Top pie glory eludes best of Hawke's Bay

Pies are far from being the only item on the menu of the Cafe Ahuriri, which has had international acclaim in the past. Photo / Doug Laing

Hawke's Bay pie-lovers may feel a little miffed over the outcome of the national awards in which the region is still to win any of the 11 categories since the back-to-back triumphs of 2015 and 2016.

While there were 33 Gold, Silver and Bronze dished-out at the 24th Bakels NZ Supreme Pie Awards at the Hilton Hotel in Auckland tonight, there was just one for Hawke's Bay.

The venison and bacon creation of Cafe Ahuriri's Jason Heaven claimed silver in the Cafe Boutique category, in which the Bay Coffee Hub's Chi Meng Lo was highly commended for a chicken breast and cream mushrooms pie.

The gold medal in the category was claimed by a lentil and curry pie (also containing potato, onion, carrot and celery) and produced by Ginger Dynamite Go Go Food and Coffee, at Marlborough highway-stop Riwaka.

It now five years since a gold medal went to the Bay, a year after New World Greenmeadows and baker Shane Foster took the 2015 Supreme Award, for a classic potato top.

Organisers were tonight hailing the triumph of Torbay baker Sopheap Long, whose Euro Patisserie steak and cheese bite made her the first female to win the Supreme honour since the awards were first held in 1996.

Of the 33 medals, 17 went to bakers and foodhouses in the Auckland area, six of them gold medals, and organisers said about 5000 pies were judged, with 465 bakeries entered from throughout the country.