Spinach and Ricotta pasty

Puffle ponders over a pasty

This may be a slightly controversial choice for pasty purists, but there is a splendid pie purveyor called Cornish Connection at the top end of Cheltenham High Street. I used to live very close by and am therefore well acquainted with their considerable range of pies and pasties. I live on the other side of town now so don’t get there so often, but it is always worth making the extra effort to get a pasty from them.

It pained me slightly to see that there was a queue out of the door of the nearby Greggs, but I was able to get served straight away in Cornish Connection. This is not to say they weren’t busy – they were – but this is a traditional outfit that puts at least 3 staff on the busy counter on a Saturday so you get served promptly and efficiently. To my mind, one Cornish Connection pie is worth a thousand Greggs air-and-mush so called pies.

You do have a huge choice in CC . They offer the traditional Cornish pasty in 3 sizes (small, medium and giant) and most other pasties in one size, which is closest to medium. Varieties on offer include steak and stilton, leek and ham, cheese and bacon, curried chicken, chuck steak, all day breakfast and my choice for the day, spinach and ricotta. I don’t usually choose a veggie pie if I’m honest, but I had a big meaty tea last night and didn’t fancy any more meat.

The pasty was very good; warm but served at a perfect temperature for immediate eating without scarring you for life, and with plenty of filling. The texture of the filling was a little mushy (a sprinkling of pine nuts would be a great addition) but this is a minor quibble. I do tend to find some of CC’s pies a little too salty (the cheese and bacon one especially) but they do sell cold drinks too so you can get a can to wash it down with. Today’s pasty was just about right though. The pastry could have been crisper, it was a little soggy at the rolled edge but not horribly so. I think the price was £1.85 and I felt this was good value for a good, filling hot snack.

7 out of 10