Patrick's Pies Gold Star Bakery is a neighbourhood bakery on Old Taupo Road in Mangakakahi, Rotorua, with a 4.3 Google rating. True to the name, pies are the drawcard, and the Facebook page is the place to check the latest.
A good New Zealand bakery lives and dies by its pies: pastry that is crisp and sturdy rather than soggy, a filling of real meat and not mostly gravy, and a pie that holds together to the last bite. The pie warmer is part of the furniture, but regulars ask when the trays last went in, because a fresh bake is a different thing to one that has sat since dawn. Mid-morning is the reliable window, when the full range is out and the popular lines have yet to sell through.
For Mangakakahi locals and anyone passing through western Rotorua, it makes a handy stop for a proper pie.