London’s best mince pies

Do not let looks deceive you. Fortitude’s Xmas effort might seem like a pork pie from the outside, but inside it’s the sweetest of the lot. A deep, crumbly crust (almost shortbread-like in its consistency) holds inside its sturdy walls a powerful, citrus-forward mincemeat. It’s also the most substantial on our list, so only leave one of these out for Santa on Christmas Eve, otherwise he’ll end up in a carb coma on your sofa. 

Best for Soho mulled-wine drinkers who’ve skipped dinner in favour of Blue Posts pints.

£3.25

Certainly the most rustic-looking, Toklas’s mince pie is veritably mediaeval. Squat in shape, with a lovely bit of browning to the pastry, it’s heavy on the sultanas but not overfilled. The suet-y pastry was pleasingly crumbly, but the sturdy structure makes these guys perfect for popping in your pocket on a Christmas Day walk on the Heath.

Best for Hampstead dwellers in Barbour jackets.  

£3.20

Retro-styled chippie Poppie's have only gone and deep fried their mince pies, which isn’t as mad as you might think; a deep-fried mince pie is a warm mince pie, and the warmer the pie, the better the pie. The batter is crispy and light and it’s certainly not as heavy as other specimens from this season. Mincemeat is bright and sweet – it’s packed with cranberries and clementine – and though they’re on the small side, you get three per portion. 

Best for Cab drivers in need of a Xmas Eve pick-me-up. Drunk people.

£4.75 for three

South-west London bakery Cavan offers us perhaps the most trad mince pie of them all. This is the kind of pie we remember from our childhood, complete with a pale pastry and thick dusting of caster sugar. It’s perfect reasoning for not messing with the classics – this is sweet enough to feel like a treat and the proustian rush that comes when the chunky pastry melts onto the tongue is unbeatable. 

Best for Adorable Twickenham grandmas.

£6.50 for six

Traditionalists might baulk at Popham’s innovative take on the humble mince pie, but we’re happy to banish any grumpy grandads to Santa's dungeon if it means we’ll get our mittens on more of these spectacular pastries. They’ve stacked flakey, laminated layers of Normandy butter-brushed pastry over currants, raisins, sultanas, apple and suet, including a hefty dollop of boozy ginger-spiced clotted cream within the folds. Deeply indulgent, and one of the best looking pastries we’ve seen in years. However, it’s so far from the brief we’re not sure if it actually counts as a mince pie. 

Best for Clapton fashion foodies.

£3.50

Appropriately for the season, this Bread Ahead one is deep and crisp and even. It’s one of the biggest of the lot too (‘you could knock a child clean out with it,’ ruminates one member of the Time Out editorial team). A heavy, packed pie for the extremely hungry, it’s best enjoyed from the top down, with the brown sugar crystals is the undoubted highlight. Though the mincemeat has a joyful citrus-y kick, there might just be a little too much of it. 

Best for Hungry rugby lads from Clapham.

One of the few places to uphold the tradition of the mini metallic tray, Ayres’s old-school effort comes with a serious helping of sugar on top. This approach means the mincemeat can withhold the rigours of being tangier than usual, as the sweet crust counterbalances any wince-inducing tartness. Trad with a twist – nothing to dislike here. 

Best for Catford aunties.  

Visually, we’re very into this Pump Street one. A burnished thing that looks like it might have been whipped up in a flinty Middle Ages kitchen for a gouty laird. Of all the pies this year, this is the one that might actually have mutton in it, such like in the good old days. Thankfully, for veggies, there is no meat present, but there is a rather savoury taste at play here – this is not a mince pie for kids. The pastry too is, if anything, too short, and extreme crumbliness is unavoidable. 

Best for Epping Forest warlocks.

£18 for six

Straying further from Santa’s holy Christmas light, and perhaps even less like a mince pie than Pophams’ effort, comes Melrose & Morgan’s mince pie doughnut. It’s a shock to have mincemeat in such a runny form – it looks more like HP Sauce than festive fruit jam – and though the flavours are all there; cinnamon and nutmeg and such, it’s a little too off-message.

Best for TikTok teens from Tooting.

£3.50

Finally a little design flourish! Where have all the holly leaves from the mince pies of our days of yore got to? Too fiddly, perhaps? A waste of good pastry, perchance? Pat Val have gone for the cutaway technique here, with a simple star on top giving a naughty peekaboo glance at the filling inside. Which, while nicely dense, is a little soapy for our tastes.  

Best for City workers in a rush. 

£3.45