Funky Pies is cozy, its couches are comfortable, its food is scrumptious—and what a choice of pies!
Is this your first restaurant?
Yes.
When did it open?
April 2009.
Do you want to have more than one restaurant?
Yes.
What’s your favorite dish on the menu?
The Nepalese lamb curry. This pie was made by a gorgeous Nepalese guy, Bachhu, who worked for us. He’s since been married and had a beautiful little baby girl. He still pops in for the occasional fly-by pie.
What’s your most popular appetizer?
Coffee, if you can call that an appetizer. While you wait for your food, you can sip on a delicious, fair-trade, organic latte. Soy is the only milk currently available. We’re looking at sourcing creamy milk from coconuts and almonds soon.
What’s the most popular entrée on the menu?
The Rockin’ Roll. It’s our version of a sausage roll: We use a veggie mince and fry up some onion and garlic together with some fresh rosemary from a friend’s garden (anyone’s garden really), and it comes together perfectly.
What’s your most popular dessert?
The Funky Fudge Brownie. This is the winner amongst our treats, with our Caramel Slice (a biscuit base with hard caramel in the middle and chocolate on top) coming a very close second!
What do you feel is special about your restaurant?
We’re humble; we’re not making a big production out of our veganism, which means we appeal to all sorts of passers-by. It’s the reason we don’t advertise our veganism; we want everyone to try a Funky Pie without the judgment. It seems to work; we have people coming back for the “beef pie that I had last time.”
How often do you change your menu items? Do you have daily or weekly specials?
We have specials when we create a new pie, or when we have a fundraising night/event. Generally our menu stays the same, with the introduction of a new pie now and then.
Do you have gluten-free, soy-free, and sugar-free options on your menu?
Yes! Gluten-free, soy-free, low-sugar pie options and no-sugar dessert items are all available.
What do you do to reduce your environmental impact?
It’s a long list! We used lead-free paint to paint the place, environmentally friendly varnish over the tiles, water-saving tap, energy-saving lightbulbs, biodegradable take-away materials, biodegradable wholesale pie packaging, one-hundred-percent recycled napkins and boxes for package pies, and cleaning detergents that are all environmentally friendly and non-animal tested. Even the toilet paper in our bathroom is one-hundred-percent recycled. Our Funky shirts are sweatshop-free. No plastic bags available for take-away.
What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as owner or chef of this restaurant?
Tough one. I think that you need to be good to your staff. A happy staff makes for comfortable customers. All our beautiful staff have pretty much been here since day one.
What led you to want to open a vegan restaurant, and/or what led you to the vegan diet yourself?
So I can eat what I want every day! Kidding! I wanted to have my own business for a long time, a series of events led me to be able to finance it, and it went from there. As for being led to the vegan diet, I would say a feeling that I didn’t want to contribute to the animal cruelty that I seemed to be drawn to watch on TV. The final straw was seeing a live export ship abandoned in the ocean; the captain and crew jumped ship, leaving all the sheep to burn and drown. You can’t help but want to educate yourself, and when you do, it’s impossible to turn a blind eye.
In the time since your restaurant first opened, how has the plant-based food movement changed? Do you find more demand now for vegan food?
I think society is more accepting of veganism these days; it doesn’t seem to be as extreme as it once was. There are so many more options out there. All the contributors to this book have helped that to no end.
Since your restaurant first opened, has your view of what constitutes healthy or delicious food changed? Have you changed the types of foods you offer?
There are always fads of different foods; however, it’s great to open your mind to new foods and flavors. I enjoy suppliers providing us with new food opportunities that we can then share with our customers.
Where do you see the plant-based food movement going in coming years?
I like to think it’ll continue to grow. I’d love to see someone come up with a decent vegan Camembert cheese, or a vegan halloumi cheese—then I’d be set. And I think raw foods will take off a bit more, particularly in terms of health. I’d like to see that, rather than people thinking that they can cure illnesses with more pills and potions.
If you intend to follow this recipe, please take these first steps to ensure you realize the full Funky potential of your dish:
1. Turn on your favorite music.
2. Pour yourself a glass of wine or your favorite alcoholic drink. (If you don’t drink alcohol, you can pour a glass of fresh juice or sparkling water.)
3. Turn up the music when you assemble the pie; it helps the molding technique. Trust us: We make everything by hand, so we know what works.
G’day Satay Pie
Serves 6
1 cup diced potato
1 cup diced pumpkin
¾ cup diced sweet potato
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, separated
1 teaspoon chili pepper flakes, plus more to sprinkle
¼ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro (roots, stalk, and all)
2 teaspoons curry spices (use a premixed dried spice mix)
3 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter
1 tablespoon crushed peanuts
1 teaspoon soy sauce
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups coconut cream
1 package vegan puff pastry
Soy milk for glazing
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread diced potato, pumpkin, and sweet potato out onto a greased baking tray. Drizzle a small amount of vegetable oil over the top, reserving the rest for the filling. Roast the cubed veggies in the oven for approximately 20 minutes, or until they appear slightly golden brown.
Gently heat the remaining vegetable oil in deep frying pan, and add chili flakes and cilantro. When oil is bubbling, add curry spices. Stir well. Cook for another 2 minutes.
After the spices have been mixed through, giving off an intense aroma, add the peanut butter, crushed nuts, soy sauce, and salt, and cook for another 2 minutes, constantly stirring. Next, turn up the heat and add the coconut cream. Bring to a boil and then turn off the heat. Finally, once veggies are perfectly roasted, add them to the frying pan and gently stir through the coconut sauce.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. To assemble the pie, grease 6 round 5" diameter pie tins, about 1.5" deep. Using your favorite vegan puff pastry, cut out 6 large circles and 6 smaller circles (equivalent to the base and top of your pie tin). Press the pastry base into the tin, ensuring that pastry touches the sides and bottom all the way up to the rim of the tin and smoothing out any air pockets so the pastry cooks evenly and takes on the shape of the tin.
Evenly distribute the mixture into the 6 formed pie bases. Make sure you don’t overfill the pies—it will cause a mini explosion in your oven and leave you with a sticky mess to clean up. Keep the filling to about 1 cup. Place the 6 precut lid discs over the pie fillings; pinch the bottom and top pastry edges together to make a floral edge. Using a pastry brush, glaze the top of the pastry with soy milk and then sprinkle some chili flakes over the top. Stab a couple of fork holes into the pasty to let steam out while they bake.
Load the pies into the oven and bake them for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown. For the full Funky effect, serve with mashed potato, mushy peas, and gravy.
For the full Funky effect, serve with mashed potato, mushy peas, and gravy.