Albany bakery’s potato top judged New Zealand’s best pie of 2025

The best pie in the country is officially a potato top.

Rosedale Bakery & Cafe, in the Auckland suburb of Albany, has been declared the winner of the 2025 Bakels NZ Supreme Pie Awards.

Created by bakery owner Samraksmey So, it is only the second potato top pie to take out the top prize in the history of the competition.

So’s creation isn’t a stock standard mince and mash medley. Instead it has both a potato top and potato middle - comprised of a swirled potato top with a core of fondant-style cooked potatoes finished in au gratin layers.

So developed the recipe after seeing a dish of French-style layered potatoes in a magazine, explaining “We take the time to fry the potatoes and then we put them on a tray with butter, garlic and rosemary and we bake them off. We cut them with a round cutter after baking and put them in the pie and bake again, and they look like a crispy outside.”

The winning potato top features a finely layered core of potato gratin. Photo / Supplied

So told Herald NOW this morning the secret to a supreme pie is supreme ingredients saying whether it’s the mince inside to the flour used to make the casings, they “use everything that is good quality” when baking their perfect pastries.

Celebrity chef judge Nici Wickes said the potato pie was “a clear winner” during the blind tasting process last week.

“It surprised me because it’s one of the more usual categories and yet really innovative.”

27th Bakels NZ Supreme Pie Award winner Samraksmey So with his wife Sothdalika Sao. Photo / Supplied

So said he spent a year tweaking and perfecting the recipe after winning a highly commended in the potato top pie category last year and intends on creating something new to enter into the 2026 awards.

This isn’t the bakery’s first brush with glory, in 2023 they were awarded a silver award for their mince and cheese entry in the pie awards, and took home the prize for best sausage roll in the country.

2025 New Zealand Bakels Supreme Pie Award Gold Winners

Bacon & Egg: Sean Vo, Levain Artisan Bakery, Blockhouse Bay Auckland

Mince & Gravy: Sopheap Long, Euro Patisserie, Torbay, Auckland

Mince & Cheese: Michael Gray, Nada Bakery, Wellington

Potato Top: Samraksmey (Sam) So, Rosedale Bakery & Café, Albany, Auckland

Steak & Gravy: Sok Heang Nguon, Taste Bakery and Roast, Henderson, Auckland

Steak & Cheese: Sok Keo, Milldale Bakery, Wainui, Auckland

Chicken & Vegetable: Mengheng (Jason) Hay, Richoux Patisserie, Ellerslie, Auckland

Gourmet Meat: Buntha Meng, Wild Grain Bakery, Silverdale, Auckland

Vegetarian: Sopheap Long, Euro Patisserie, Torbay, Auckland

Café Boutique: Ellie Linton-Brown, Main Street Café, Huntly

Commercial/Wholesale: Dad’s Pies, Silverdale, Auckland.