The pie floater is no humble pie. It hovers stratospherically above its peers as the dinky-di South Aussie pie like no other on this sometimes infamous part of the continent.Acknowledged only with less shivers than some life snufflers of previous and present notoriety in Adelaide, it has for long been the sustenance of the nocturnal wanderer caught oscillating between states of absolute delirium and plain hunger.
While there is but a lone surviving pie cart lingering at the corner of the GPO in Victoria Square, the National Trust icon of a pie floater could be your salvation if you could make twenty steps in a straight line or muster a hop and a trot after a night out at any of the nearby watering holes. Even so, the pie cart is no longer the horse drawn cart it used to be; it now comes in the shape of a modern van with side panels that flap open like a box of Christmas goodies for those waiting in front of its kitchen and serving counter.
Well, as they say, you ain’t South Aussie until you’ve tried one of these upside down meat pies sitting in its moat of soupy, mushy peas. So, at the pie cart my friends and I arrived on a fabulously nippy evening. Soon afterwards, the ‘cart’ attendant declared the trade open by pushing the side panels up systematically. On that Friday evening, the GPO clock had just struck six and hordes of office-workers-turned-vampish-weekenders were starting to wing their way to the pubs or the Central Market for their beer and skittles. The Central Market’s late night trading on Friday would prove stiff competition for the cart business but we were not in the least fazed, all five of us absolutely resolute in staking our claim as denizens of the gridded city.
You know you’ve come to the right place if you can see people milling around whom you wouldn’t normally see hobnobbing across the street at the Treasury – not at that time of the evening anyway. They would probably only turn up at the cart at around 1am, if they do. So could a band of guys out on a bucks’ night or even a wedding party, in the throes of mirth… who knows? While waiting for our meal, we watched a man collect plastic bottles nearby. And another who walked past exuding glowing verbal expletives about the pie being the best in the world! That, I thought, could have been the ‘proof in the floater’.Our piping hot dinner was served with a smile by the deliciously affable lady poised behind the raised counter. More importantly, the food was dispensed with a quick lesson on the etiquette of pie floater consumption. First, we had to squirt a glug of tomato ketchup on top of the inverted pie. Next was a dash of Worcester sauce, followed by a dash of white vinegar and then a final blessing of mint sauce. And ‘Bloody oath’! Dinner was dressed and ready to go to where rumbles resonated to the tune of pre dinner trauma.
The instant our tastebuds were introduced to the street cuisine was a defining moment. The pastry was fluffy, the filling was meaty-good and the peas tasted better than they looked. We knew at once why they were sought after with fervour in the early hours of the morning or the dank of the night. And we know now why devotees in varying states of sobriety or levels of public standing have campaigned tirelessly to keep the tradition alive! The pie floater is such divine grub and one of those foods we can still eat standing by the side of a road come hail or rain, in suit or shorts, it’s sacrilegious to let go of! It is South Aussie dinky-di tradition, it is to be enjoyed and shared not just by bona fide South Australians but with people who have come from oceans afar to try it on its home turf. And like the horse and carriage, the pie floater will surely sink without its cart. True, you may be able to find pseudo gourmet floaters flogged in trendy cafes or bakeries around town but take it from us newly converted fans, here is where you can taste the real deal, baked with the original recipe from the Cowley family who plied their trade in the early 1900s. Also, you’ll get to lick your plate clean on your feet, in the middle of the city in full view of a hooting car or a hungry sparrow. So to speak… So to eat… And where else can you find customer service so engaging you may even get a signature tea towel as a keepsake? I’m not pissing in the wind – I dare say the pie floater and the pie cart deserve heritage listing as a couple.
Aye, aye, till the day I die, the pie floater should thrive afloat in its sea of adulation and be revered as an honest meal deal for all to share. And the humble pie cart should remain the true locale of the floater, not to be let go of by bullying developers or power wielding bigots. If this is not enough food for thought, then rock up to the pie cart tonight and try one for yourself. Just remember to do so with ceremony – first, squirt a dollop of ketchup; then, add the Worcester sauce; and then the white vinegar and lastly the mint sauce… and away you’ll float to your stratosphere of ultimate indulgence. A word of caution here – you could get so pumped up afterwards you won’t be looking for a ride to get home! PS: Peace be with the bottle collector who exchanged his loot for a hot cuppa from the affable cart lady. And peas be with you?
For more information, catch the clip on YouTube by Adelaide’s Table Queen, Irinaprevina who was party to the experience on
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