'Australian pies… they give it a good try'
Bakery recommendations bring us together, says comedian and pie afficionado TimProvise, but they can also tear us apart.
Sick of getting into arguments about bakeries on social media, TimProvise and a videographer friend started the series Bakery Run back in 2019. Over seven seasons, he's visited bakeries with Kiwi celebrities to chat over some "nice cheap hood pies that people love".
Although conversation about who makes the best pies "cuts across age and class and politics and everything" in New Zealand, Tim says, the show's YouTube comments section can get pretty vicious.
"It's like part nostalgia and part civil war. Everybody's scrapping," he tells On The Air.
Of course, Tim doesn't hold back himself when it comes to pastry ranking - "very soggy' was his review of the pies at Sydney's Napean Bakehouse - a favourite of Penrith Panthers James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota.
"Australian pies... they try. We'll give them that, they give it a good try."
On a recent visit to Japan, though, he had "the most delicious pie I've ever had in my life" (alongside TJ Perenara) and a "life-changing" Wagyu beef pie (alongside Richie Mo'unga).
The comedan's number-one pie, though, "because of nostalgia," is sold at Auckland's Clendon Bakery.
"There's a guy that works there, his name is Min. He would let me take out the boxes after school, and then he'd give me a feed, and I'm like, 'You're forever the man'."
TimProvise is all about food and connection.
Seth Siope
TimProvise's six favourite pies in NZ:
- The Clendon Bakery - Clendon
- Ashby Pies - St Heliers: "one of my favorites"
- Lunchroom - Onehunga: "absolutely brilliant"
- The Baker's Cottage - Kingsland
- Patrick's Pies - Bethlehem, Tauranga
- The BAKER - Tirau
This week, chef Al Brown also shared his favourite Kiwi bakeries.
In the next few months, TimProvize will visit New Zealand's favourite small restaurants in a new video seriesMy Shout, G.
This action figure made by TimProvize is "a tongue-in-cheek nod to Winston Peters and the unmistakable public image that’s followed him for decades".
TeeToys
He's also started a toy business called Tee Toys, making 3D-modelled action figures of famous Kiwis and auctioning them on TradeMe.
"I just sold a Scribe one, which was pretty cool, and Che Fu. I've got a Winston Peters one that's on auction right now."
Although TimProvise now lives in sunny Taranaki town of Stratford, 'South Side' - David Dallas's tribute to South Auckland - remains his "anthem".
"This is everything about me. I'm south side, I'm Rewa hard to the fullest. And shout out to Mareko and everybody else that reps their hood like this."
