Coromandel bakers dominate Cafe Boutique medals at Bakels NZ Supreme Pie Awards

Two Coromandel businesses were celebrating at this years Bakels NZ Supreme Pie Awards with a well deserved Gold and Bronze medal win in the Cafe Boutique category. Congratulations to:

• Michelle Liddell (Chill Cafe in Whangamata) won the Gold medal with her Chicken, Cranberry Sauce & Camembert Cheese pie. Michelle is pictured above receiving her award. 
• Agustin Alvarez and Tania Vachetta (Tati Frutti Juice Bar) won the Bronze medal for their Steak and Olive pie. 

Bronze for Mercury Bay based Tati Frutti team 

It's a juice bar business that only recently offered pies on the menu, and then won bronze at the nationally recognised Bakels NZ Supreme Pie awards. The Mercury Bay duo behind the Bronze medal award win is quite a story and inspiration.

The talented duo behind Tati Frutti Juice Bar are Agustin Alvarez and Tania Vachetta (pictured above). They only ventured into the world of of making pies a few months ago and have now achieved remarkable success at these pie awards. Their business Tati Frutti, known for its delicious array of cold juices, has faced a challenging summer season. The unfavourable weather and challenging economic climate has significantly impacted their business which made them rethink how to operate their business. Partly inspired by Tania's Italian family heritage, they decided to pivot their business strategy to meet the market by offering more warm food on their menu including their delicious pies.

Their bronze award-winning creation, the steak and olive pie was Tania’s inspiration. Interestingly, Agustin wasn't initially fond of olives, but thanks to Tania's expertise and regular use of olives in her cooking, he has now become a recent convert, loving olives in many dishes!

Agustin and Tania credit their love for food to their background, having moved from Uruguay to New Zealand. Their strong Italian family roots have instilled in them a passion for cooking and experimenting with wholesome home made flavours.

We were very excited and weren’t expecting this win. We really want to thank everyone who has helped our business. Thanks go to Slice Slice Baby Pizza team for the use of their kitchen and the support of our friends to keep us going. It would have been impossible to have grown our business without this support. We have awesome people in our lives and friends to encourage us to keep cooking. We try to transmit the love of food into everything we cook. 

– Agustin and Tania, owners Tati Frutti. 

And if you want to get your hands on an award winning pies by Tati Frutti they can be bought at Slice Slice Baby Pizza.

Conquering king reigns supreme at pie awards

New Zealand’s baking dynasty now has its king back on the throne with Patrick Lam of Patrick’s Pies Gold Star Bakery in Tauranga winning his eighth Bakels NZ Supreme Pie Award.

In this 25th year of the Pie Awards, Patrick surprised the judges with a perfect Roast Duck, Onion and Mushroom entry in the Gourmet Meat category.

When Patrick’s pie began its judging at NZ Bakels on July 27, celebrity chef judge Al Brown started a ripple of conversation with “I’ve just seen a duck pie and it looks pretty amazing”. Before long media gathered for a sneak peek and around the judging kitchen “duck” spread… “I don’t think we’ve ever had a duck entry before”, “hmm duck, if its cooked right it will be really nice” “duck” “duck”. It just kept going all the way to the Supreme category judging where the judges commented on the ‘flying duck’ decoration on the top of the pie. But it was the tasting round that silenced the room before, “the duck is so moist and all the ingredients combine in perfect balance” “so good!” “They’ve nailed it, beautiful pastry, great flavour”.

And so it came to be, that New Zealand’s most awarded pie maker, Patrick Lam took back his throne to applause and with respect. Each time Patrick has won there have been a different set of judges judging the category and it just goes to show that if you present a stunning pie that ticks all the boxes and outshines every other pie, the judges are going to choose it.

This year I’d have to say was one of the toughest years’ we’ve seen in the judging because there were so many superb pies to the point that it was too close to call a category winner in several of the categories and they were re-judged. It was that close! So I’d like to say, well done to all the bakers that entered. The standard of your pie-making is the highest we have ever seen and you should be proud to put those pies in your shop to sell. And to Patrick, your hard work and passion to be the winner in our 25th year is an outstanding achievement. You deserve the glory. Your Duck pie was exceptional, as were your Chicken and Vegetable and Vegetarian category gold winners.

– Brent Kersel - NZ Bakels Managing Director 

Patrick Lam (pictured below) was crowned Pie King, the 25th Bakels NZ Supreme Pie Award winner at a spectacular Awards night in Auckland on August 1.