Ballarat's Best Pie Returns this August for Round Three

Ballarat's Best Pie is back for 2025 with some brilliantly unexpected new additions. Ballarat will once again transform into a pie-lover's paradise throughout August, with theannual competition offering 36 savoury and sweet pies to taste.

Judging will take place on Saturday 2 August with the official panel awarding winners across seven categories (including three new categories). Alongside the judges' picks, visitors will also get the chance to have their say with the all-new People's Choice Pie award, open for public voting during August. Pie enthusiasts simply need to scan a QR code available at each venue or head online to visitballarat.com.au after indulging to cast their vote.


2025 AWARD CATEGORIES

• Best Pie (first, second and third place)
• Best Sweet Pie
• Best Savoury Pie
• Best Bakery Pie
• Brilliantly Unexpected Pie(new)
• Pie with Purpose(new; rewarding a low-waste, innovative or local produce approach)
• People's Choice Pie (new)

Ballarat is thrilled to announce beloved cook, author and television presenter Julia Busuttil Nishimura as the Master of Ceremonies for the 2025 Best Pie Awards. The judging panel will feature current MasterChef Australia contestant and Ballarat local Tim Bone, alongside acclaimed food writer Richard Cornish.

Home to some of Victoria's most inventive chefs and bakers, Ballarat has developed a flavour of its own, defined by creativity, innovation and diversity that continues to turn heads. From nostalgic classics to bold new bakes, this year's Ballarat's Best Pie entries promise to push boundaries and celebrate the best of the region's local produce.

Now in its third year, this much-loved competition has helped cement Ballarat as Victoria's regional winter icon and the ultimate cool-cation destination where creativity, community and comfort food collide.

Start planning your pie pilgrimage now. Find the Ballarat's Best Pie map online at visitballarat.com.au/ballarats-best-pie or grab a printed copy at the Ballarat Visitor Information Centre from July.

Pies in the running this year are:


