Gold stars for Lam

Bay of Plenty baker Patrick Lam has won the national Supreme Pie Award for the fourth time in the competition’s 14-year history. His bacon-and-egg special was named the best of a record 4336 entries from 386 bakeries in this year’s competition. Lam, who owns Gold Star Patrick’s Pies in Rotorua and Tauranga, won the supreme award in 23 and 24 with a mince and cheese pie, and again last year with a gourmet meat pie. “The pastry is the secret,” he told Television New Zealand’s Breakfast show. “If you make good pastry, you make a good pie.” Chief judge Dennis Kirkpatrick described Lam’s feat as “testimony to an outstanding baker.” Lam arrived in New Zealand as a refugee from Cambodia 13 years ago. Today, he is the nation’s undisputed Pie King.