Feed Your Pie Hole at Meal in a Pie

John Linn

This Meal in a Pie is filled with chicken curry.

​What has four corners, is filled with meat, and can travel anywhere you go?

Why, a South African Meal in a Pie, of course.

These feature flaky/light pastries with meaty fillings like spinach and feta, bobotie (that's curried beef with dried fruit), or lamb and potato. At only $4.95 a pop, they're inexpensive, single-serving meals -- not to mention quick and portable.

They hail from the eponymous Meal in a Pie, a South African shop that also sells imported drinks and sundries. I stopped in to grab a few pies, and ended up sampling the chicken curry and bobotie as well as two sausage rolls. The bobotie was my favorite -- the sweet fruit tasted great against the spicy, curried ground beef. The pie itself was made of airy, slightly buttery puff pastry.

John Linn

This pie is filled with bobotie, a spicy fruit and beef mixture.

​The chicken curry tasted fresh, with shredded chicken mingling about with potatoes and carrots. I dug the sausage rolls, too. They tasted like breakfast sausage with the same pastry crust, and at $2.95 they were even cheaper than the pies. I washed the pies and rolls down with a Sparletta Creme Soda. The African version of the drink tasted sweet and slightly floral, almost like it had rosewater in it.

Meal in a Pie sells bottled hot sauce made with piri-piri, a spicy African pepper, and an indigenous style of beef jerky called biltong that's cured with vinegar. It also sells frozen pies in bulk so you can cook them up at home. The eatery is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Check it out if you want a quick, fun meal on the go.

Meal in a Pie
4440 NE 20th Ave., Fort Lauderdale 33308
954-202-9118