Latest news with #BakelsSupremePieAwards
NZ Herald
13-08-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Cambodian bakers sweep 2025 Bakels Supreme Pie Awards
Apart from those at the top, it's hard to ignore the many Cambodian names in the full pie awards lists every year, as well as those joining other baking competitions. The bakers themselves believe their country of origin has made them resilient and hard-working. Cambodia's French colonial history has also given them palates sensitive to pastry. Support from within their community has also been key. It is not uncommon for someone to work in a bakery run by a family member or a friend when they first arrive in New Zealand and pick up baking – that's how eight-time supreme winner Patrick Lam got a break. Patrick Lam (second from right) winning the supreme award in 2023. From left: Jessica Lam, Darren Lam, Lay Phan Ho, Patrick Lam and Lawrence Lam. Photo / Supplied Lam, who runs bustling bakeries in Tauranga and Rotorua, left Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime and went through 'a very difficult and traumatic time'. After staying at a Vietnamese refugee camp then living in Australia for some years, Lam and his family finally settled in New Zealand in 1997, where he learnt baking from his brother-in-law and started his business the same year. He says Cambodian bakers are often 'very hard-working' and 'take a lot of pride' in what they do. 'Many of us have come from backgrounds where resilience and resourcefulness were essential, and I think that carries over into our work,' Lam says. So is among those who have thrived after mastering baking techniques at a relative's bakery. Supreme winner of the Bakels Supreme Pie Awards in 2025 Samraksmey So and his wife, Sothdalika Sao. Photo / RNZ, Yiting Lin He picked up his skills from his pie-making brother-in-law, Bunnarith Sao. This year, So's potato top pie outshone that of Sao's to take out the gold award. So says many new migrants follow the footsteps of those who have established their business and life here, which explains why there's an increasing number of Cambodian-owned bakeries in New Zealand. 'I think my people work hard,' says So, who needs a pillow for his legs when he sleeps at night after standing for long hours in the kitchen. He says sharing ideas with family like Sao, as well as diligent research and testing on his own, helps improve the quality of his baking. 'Everything I do is by my heart and about love,' he says. 'I want everyone in New Zealand [to] know about me and about my brand, and the shop [to have good food and good pies].' After receiving a highly commended in the 2024 awards, So spent a year studying every detail to perfect his 2025 entry. He worked with a chef from a five-star hotel to get it right, and worked past midnight cranking out test pies before finally nailing his swirled potato top pie with a centre of fondant-style cooked potatoes finished in au gratin layers. Bunnarith Sao. The success of the younger Cambodian bakers has made him very proud. Photo / Supplied Another apprentice of 52-year-old Sao, Sok Keo from Milldale Bakery in Wainui, north of Auckland, also won gold this year for his steak and cheese creation. Sao has been running his bakery in New Zealand for 21 years and has bagged plenty of prizes himself. Sao says many Cambodians come to New Zealand for a better life, and are prepared to work hard. '[Baking was] the last option for my life,' he says, explaining it was hard for him to find a job in NZ so he had to learn baking from a friend to make a living. 'Sometimes [we must] force ourselves to do the job. We can't choose it.' The exposure to European tastes during French colonisation has helped Cambodians develop an instinct for good baking, Sao says. 'The Cambodian people, [our] tongue...I know [our] brain and [our] tongue know that flavour.' The very first female baker to win the supreme pie awards, Sopheap Long, also acknowledges the French influence. Sopheap Long winning the supreme pie award in 2021, with her husband Bunna Hout. Photo / Supplied 'I've never seen a pie in Cambodia till I came to New Zealand,' she says, 'but the cake, the artisan bread, they're seen in Cambodia because [there are] a lot of French bakeries over there.' She still remembers being 'over the moon' with her victory in 2021 – becoming the first woman to win in the award's quarter century history. It took lots of research and experimenting to successfully nail the perfect pastry, the filling and at just the right temperature. Pies being sold at Rosedale Bakery and Cafe in Auckland's Northshore. Photo / RNZ, Yiting Lin 'If you're talking about pies now and the pie like 20 years ago, it's really different,' Long says. 'The classic ones are still popular, like steak and cheese, mince and cheese, potato top pie or mince pie... but nowadays the pie is different because people are looking for something different.' When Long dines out, she often considers whether the meal she orders could be put into a pie, such as beef stroganoff. '[There are] very modern, very fancy pie right now,' she says. 'It's not like 25 years ago when I first came in New Zealand. So yeah, [I'll] keep learning.' She says she often talks about pies with her Cambodian baker friends. '[We] just learn from each other. [We] look up to each other and inspiring each other to do better and better.'
NZ Herald
07-08-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Main Street Cafe Huntly wins award for rhubarb and raspberry pie at NZ Pie Awards 2025
After the award announcement, pie sales skyrocketed and they were sold out two days in a row, Linton-Brown said. While Linton-Brown couldn't remember how many pies she made on the days they sold out, she believed it was hundreds. Linton-Brown, originally from Auckland, fell in love with pastry when she was still in high school. But it wasn't until 2022 that she opened her own cafe. It's a family-run business, with her children heavily involved as well. For the family, the awards win came after 'rough' times and challenges, which meant Linton-Brown had been almost ready to close the cafe's doors. 'We've been broken into, which cost us a lot of money, and recession for our business was tight too. Huntly's Main Street Cafe won Gold for their rhubarb and raspberry pie at the 2025 Bakels NZ Pie Awards. Photo / Malisha Kumar 'It was either dig my heels in further or close my doors,' she said. But closing up shop did not come easy to her. 'I'm no quitter. 'I don't want to give up, and I kept that capacity in me to keep pushing forward.' Having overcome those challenges made the national pie award win taste twice as sweet. 'We dug our heels in, and it was hard. But I'm incredibly grateful I did.' Other Waikato winners were the Baker Tīrau, taking silver for its steak and cheese pie and Hamilton's High Bakery and Cafe, which won silver for its vegetarian pie in 2024, and this year won silver for its bacon and egg pie. The sign outside Huntly's Main Street Cafe. Photo / Malisha Kumar The High Bakery and Cafe posted on social media: 'We did it again'. 'Thanks [to] our loyal customers for believing in us, supporting, and enjoying our pies.' Lunchbar Eighty 8, also of Hamilton, won bronze for its creamy paua pie in the Gourmet Meats category. Auckland's Rosedale Bakery & Cafe won the Supreme Award for its potato top pie. The first Pie Awards were held in 1996 to inspire the baking industry to keep on innovating. The Bakels Supreme Pie Awards have now grown to around 600 entries across 11 categories, which are blind-judged by a panel of industry experts. Malisha Kumar is a multimedia journalist based in Hamilton. She joined the Waikato Herald in 2023 after working for Radio 1XX in Whakatāne.
