Salut Pies started out in Ōtaki with a pie menu that changed every day, and demand eventually brought it down the coast to central Wellington. Its main shop is tucked up an alleyway off Victoria Street in Te Aro, opposite McDonald’s and heading towards Edward Street, and a second counter trades in Willis Lane beside the south stairwell. Inside it is unfussy and a little rough around the edges by design, with simple furniture and white walls dotted with sticky notes scrawled with pie flavours. Thick, chunky pies line the cabinet, made to be eaten on the go, though nobody minds if you take a fork and a quiet moment instead.
What sets the place apart is how the pies are baked. They come out fresh throughout the day in small batches, each one made individually rather than on big trays, and nothing is reheated, so the pastry stays firm. The core menu turns over with the seasons, four times a year, while a daily special is chalked on the blackboard beside the menu and posted on social media, seldom lasting more than a day. Flavours over time have included Korean gochujang pork belly and a duck and chorizo gumbo, and a Japanese pork curry with shiitake has featured as a special. Pies do sell out, so arriving before lunch gives you the widest choice.
The spring line up has included Eggs Montreal, which folds smoked salmon, egg, spinach and hollandaise into pastry, and roast chicken with smoky bacon under a trio of edam, parmesan and gouda. There has been Spanish pork loin with chorizo, a cheeseburger inspired chicken pie with burger sauce, cheese, onion and sesame, devilled sausages with curried sausage and onion, and a savoury mince and cheese for traditionalists. Beef brisket with bacon jalapeño relish and cheese is the long standing favourite, while the vegetarian choice has been a cashew and chickpea curry with honey roasted potato, kumara and carrot. Sausage rolls get the same playful treatment, such as a Cajun crusted, bacon wrapped kransky finished with cashew pesto.
The sweet cabinet has held doughnuts, raspberry custard buns, lemon rolls, double chocolate cookies and individual cakes, and to drink there is black and white coffee, matcha, chai and hot chocolate, served hot or iced, with alternative milks on hand. Every product contains gluten, dairy and eggs, nuts are used in the open kitchen, and there are no gluten free or vegan pies, although vegetarians are looked after. Online orders are taken for pick up or through Uber Eats, bigger orders for a pie party can be collected, and frozen pies can go home for later, with the advice to reheat a fully defrosted pie in a preheated oven at 150 to 160 degrees for about half an hour.
Address: 120 Victoria Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011
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