The pies are old school delicious. Stuffed with substance and not filled with a watery sauce. The crust is buttery and flaky. But get there early or call in to book some pies, they sell out fast.

The pies are phenomenal! The crust is so flaky, yet soft on the inside. The fillings are delicious. We tried the butter chicken, the lamb and the Guinness beef and they were all wonderful.

Ahhh, the humble meat pie. It could be an image next to “Comfort Food” in the dictionary. But wait; can they only be simple combinations of meat, some veg and sauce sandwiched inside pastry? All too frequently, yes. And most often not enough meat, overcooked veg (if any), too little seasoning or sauce and a ton of mediocre pastry. Or they were just plain boring. Well my friends, if this has been your experience or you’ve just never been convinced by the “National Dish of New Zealand”, might I suggest you hustle yourself over to Loki’s Gourmet Pies. I was introduced a year or so ago by a friend who’s also a former chef and now professional baker. I thought I was doing something cool by bringing him an example from a pie focused restaurant in the city. And that place who will go unnamed does some tasty stuff. But said friend told me “You should go check out Loki’s, they’re killing it! Try the Butter Chicken”. When he mentioned that particular pie it had me a tad skeptical. What an unusual idea for a meat pie… And I was wrong. Sooo wrong. The chicken was great, filling plentiful, seasoning had surprising heat (in the good way) and the pastry was the best I’d had in a meat pie. I didn’t just pick up butter chicken. They also have the classic “Beef & Guinness”, Beef & Gravy, Cheese/ Steak and Mushroom all of which I’ve gone back for several times. These are the BEST meat pies I’ve had any place, any time. I’ve spent extended time in New Zealand, Australia as well as the North and South of Ireland so I’ve had more than my share.

Ingredients are locally sourced and are very well priced when you think about the quality and portion sizes.

I want to state, this is not a paid advertisement nor am I friends with the owners. In fact, the only conversations I’ve ever had at Loki’s were when I was stocking up my freezer. I’m not even sure if it was the owners I met any of those times. I’m writing this as I want people on the Coast to know about those in the community making good food and providing diversity. Sure, it can be a simple thing like these pies but when any dish is made well enough to raise it to the next level, that purveyor deserves some support.

I first heard of Loki’s Gourmet Pies from Michael Godin at Coast Culinary Collective. Then a batch of pies were delivered to my workplace – Les Ami du Fromage, a cheese and food shop in Vancouver. They were baked in the oven and we all tried them. I think stunned was the first reaction.

We had all eaten meat pies before but the pies in front of us were of the high plain’s variety, these were the pinnacle of meat pies. The fillings are ample and delicious, but the pastry is out of this world amazing. So, a friend delivered eight pies to me this week and we had four of them tonight. Butter chicken meat pie? So good my son refused to share his. I had to resort to threats of a 10 km run for him to share a bite with my wife and myself. And yeah, it was soooo good. Very generous with the filling and a nice kick of heat. Not crazy hot but enough to know this was not some run of the mill pedestrian pie purchased at Save on Foods. The beef and Guinness was equal to the challenge as was the cheese steak and mushroom.

The chicken pot pie was the least impressive of the pies. Please understand when I say that it was the least impressive that it is due to the others being so good. It was still one of the better chicken pot pies I have had but the others were just so exciting to taste.

Since the first write-up CCC did for Loki’s, I’ve met Kevin and Anita, the owners and cooks behind these “wonder pies”, numerous times. Kevin, a South African and Anita, originally from Singapore are good folk. And the meat pies they’re producing are STUPID good. As is my way when I find a strong achievement in a dish, I do my best to turn as many people on to it as possible. Loki’s has been a bit more rewarding than other examples with every person(s) I’ve turned on to the pies being blown away. Very gratifying for me to have my peers back me on this. But the fact that they’ve now gotten their pies into our local Supervalu as well as the venerated Vancouver cheese monger Les Amis du Fromage speaks volumes.

Anyway, on to the point of this block; Loki’s Lamb Pie. Superb. Truly. Plentiful filling, judicious use of rosemary, great crust. Add that to their Beef & Guinness, Bacon/Onion Jam & Pork/ Steak, Cheese & Onion and their Butter Chicken and Loki’s success rate with their recipes is remarkable. Savant? Or maybe they cut a deal…