“The Floater”…. Tuck Shop Revisited

I was walking to work the other day and got handed a menu for the Tuck Shop, an Australian Meat Pie shop hidden away in an Internet Cafe that I wrote about a little over a month ago.  In the menu I saw an item that I hadn’t noticed before… “The Floater”.  Any Aussie pie of your choice, covered in pea soup made by Madeleine the Crepe Lady (a little old French lady who makes crepes in the same Internet Cafe).  It sounded like a marriage made in heaven… and with the weather starting to get gross- the perfect winter lunch.

Now, I will admit that “The Floater” is an unfortunate name.  While it may be an Australian term for a pie covered in soup- it has come to mean something far grosser in our frat boyish American culture.  (As a matter of fact, when I told one of my co-workers what I had eaten for lunch… he joked that it was also what I “would be making in a few hours”)  But you can’t blame these guys… they’re Australian!  And it’s still a catchy name, even though the heavy pie doesn’t really float in Madeleine’s hearty pea soup.

The picture of “The Floater”, after the jump…

Make no mistake about it, it’s as heavy as it looks… but the perfect comfort food on a cold wet day.  How could it not be good?  It’s a meat pie (already good), covered in a pea soup made by a sweet old French Lady.  The Tuck Shop owners suggested that the traditional beef pie was the way to go (matching up perfectly with the soup)… and who am I to argue with an Aussie.  After the first bite of pie, the ground beef gushed out into the soup and created this slush of comfort food.  My boss, who couldn’t resist the pull of soup covered pie, noted that the only thing missing was a spoonful of mashed potatoes (something the owners say they are considering adding).

I have to admit, if I went back I would probably go with the Lamb or Chicken pie.  Although the ground beef and pea soup is a classic combo, a traditional Aussie beef pie is made with a tomato sauce or ketchup, and I didn’t like how the vinegar taste of the ketchup reacted with the pea soup- but that’s just my personal taste.  The simple fact is, if you like pie, and you like pea soup, you’re going to love The Floater!

(For more info about this place, read my pieces from last month about Tuck Shop & Madeleine the Crepe Lady)

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