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Travel notesA little of each town’s storyThe Australian meat pie

A little of each town’s story

Somerset Region, Queensland

The Australian meat pie

From: Borrowing a small house in the Australian countryside

Meat sauce showing through the pastry
Meat sauce showing through the pastry

A hand-sized pie of minced or diced meat in gravy, baked in pastry. Each one weighs about 230 grams and is usually eaten by hand with tomato sauce on top. The minced-beef version is the classic; in 2003 the Premier of New South Wales called it the national dish. Australians are said to eat 270 million pies a year. I had mine with mashed green peas.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

This moment in the journey

The town's famous meat pie

For lunch, the town's famous meat pie. I went to the bakery cafe with the big red signs on the main street. Old tools hang from the timber beams inside, and the pie arrived in a bowl.

When I pushed my fork in, juicy meat sauce spilled out. Crisp pastry, tender beef. It goes even better with mashed green peas. It was a big size, but I gobbled it up in no time.

The walls were lined with old photographs, a horse and cart, a group portrait. Outside the window, trucks rolled past.

Watch this scene on YouTube2:15

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The main street with the bakery cafe's red signs
The main street with the bakery cafe's red signs
Inside the cafe, old tools hanging from the beams
Inside the cafe, old tools hanging from the beams
A close-up of the meat pie broken open with a fork
A close-up of the meat pie broken open with a fork
Cutting into the meat pie at the table
Cutting into the meat pie at the table
The meat pie on a bed of mashed green peas
The meat pie on a bed of mashed green peas
Eating at a table by the window
Eating at a table by the window
Iron chairs and the street outside the window
Iron chairs and the street outside the window
A table number and old photographs on the wall
A table number and old photographs on the wall

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