fond memories of eating baguettes and similar foods as a child in Vietnam, where he and his family fled during the 1970s (French baking has a strong presence there due to the French invasion of the 1800s).

Bill’s first encounter with a pie was in 1997, shortly after he came to live in New Zealand. Sinking his teeth into a steak and cheese version, followed by a bacon and egg, he was hooked. In fact, so fascinated was Bill by this new-found food that he had a baker friend teach him how to make it.

This eventually led to him and Roselina opening a shop in Botany Downs (Greenland Bakery & Café, now owned by David), followed by the one in Pukekohe. Here, Bill sells 200-300 pies per day to everyone from construction workers to businessmen. And there’s certainly something for all tastes – as well as the flavours mentioned above, the shop sells steak and cheese, mince and cheese, bacon and egg, chicken and vegetable and even pork and kumara (testament to Bill’s ability to embrace Kiwi cuisine).

For the moment, Bill isn’t planning on introducing any new pies to the line-up – probably a sensible decision, given that he already has about 15 on the go. “The customers are quite happy with the variety, and tend to stick with one flavour,” Roselina explains. 

However something I think Bill does need to re-consider is his awards display, as the next Bakels New Zealand Supreme Pie Awards is fast approaching…

For more information on the Bakels New Zealand Supreme Pie Awards, including how to enter, visit www.bakels.co.nz

Pie pros

If you want to offer your customers a good pie but aren’t keen on making your own, there are plenty of companies that can help. Here are a few, to get you started:

- Maketu Pies. From its kitchen overlooking the sleepy little village of Maketu, this company lovingly crafts a range of tasty, top-quality pies. As well as the standard varieties, it offers some different, albeit refreshing options in the form of a mussel pie (containing mussels cooked in a cheese and parsley sauce) and a chilli, beef and cheese pie (containing slow-simmered beef mince, tomatoes, red kidney beans and a dash of chilli, topped with melted cheese). There’s even one made from sun-ripened Hawke’s Bay apples, for those with a sweet tooth. And while the fillings may vary, all pies feature the same handmade, golden flakey pastry. For more information, visit www.maketupies.co.nz

- Gourmet Foods. You may not recognise the name Gourmet Foods, but chances are you will recognise either one or both of its product ranges – Ponsonby Pies and Pat’s Pantry. The former are particularly popular with service stations, lunch bars and cafes (including several upmarket ones). Together the ranges offer pies for every taste and occasion; from mince and cheese and bacon and egg, to Moroccan lamb and beef and black bean (complete with noodles). For more information, visit www.gourmetfoodsltd.co.nz

- Dad’s Pies. Dad’s Pies are currently sold to selected service stations, retailers and caterers around the country; making the company a Kiwi institution. As such, it embodies all the tastes that New Zealander’s know and love, such as chicken and vegetable. However like many other pie manufacturers, it has also grown to produce some gourmet options like a Thai chicken pie (chicken breast in a creamy oriental sauce) and a butter chicken pie (chicken breast in a smooth Indian sauce) – both which come with low-fat, flaky pastry. For more information, visit www.dadspies.co.nz

A good time for Goodtime Pies

                                      Phil Pollett tucks into a Goodtime Pie

Goodtime Pies is making a comeback. After several years of hardship, the Hawke’s Bay company has signed a lucrative deal with service station Z (of Z Energy – a partnership between New Zealand Superannuation and Infratil Limited, who jointly acquired the downstream business of Shell New Zealand) which will see more than three million of its pies sold around the country. The news comes after a six-month-long search involving both local and international businesses. “We went through an extensive selection process to find New Zealand’s best pies from a company with the infrastructure to support the scale we sell them on,” explains chief executive for Z Energy, Mike Bennetts. “In the end, the decision was relatively easy as the taste and quality of Goodtime Pies was streets ahead, and we had no doubt that they had the expertise to deliver on a national scale.”

The pies – which include a custom-made bacon and egg variety – are now available from Z’s flagship store in Greenlane; and will also be offered by nine other branches it’s in the currently rolling out. More good times lie ahead, too, with the possibility that Goodtime Pies could eventually be sold at all 220 of Z’s planned service stations (scheduled for completion by mid 2012).

And this isn’t the only piece of good news Goodtime Pies has received lately – it recently won a contract to supply large volumes of Pam’s Microwave Pies to Foodstuffs supermarkets.

After moving out of supplying fresh product to many supermarkets and having lost a contract with Shell in 2006, Goodtime Pies managing director Phil Pollet is ecstatic with these developments. “We’ve been working in an extremely tough and competitive market, and we’ve had to really focus on our costs. In the end it has been our never-ending commitment to quality and our own national distribution channels that have seen us pull off these two major contracts. We’re back now and so is our brand – we couldn’t be more excited.”

For more information, visit www.gootime.co.nz

Pie recipe in hot demand

The method for a much-loved pie was amongst the items being auctioned off by Christchurch’s Hororata Hotel recently. The business, which was irreparably damaged in the September earthquake, gave customers the chance to bid for some of its chattels including a stag’s head, beer kegs and a 30-year-old pie recipe; with all profits going toward rebuilding the local community. The latter item went under the hammer for $4400 – a small price to pay, some would say, for knowing how to make the best pie in town. The winning bidder was Mark Stewart, who told TV3: “There was a lot of interest in the pie (recipe). It has been a great local thing for many, many years and it is good to get my hands on it.” While little is known about Stewart, it’s believed he’s planning to use the method to make his own version of the pie – watch this space.