Golden Pie Bakery And Cafe sits on Avalon Drive in Nawton, Hamilton, with a 4.3 rating from 313 reviews in which pies — paua pies above all — come up again and again, along with the sweets, friendly staff and plenty of seating inside and out.
A pie shop lives or dies by pastry and filling: the pastry should shatter rather than go soggy, and the filling should be generous and clearly the point, not mostly gravy. Regulars learn the rhythm too — popular lines come out of the oven in batches through the day, and a pie bought soon after a fresh tray is a different thing from one that has sat in the warmer. Watching what sells fastest is the oldest trick in the trade; every bakery has its house strengths, and the cabinet rarely hides them.
In Nawton, this Avalon Drive bakery has made its name with exactly that kind of pie.