In the heart of the Clare Valley, right at the gateway to the town of Clare, family owned and run bakery, Little Red Grape, serves up some of the heartiest baked goods in Australia.
Last week, Sevenhill’s little country bakehouse competed against 460 bakeries across Australia, and amongst a swag of medals, took out the prestigious title of the country’s Best Seafood Pie, at the 34th Official Great Aussie Pie Competition.
Filled with chunky meat, a generous serving of prawns and oozing with creamy garlic sauce, the Surf and Turf Pie is the equivalent of a top notch pub meal on the run, conveniently encased in Little Red Grape’s delicious flaky pastry.
Since Jackie and Steve Watson took over the bakery in 2016, they’ve been recognised with multiple national awards, including the 2022 title of Best Sausage Roll in Australia, but this year’s haul had an extra special flavour.
“While we couldn’t make it to Sydney this year, we watched the livestream and were very excited to with out biggest medal tally yet,” she said.
And when your own kids are part of the award-winning team, you get the added “proud mumma bear” moment.
A Chef herself, Jackie works alongside three bakers, including her very own home-made products, her son and daughter, Amy and Tom Pittaway, as well as young baker Ryan “Razz” Bormann.
Among the two silver medals, five bronze and 10 gold medals, Tom took out the prize for best “Apprentice Gourmet Sausage Roll” for his uniquely crafted “Dog Roll” – a combination of hot dog and sausage roll in a tasty fusion that impressed the judges.
“The judging is very intricate process,” Jackie said. “The bakers provide four of each entry and they judge them, cold, hot, they cut them, tip them upside down, test pastry thickness and flakiness.”
The Official Great Aussie Pie Competition has built a history supported by pride and passion among bakers and pastry cooks in the art of pie-making, while forming an industry benchmark for excellence and raising the quality standards of pies and sausage rolls throughout Australia.
Little Red Grape is passionate about providing that high quality of both food and service for all of the locals and visitors to their award-winning little gem at Sevenhill.
