Pieminister Have Started Doing Brunch

If there’s one thing in this world that I love, it’s pie.

It warms you on a cold night, comforts you after a tough day at work, and never ever lets you down. Even the cheap ones. My dream birthday cake would be a three-tier steak and kidney pukka. I hate mushrooms as an everyday occurrence, but lay them down gently with chicken and gravy, tuck them in with a filo blanket, and they’re every bit a dream. I think you get the picture.

Second, but only by a hair’s breadth, to my love of pie, is my love of a good poached egg. There’s not much else it takes to perfect my Sunday than the sight of a bouncy yolk perched atop a firm shelf of milky white goodness. The pop and ooze of yellow is, in my mind, poetry.

So you can imagine my utter joy, delight and general euphoria when I discovered Pieminister were broadening their horizons to bring me the brunch to end all brunches; the breakfast pie.

I ubered my way there – too keen and eager to chow down to bother with that walking malarky – and soon found myself nestled in a booth with an acai, strawberry, mango and blueberry smoothie (£4). I have no idea what acai is, but I felt very healthy drinking it, and the more recognizable fruits were a wonderful way to waken the taste buds. My partner went for the Virgin Mary (£3.50), starting his day as any proud drunk does, just minus the vodka. I’m not a big fan of them myself, but he thought it was a sterling job.

The main events couldn’t come soon enough. First up – The Banger (£5). A breakfast pie to end all pies, housing free-range sausage, bacon, cheddar and potato hash inside a pastry lid, topped with a tomato, crispy bacon and that all-important poached egg. The Banger was a bloody banger. There’s nothing else I can say. The cheese was creamy and rich, the sausage meaty and full of flavour, the bacon crisped to perfection. Mighty.

The Wild Brunch (£5) was possibly the lighter of the two, although neither of these are for the faint-hearted. The dish is described as a potato hash skillet, which I think basically means it’s a potato-topped pie that comes in a very tiny pan. The filling was essentially the same as The Banger, but the layers of crumbled potato on top made for a light and fluffy affair, and the crispy slice of toast was perfectly placed to mop up that cheesey-gooey sauce. Both eggs were poached to perfection, with a proper good pop that set the runny yolks free. Ten points to the chef.

For a fiver a pop, you can’t really go wrong. You’re full till tea time, and you get all the best bits of a brekkie in every mouthful.

Pieminister, 57 Long Row, Nottingham, NG1 6JB. 0115 824 6600

Pieminister website