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| Image sourced from Google maps |
It is clear to see that Pie and mash has
indeed become a trend again and the taste of London that tourists long to try.
It is the difference in tourist pie and mash, and pie and mash for the Londoner
which interests me. Arments, the Pie shop I have been visiting for years is set
just off a back street of Walworth Road in South East London. The shop is
traditional in its ways, with wooden benches and long tables. On busy days
customers share tables just to indulge in their meals. The beauty about this
pie shop's location is that it is a hidden gem, there is very little to visit
on the road, meaning that customers have to be aware of the shops location
before they visit. As can be seen from the map the shop is set off a main
road surrounded by residential properties. Arments
closest competition is Manze's on Tower Bridge Road, which is
equally as traditional in its serving of the dish. Growing up in Bermondsey where these shops are located has
caused a great divide in the area. On a Saturday, society splits. Some go to Arments
and the other's go to Manze’s. What they have in common, is their destination
at their favourite pie shop. It is the making of the pies and the layout of
these traditional shops which allows me to question the purpose of high end pie
and mash shops, such as those located in tourist areas such
as Greenwich. On my exploration into this Cockney dish, I discovered a
posh little shop in Greenwich. I ordered what I would normally order and the
difference in the dish was remarkable.
The dish looked amazing. The lid was made of thick puff pastry, the
filling was chunks of beef drenched in rich beef gravy. The liquor was thick
and the taste of Parsley was rich and detectable. The mash was
mash. Again, it wasn't made as lovingly as it would have been in a mother’s
kitchen and it lacked butter and milk, but it was mashed potato nonetheless,
served perfectly in scoops. I wasn't keen on this. For me, I felt like the dish
was trying to be made posh. I have to admit that upon visiting the shop, there
were both Londoners and tourists indulging, so my opinion can only speak for my
own experience. I felt that this London dish was trying to be sold as something
that it isn't. On the menu which ran the length of the back wall, the choices
were endless. There was the option to have gravy, beans and even a thick
chunked steak pie. I never knew that this Cockney favourite could be so
diverse. There was something about being in this shop, which made me feel like
I couldn't enjoy my favourite dish in the way that I wanted to. I couldn't
flip it over, cut it and fill it with chilli vinegar, this was a posh shop and
people in posh shops don't eat pies like that. The image to the right shows one
of the many advertising boards outside of this shop located in Greenwich, like
I have mentioned before there is an obvious emphasis on the British element to
this traditional cockney dish. What I believe shops like this try to achieve,
is the tourist element. It is less about the generations of customers
that have visited the shop, but more about the tourists who feel the need
to try a uniquely British dish. The emphasis that this shop puts upon
the 'British' dish is most enthralling. As I will unravel later this dish is
not necessarily British, but it is a dish which is unique to London. Outside of
London, there are few if not no pie and mash shops. It is this sense of London
that I love, I feel like I enjoy a secret meal, with secret ingredients, on a
secret backstreet.
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| Image taken from Google Images |
Here is a video of how the pies are made in Arments...
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