KFC in Australia - Zinger Pie review

Upon first moving to a new country lots of small details strike you as unusual - these are mostly insignificant to the locals to the extent that they'll express surprise if you point them out. In the case of Australia, it was things like the clicking traffic lights, washing machines that play tunes when they finish a cycle and the obsession with banana bread and pies. Now don't get me wrong, us Brits bloody love a good pie. But you'd normally only find them in fish and chip shops, the odd pub and 'British' restaurants. Over in Oz, you'll
encounter them in every convenience store, you'll see rows and rows in the freezer aisles dedicated to them or even whole chains of shops (PieFace being the best known) dedicated to this humble snack. The thing is, most of them are pretty poor thanks to sludgy, measly fillings and soggy pastry.

Step up the Zinger Pie: the first of its kind we'd encountered on our global travels and making its second appearance in Australia after a limited edition run this time last year. First impressions were good - the pie was a deep golden brown colour and nice and flaky on top.



The initial bite was more rewarding than we'd anticipated thanks to a surprisingly decent amount of chicken and gravy which was packed full of flavour. In fact there was so much filling that our hands soon became covered in it (not that we're complaining) - finger licking good indeed.

The chicken itself reminded us of the pre-marinaded breast pieces you'd find in supermarkets except of course for the fact that this was a marinade like no other - a Zinger marinade. And very tasty it was too.

At $3.95 (about £2.10) the pie itself represented great value for money. To ensure a full review however we felt it necessary to 'box it up' and add an OR chicken piece, fries, a drink and mash/gravy bringing the total up to something more like $11. Unfortunately we found the mash very bland and the gravy a big disappointment but we're here today to talk pies, not potato. Speaking of potato though, there's also a Kentucky Pie on offer which includes aforementioned mash and gravy within the pie itself. As lifelong Zinger devotees though it just didn't appeal.

Taste: 6.5
Value: 8
Innovation: 9

Overall: 7.5