As part of my Monday Munchies series, I will feature a different eatery for a review on the third Monday of every month. Hope you enjoy!
I had taken a winter break from my Monday Munchies series since it was just too dang cold out to go out. Just kidding. Well, sorta. It was cold, but the holidays are crazy and then from there we went into ‘moving mode’ and things got even crazier. But I’m back today and I have a great place to share with you.
Now, people typically think of Shrimp on the Barbie, ginormous steaks, and vegemite when they think of Australian food, but KO Catering and Pies educates Bostonians on what Australian comfort food is all about.
Since opening their first location in South Boston in October of 2010, they have selling out of meat pies left and right. Thankfully, I learned of the hole in the wall storefront soon after they opened so I have been a long time fan. At that point I was a decent 30+ minute drive to there from our house so I was fully committed when I would drive over to stock up on warm and frozen pies and sausage rolls.
They opened a second location along the East Boston waterfront in the summer of 2012 which has a fantastic outdoor seating area that is packed during the summer. You just can’t beat hanging out with friends while drinking great beers, eating Aussie Pies, and playing corn hole.
Their signature dish are their Meat Pies, the unofficial national dish of Australia and it’s part of the national identity of New Zealand.
A meat pie typically is a hand-held take-away dish that consists of a meat filled pie that has a pastry crust on the bottom and a puff pastry crust on top. Most often it is topped off with some ketchup prior to enjoying.
KO serves several pies, including Classic Beef ($6.35), Beef with Cheese ($6.60), Curried Vegetable ($6.00), Irish beef stew ($6.85) and Braised Lamb Shank ($6.95), and a Pie of the Month ($TBD). All of which are fantastic and have such great different qualities about each of them from their flavors to their textures of the different kinds of tender meat and vegetables.
The crew at K.O. often hosts pie throw-downs when they invite local innovative, creative chefs to create pies that are signature of their restaurants to battle it out to get fun bragging rights and get featured at KO.
You can also get a Pie Floater, which is any of their pies that is topped off with a scoop of mashed potatoes, gravy and mushy peas for and additional $6.50. It’s their awesome spin on the traditional pie floater that actually is a pie ‘floating’ in a bowl of pea soup.
It’s very important to note that there is a proper way to Eat a Pie, which they so helpfully (and playfully) diagram out for meat pie newbies!
You can pair their pies with their potato wedges ($6.50). The crisp wedges are seasoned right out of the fryer and are served hot with a Sweet Chili Sauce & Sour Cream. I can’t resist getting these. The only issue now is that my daughter loves them as well so we have to share with her as well… ha!
My husband enjoys their sandwiches most often. He worked near by for about a year at a satellite office for a project and went there quite often for lunch either by himself or with a group.
Like with their pies, they have a variety of sandwiches from burgers to chicken sandwiches to fish sandwiches. Everything is made to order and is really fresh and flavorful starting with fresh breads that cap off marinated meats that are topped off with zesty sauces.
The only sort of crummy situation is that their sandwiches change every now and then and I had to hear bummed my husband was when they changed out the chicken sandwich that he fell in love with.
I highly suggest grabbing a sausage roll ($3.75) when you are ready to cozy up under a blanket and watch a good movie. Or to take to the nearby park to nosh on while you watch your kid run around. Or take it along with you for a beach picnic, just like Australians do.
I love that KO brings everyone together around great quality food. Our 2 year old daughter is a big fan of their meat pies as they are easy to eat with a fork (or her hands!), not too spicy, and at just plain ol’ delicious.
While the meat pies are awesome there, my absolute favorite thing to order their Spicy Shrimp on the Barbie entree($13). It’s a loaded rice and salad plate that is topped off with grilled shrimp. They provide a generous serving of 6 of very spicy Chermoula marinated shrimp that are grilled to perfection. In all, I love the fresh combination of the flavors and textures from the sweet corn and grape tomatoes, salty crumbled feta, crunchy cucumbers, and zesty lime.
It should be noted that things can add up quickly here, but I have found that most times I take things home or I will skip dinner after a filling lunch. But it can definitely sing our wallet when you go out for lunch and drop $30 on 2 pies, potato wedges, and drinks, but without a doubt the quality is top notch. It’s not like you’re just grabbing some fast food burger and fries.
But don’t forget to leave room for dessert!
They have Lamingtons ($3) and Anzac Biscuit Cookies ($2) for dessert giving you the true experience of the land down under.
I highly suggest checking out KO Catering and Pies for your next lunch out, office luncheon, or party. From take-out to catering, you can’t go wrong with fantastic hearty meat pies, fresh salads, and sausage rolls.
I’m quite serious when I suggest KO, I made a point of going as often as I could and even went the last weekend in Boston to get one last pie fix before heading to Florida. Love it!
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