My name is Bill Lodge and I was born and bred in Adelaide.
Pie floaters, ginger beer and late nights (An article - in a Draft form)
In the early 1950's Adelaide had not gained a reputation as a city of fine restaurants and eating establishments. This was the era of six o'clock closing. In fact everything closed between five and six. Eating out was at hotel dinning rooms as there were few restaurants. Restaurants if opened served mainly meat with three veg or King George whiting, fried or grilled.
In this after hours eating wilderness, the fall back position was a pie cart. There were three in the city of Adelaide that I remember - at the corner of King William and Rundle Street, around the corner from the General Post Office in Franklin Street and outside the Adelaide Railway Station. Pie carts were also located at Port Adelaide and outside the Norwood Town Hall on The Parade. This later moved to outside the Norwood Oval home of the famous Redlegs Aussie Rules football team.
My mother was fond of the moving pictures. If she had a good day at the races she would give us a treat. After the movies we often had dinner at a hotel. If the movie ran late she would buy my sister and I pies at the King William Street cart. These would be sold piping hot in brown paper bags and taken home by Black & White taxi to be reheated and eaten on plates with Rosella tomato sauce.
The pie cart in King William Street which sold Balfour's was located around the corner from what is now Rundle Mall. The crowd that gathered at night around the cart was possibly the origin of the later named Bee Hive Corner because of the congregation and chatter.
I remember the horse drawn wooden cart with its open sides for dinners to sup on pie floaters (meat pies floated upside down in green pea soup which one adorned with a dollop of tomato sauce and a lashing of vinegar).
The cart featured a wood fired stove at the horse drawn end with metal draws filled with its wares. The position of the pies determined if they were burnt or not. The closer to the back, the greater the chance they had black burn marks.
Men would line the sides and during the winter cluster closer to the oven end for extra warmth. Many were intoxicated after being turned out of the many hotels in the vicinity at 6 o'clock closing.
My mother would elbow her way to the servery and demand the best of the pies checking they were not burnt. She was not a woman to be toyed with having a quick tongue and manner of someone who thought she should be obeyed.
What I do clearly remember was the chimney leading from the oven fire. On a still night the smoke would drift down King William Street creating a ghostly lit fog appearance. Quite often the horse that pulled the pie cart was tethered to a pole munching on chaff from its feedbag. At some point the horse was relocated as the space it took up became a Black & White taxi stand.
As one got older, pie carts served as late night eateries after attending balls and functions. I had a tendency to frequent the Norwood cart as it was nearer home. You would often meet friends who had attended the same ball dressed in their dinner suits with bow tie and starched fronted shirts. A measure of social change saw young women in ball gowns who had gained their independence included in this the night feasting which had been a man's domain.
My most memorable experience at a pie cart was one night after Morag and I attended a 'Return To Princeton Ball' at the Norwood Football Club. Morag, who had just become an Australian citizen, was thought not be a real Aussie until the pie floater initiation. The lass deserves credit. She did us proud devouring this culinary treat with some relish saying it was better than haggis (see picture).
Morag Lodge, Peter Jackson and Bill Lodge - Norwood Pie Cart 1990
For those who have never eaten a pie floater it's not as bad as it sounds particularly if you've had a few drinks. It was an excellent way to ward off a hangover or so the urban myth goes.
The Norwood pie cart also served Hall's Ginger Beer which was commonly referred to as Stonie from the stone bottles it was first sold in. The ginger beer was stored in a wooden barrel laid on its side with a serving tap. It was poured into glass like mugs that had a handle. It was certainly refreshing with a strong ginger taste and a slight effervescence. In the summer they would place a wet hessian bag over the barrel to aid cooling (latent heat of evaporation) which seemed to work quite well. Ginger beer tastes better if it is not served too cold.
The only other pie cart I encountered in my travels was in Woolloomooloo in Sydney although I'm told there was one in Ballarat. Harry's Cafe de Wheels at Woolloomooloo was a magnet for the late night dinners. A trip after 11pm could see you rub shoulders with sailors, politicians, business leaders, activists, criminals, taxi drivers, drunks and policeman. It was society at it best and worst. Located in a road serving the wharf area it allowed patrons to spread out to talk-the-talk while managing the art of eating a hot pie injected with tomato sauce with one hand.
Today, Harry's road side cafe's number seven in New South Wales and from all accounts are doing a roaring trade which says much about what men like to eat.
Bill Lodge - 31st March 2011