Rosedale Bakery & Cafe (Rosedale Road) — Restaurant in Upper Harbour

NZ’s 2025 Pie Queen, $9 of pure joy, crowned with golden potato crunch and filled with gravy-rich beef worth every bite.

First Impressions I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I’m happy to say this pie earned every cent, and every bit of its 2025 NZ Pie Award. One look at that golden potato crown on top and you know this isn’t your average bakery pie.

The Potato Crown I saw the crown and I underestimated this saying like, this is a showoff piece. I was mistaken. That crown is the pie’s secret weapon. You might think it’s just for show, like the cherry on top of a cake, but no, it’s got its own personality. It’s light, a bit crunchy, and delicate to bite into. Then you get into the golden mashed potato topping underneath, creamy, buttery, and rich, with little crispy edges that surprise you every time you hit them. The contrast between the soft mash and the crunchy crown? Pure joy.

The Filling & Pastry The beef filling is hearty and swimming in a deep, savoury gravy that feels like it’s been simmering all day. U got surprised with white sauce between the mash potato and the mince meat. The shortcrust pastry holds it all together like a champ, no soggy bottom, thin as just it should be. Crunchy as it should be. flaky and buttery goodness.

The Setting The place itself is… simple. Underwhelming, even. Definitely more of a grab-and-go spot than somewhere you’d sit and soak up atmosphere. I had a peek at the other pastries and honestly, they looked pretty average. The queen of the counter, no question, is this award-winning pie.

The NZ judges got it right this time. If you’re passing through, skip the rest, grab this pie, and...

As a self-proclaimed 'sausage roll connoisseur', I had to try this place, since it just won Best Sausage Roll category in the 2023 Pie awards and was close enough to me. This place is a winner. Place is very clean, but it is a bakery in a commercial zone, so we don't go there for ambience. Staff were friendly. Sausage rolls are (dare I say) beautiful and uniform. ($4, about 165g) Pastry slightly flaky with a nice sheen (don't disintegrate into showers of flakes). Lovely smell, well spiced. Filling is firm and meaty and definitely passes the 'smoosh test'. A tiny amount of pastiness was detected, but I imagine these are made in largish batches and if you over mix sausage roll filling, it can become tight/too firm, so for me, it highlighted the meatiness present. I think if you're gonna get a better sausage roll, you're gonna be paying $6 for it, or gotta make it yourself. 9.5/10. The most pleasant surprise for me was their potato chilli mince and cheese pie, which was out of this world. ($6.80, about 260g) I haven't had a potato top pie like that before. The proportions were perfect (for me), mince wasn't competing with a super thick potato mountain. Cutting the pie I was greeted by the undeniable smell of fresh mashed potato. The cheese (on top of potato and inside, on top of mince) was gooey and tasty (not rubbery, like some). The chilli mince is amazing; starts quite mild, but as I tucked in further I think it rose to a medium, but I didn't need to have a drink or anything. Excellent flavour, like a great home made chilli. 10/10 This store is going to see more of me. I will go out of my way for...

I went specially for the purchase of a variety of pies 🥧 Bought 4 different pies. They also have a very big selection of different tarts, cakes, muffins, etc. Everything just looks so good.

Staff is very friendly and helpful, as the Steak Pepper was sold out - they checked with the head baker and they had a fresh batch that had come out of the oven, so I was very fortunate to get two.

I also purchased two each of their award winning pies, so good.

When I got home, it was definitely a good meal to enjoy with the family. What was very impressive to me, is the high quality of the pastry used on all the pies and very fully stuffed meats in the pies. The big pieces of Steak in the pepper steak pie was so enjoyable.

I will definitely be supporting them again, the prices of all the pies are very reasonable, especially for the very high quality.

Come support our local businesses during these tough times, very highly recommend to all current and future customers.

Great interaction with the staff and did not feel as though I was just another customer buying...