Ben's Buns is a bakery at 3a MacLean Street, Paraparaumu Beach, on the Kapiti Coast, holding a 4.8-star Google rating from 152 reviews, with customers singling out its pies, sausage rolls and pastries. A good bakery lives or dies by its pastry: light and flaky rather than dense or sodden, which usually means the dough is laminated on site rather than brought in frozen. Most bake first thing in the morning, so regulars turn up early, both for the widest choice and because the popular lines often sell out well before closing. Simple things make the fairest test — a sausage roll or a vanilla slice is hard to fake — and a cabinet that runs low on one item by midday usually tells you what to order. On MacLean Street in Paraparaumu Beach, Ben's Buns is an easy stop for anyone on the Kapiti Coast after a proper pie.