As bakers around the country work on new pie fillings and polishing their pastry skills, father and daughter team, Sid Sahrawat and Zoya are gearing up for judging day, July 25 in the 26th Bakels NZ Supreme Pie Awards as this year’s celebrity chef judges.
Sid, a former judge on MasterChef NZ and My Kitchen Rule is a highly successful Auckland restaurateur; formerly the owner of Sidart, and now of Cassia, Anise, The French Café and Kol. Zoya, his 13-year-old daughter is a talented foodie who as a small child was known as HospoBaby for her love of being in the kitchen alongside her dad tasting his recipes.
Sid says: “We’re both really excited and delighted to be part of something we haven’t really done before. This is Zoya’s first gig doing something so formal. She is really interested in seeing how the judging panel and process works. And it will be good for us both to see what is inspiring New Zealand chefs and bakers to come up with amazing pies with different flavours, textures and combinations.”
Sid and Zoya agree that they’ll be looking for a pie that has the X factor.
Zoya says: “I’m so excited to be judging the Pie Awards with Dad. I’m going to take this very seriously as I am sure everyone in New Zealand wants us to get it right for them, so they know what pies they have to definitely try this year, and also for the bakers, who will be putting in so much effort to get their creations right.”
“I would definitely like to see the best of New Zealand produce used, whether it’s for a vegetarian, meat, or seafood pie. There should be just no boundary, but it’s got to have bags of flavour. It should be that you’d want to have it again.
At Anise, Sid has introduced an entrée-sized pie that is proving to be a hot little number with the customers. “It’s a beef rendang pie which has got a little bit of beef short rib, then the Malaysian rendang flavours and a really nice flaky pastry.”
That’s the kind of flavour which would work well in the Pie Awards Café Boutique category where cafes and restaurants can show off their innovation skills.
“A pie is not a small amount to eat. You commit to having more than two or three bites, and it has to have that kind of layers of complexity,” says Sid.
He also recommends that bakers smell their pies in the process of taking that first ‘taste test’ bite. “Even the aroma, when you bite into a pie for the first time and you can smell all the flavours while you’re eating it. That is the most important time for any piece of food.”
NZ Bakels managing director, Brent Kersel says having Sid and Zoya on the judging panel for this year’s Supreme Pie Awards will be a double bonus by bringing together Sid’s wealth of culinary knowledge and Zoya’s youth and her childhood immersion in the kitchen.
