pieminister pies from cup in manchester: yes, pies are nice.

hello and welcome to mushy peas on pie on mash.  and cup. woohoo!

in manchester for a go game last week, chris and i wandered the galleries, shops, and restaurants of the northern quarter and stumbled upon this lovely little cafe named cup.  sunny, warm, and colorful, this cafe/gallery space/t-shirt and print shop/vintage tea set seller turned out to be the perfect place to hang for a bit before our train. and most importantly, the perfect place to eat PIE.

cup sells pies from pieminister, a fantastic company making ‘a really good pie from proper stuff.’ i’d seen their pies at borough market as well as at a supercool pietrailer in islington and had always wanted to try one. i finally got my chance at cup with the ‘heidi’ pie – goat cheese, sweet potato, spinach, red onion, and roasted garlic in, as they call it, a lovely pastry. it’s a british pie award champion! oooh. i also plan to try their varieties with thai green curry, wild mushroom & asparagus, and chorizo & olives extremely soon. mmmmmmmmmmm.

i had mine with salad on a geometrically printed tabletop.

mmm. buttery, flaky pastry crust surrounding toasty warm vegetables tastes like fires in the fireplace and fuzzy slippers. comfortable and homey.

chris had his pie with a humongous glop of mushy peas on top and a ginormous plop of mash on bottom.  after a few bites, his pie started to tilt slightly with the pressure of his fork. i thought it looked like a tilting boat adrift on a tumultous sea of mashed potatoes, threatening to dump a valuable store of mushy peas overboard from its sturdy pastry hull.

if you’re ever in manchester, stop by cup! you won’t find two girls there (well at least not those two girls…sorry, unnecessary) but you will find great screenprinted art, threadless t-shirts, beautiful graphically handpainted mugs that i would have taken home with me if i had any money, and pies.

the sign says it all….pies are just nice.