Australian Pies in Montreal? Beaut!

I realize that this is a bit of a departure from my usual blog post about management and the web, but I thought this would be a nice change from the everyday.

Recently opened at 4520 du Parc in Montreal, Australian pie shop, Tourtiere Australienne serves up a variety of authentic Australian pies and a handful of native Australian snacks such as Tim Tams and the forever-disgusting Vegemite. At the time of this post, I think the shop had been open for less that a week. It’s so new, in fact, that it isn’t even on Google Maps’ Street View yet. However, despite it being the new kid on the block, I must say it has quickly become one of my favorite places to pick up a quick bite – one that I’ll visit every time I’m in that area.

Now, as most of you (should) know, I am not Aussie. I don’t even know what a knife is. (For the young ones out there, you may need to do a bit of research to understand that reference. Hint: Paul Hogan.) In fact, I’ve only been down undah for a whopping three weeks. But let me tell you, during my short time in Oz, the Australian pie easily became a comfort food for me and my wife. We’d pick one up in between outings and keep a couple in our backpacks. We tried the ones from small shops, grocery stores and even vending machines. I can say without a doubt that the Australian pie holds a warm spot in my heart and probably a few spots in my waste line still. So when I heard of this shop opening up from an old friend of mine, I knew I had to make the trek – and I was not disappointed.

I, along with my little family, and close circle of friends visited the little shop on a late Friday afternoon. We were greeted by a pleasant man with a strange accent. I figure he’s  from a remote section of Laval or something – who knows. I could be wrong. In any case, we were welcomed with warmth and shown the small case of baked delightfulness (and I don’t care if that’s not a real word). We ordered single sized versions of the following pies (each reasonably priced at $4 each):

• steak and mushroom (nice twist on one of my favorites)
• steak bacon and cheese
• chile con carne (very satisfying)
• steak and kidney
• butter chicken
• chicken, bacon and mushroom (deliciously smokey) and finally
• spinach, mushroom and ricotta.

Now I’ve never had most of these flavours during my short tour of Oz, but all I have to say is that  just for a short moment, I was back there. It felt nice in so many ways after all these years away. And that alone, was worth the trip.

On a side note, the owner is Kiwi. Kiwis are not Australian, nor like to be mistaken for one. Or so my Kiwi friend, Kirsten, passionately tells me. By the way, she too, likes this place. There may yet be hope for Aussi/Kiwi relations.

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