Pie & Mash

Pie & Mash is one of my favorite British dishes. It’s an East London tradition that is (quite sadly) dying off little by little, thanks to the growth of other cheap, fast food establishments, like McDonalds and KFC. Pie & mash shops have been around since the 18th century and originally sprouted up to serve the London working class people. Ironically, most of the people you see frequenting these pie & mash shops are middle-aged and older. You rarely see young people going there. What a pity.

In any case, the specialty of pie & mash shops are meat pies (made of ground beef, and sometimes kidney or onion, in a rich beef gravy encased in a pastry crust), served with a side of mash (mashed potatoes) and green liquor (a green parsley sauce). It is quite tasty and very cheap. A small serving of 1 pie & mash typically costs around £3.00. To be really authentic, you should drench your plate in malt vinegar (the same vinegar that Brits use on fish & chips), although I just can’t quite acquire a taste for the stuff. Pie & mash shops often sell another London speciality – jellied eels. I have no intention of trying this.

There are a handful of pie & mash shops still left in East (and South) London. My personal favorite also happens to be within walking distance of my job (lucky for me!). It’s a place called Manze's in Chapel Market (in Islington). The décor is also very traditional for pie & mash shops – very Victorian with tiled walls, wooden benches and boothes, and marble table tops. It is an experience every visitor to London needs to try!