SAVOURY PIES

• Not Your Grandma's Pantry: Barbecue duck char siu and pineapple tart pie – tender duck and spiced pineapple in a buttery, lattice-topped crust, with a vibrant mandarin ginger sambal.
• The George Hotel: English porky pie – savoury pork belly and shoulder with a jelly stock in an English shortcrust pastry, alongside warm, chunky spiced apple chutney.
• Saigon Alley: Pie-bo – beef simmered in traditional Vietnamese curry with carrot and potato, in flaky pastry, a modern Australian twist.
• Turret Bakehouse: Beef rendang pie – a rich and hearty beef rendang in a house made butter and beef tallow pastry for deep flavour.
• Hideaway Coffee Bar: Brisket bourguignon pie– smoked brisket bourguignon in a hot water pastry base, topped with inverted puff pastry and a tangy relish.
• Hop Temple:Goat barbacoa pie – goat barbacoa with jalapeño, lime and cilantro, plus a zesty relish and sidewinder fries.
• Aunty Jacks: Chicken pilsner pie– beer-cooked chicken with potato mash, mustard-braised greens (incorporating spent grains) and a chicken thyme gravy.
• Eleanora: Fish pie – flaky white fish and prawns in a lemon-dill cream sauce within a golden pie with a delicate sour cream base and crisp top, with smooth potato mash.
• Eclectic Tastes: Beef bourguignon pie– rich, slow-braised beef bourguignon in a signature sour cream pastry, accompanied by creamy mashed potatoes.
• Itinerant Spirits: Beef cheek, merlot and cheddar pithivier – slow-cooked beef cheek, rich merlot, and creamy Maffra cheddar in golden, flaky puff pastry using a French technique.
• Market Hotel: Classic beef and Guiness pie – slow-braised Waubra Prime grass-fed beef infused with Guinness, with creamy mash and peas.
• Roy Hammond: Galbi-jjim and bone marrow pie – Korean galbi-jjim-inspired short ribs in a sesame crust with a bone marrow vent enriching the filling.
• Grainery Lane: Smoked Waubra Prime lamb pie - smoked local lamb with a silky purple cauliflower puree and lemongrass jus.
• Red Duck Distillery: El quacko pie – seasoned minced beef marinated in Red Duck Amber Ale, layered with cheese and salsa, topped with sour cream and guacamole, all in flaky golden pastry.
• Drive Café: Eggs benny pie – a cheesy egg and ham hock filling under a poached egg and house made hollandaise sauce.
• The Red Lion: Drunken pork pie - pork braised in local cider with carrots and apples in homemade shortcrust pastry, plus spiced beetroot chutney.
• 1816 Bakehouse: Butter chicken pie – succulent chicken in a rich and creamy butter chicken sauce within fresh, handmade pastry.
• Café at Provincial: Provincial pork pie – a hearty hand-held pie with pork and roasted vegetables (inspired by autumn harvests) in a buttery whey-enriched pastry, with house made fig and apple chutney.
• The Shared Table: Feral Pie –  slow-braised wild venison and mushrooms smothered in a red wine, juniper berry and caramelised shallot sauce, encased in a herbed thyme and rosemary pastry and served with colcannon.
• Boatshed Restaurant: Fig, rosemary and duck pie–local duck with sweet figs and fragrant rosemary, alongside seasonal greens.
• Hope Bakery at Sovereign Hill: Whiskey and stout slow-braised beef pie - local beef simmered in whiskey and dark ale with native pepperberries, a nod to Sovereign Hill's heritage.
• Emma's Bakery: Tram Car pulled beef pie– pulled beef braised with Michael Unwin Wines' Tram Car Shiraz, caramelized leek and onion, rosemary and bay leaf in handcrafted pastry.
• Aussie Ogie Pastry Company: Prawn and scallop pie– succulent prawns and tender scallops in a rich, creamy filling within a buttery pastry shell with a golden lid.
• Dyers Steak Stable: Mrs Stewart's classic beef and red wine jus pie– beef in a rich red wine jus, in a rosemary-infused pastry from the historic British Queen Hotel stables.
• Cornerstone Café: Lion's mane osso buco pie - meaty lion's mane mushrooms simmered in red wine, garlic, porcini stock and tomatoes in buttery pastry, finished with fresh gremolata.
• Beechworth Bakery Ballarat: Gold digger pie – local lamb braised in rich red wine with rosemary and sweet carrots in golden, flaky pastry, a hearty gold rush tribute.
• Hotel Canberra's Stables Café & Bar: Lechon paksiw pie – roasted Western Plains pork simmered in aromatics, vinegar and bay leaves fills crisp pastry, crowned with pork crackling crumble and wrapped in banana leaf.
• Nolans: Pork, mushroom and vermouth pie– pork and mushrooms in a vermouth-infused filling, topped with local potato and feta skordalia, with a blackberry and vermouth jus.
• Tuki Trout Farm & Restaurant: Trout, sorrel and yabby pot pie– fresh trout, smoked trout, yabby and confit fennel in a sorrel sauce are topped with a 100 per cent butter puff pastry lid.
• 321 Café Learmonth: Pollo enchilada pie – poached chicken with herbs, spices, onion, avocado and jalapeno in a puff pastry shell, topped with salsa, sour cream and pastry wedges, a Mexican-Australian fusion.
• Magnolia: Confit lamb pie – slow-cooked confit lamb with vegetables and chicken farce, wrapped in organic silver beet and puff pastry, with creamy potato royale and burgundy jus.

SWEET PIES

• Kilderkin Distillery: Limoncello meringue pie– a buttery pastry base with gin botanicals cradles a tangy limoncello curd, topped with sweet meringue and gold flakes, with a spiced berry coulis.
• Mondegreen Café: Apple sty pie – warm maple apple in a bacon fat shortcrust, topped with maple candied bacon and creamy maple bacon ice-cream.
• Naomi & I: Mrs Browne Bakes' raspberry goldfields cookie pie – a rich and creamy tangy raspberry drop filling in a luxurious double chocolate cookie shell, finished with white chocolate, crushed raspberries and gold shimmer.
• Lydiard General Café & Diner: Peach and Portuguese custard pie – warm custard and poached peaches in sweet and buttery shortcrust pastry, dusted with icing sugar.
• The Spanish Grill at Mercure Ballarat: Queso-mango cremoso pie – a sweet-based pie combining ripe mangoes and cream cheese crémeux, crowned with freshly grated St George cheese, a chef's tribute.