Witch Factory Pie Factory

[meatboy]

welsh,how did you guess boyo?the bracchi's were the first italian family to come to the valleys and open a cafe so the name stuck and all italian cafe's [bracchi's] were born.

they had those fancy coffee machines with the steamer stem on the side to froth up the milk,they were also used to steam pies in a steel dish with a hole in the lid cover.

they also made yumee toast with real salty butter,and their ice cream was not bad either.

marenghi's on the tumble in pontypridd was the first i remember 1950's.they are still there.

I remember the brachis in Aberdare.... used to go with Mum and Dad when on leave from Africa. The coffee machines had a great big Eagle on the top if i remember correctly and the cappuchino took ages for the sugar to sink through the foam. Servinis or Carpaninis comes to mind.

i remember most from ponty to hirwaun - glyn neath,in the 50's i used to help out on the bread vans[hopkin morgans]

the best for ice cream is opposite the bus station bargoed it still there.

and the pies used to be from hanson pies and pasties.now its all clarks pies of cardiff.

[billd766]

Billd, don't know where in rural Thailand you are, but curiously enough I was rummaging through the shelves in Tops in Khon Kaen this morning hunting for some Thanksgiving foodie stuff and I happened to see gelatin in the baking section. Dunno if you are anywhere near a Tops market, but its worth while checking it out next time you can get near civilization

I am on the other side of Thailand outside of a small village called Klong Lan and the back of the land abuts the Mae Wong national park 65 km south west of the nearest BigC, Makro and a small Tesco Lotus.

My nearest Tops etc is in Phisanulok, a 360 km round trip and a full day out in the truck.

A mate got me some gelatine last month from the UK and another mate will bring more next month from the UK.

My next trip to the big city will be BKK next month and that will be an overnighter as it is about 400 km one way. Fortunately I will be staying in a hotel down near Sukhumvit 105 and close to the Bang Na Trat highway and the expressway back up north and hopefully away from all the problems. The BTS if it is running is about 150 metres from the hotel when I can access Central, Villa etc easily so I should be fairly safe out there.

To be honest there is verry little that I miss about city life. If I need second hand or new books I can order online. I have a mate down in Ban Lamung who can get into Pattaya and buy stuff for me and send it up by EMS so basically I have no problems. I just need to plan what I need and how long it has to last.

I do have peace, tranquility, fresh air, no traffic jams and above all no real political problems like the guys in BKK.

LG = Life's Great

Cheers

Bill

[billd766]

welsh,how did you guess boyo?the bracchi's were the first italian family to come to the valleys and open a cafe so the name stuck and all italian cafe's [bracchi's] were born.

they had those fancy coffee machines with the steamer stem on the side to froth up the milk,they were also used to steam pies in a steel dish with a hole in the lid cover.

they also made yumee toast with real salty butter,and their ice cream was not bad either.

marenghi's on the tumble in pontypridd was the first i remember 1950's.they are still there.

I remember the brachis in Aberdare.... used to go with Mum and Dad when on leave from Africa. The coffee machines had a great big Eagle on the top if i remember correctly and the cappuchino took ages for the sugar to sink through the foam. Servinis or Carpaninis comes to mind.

i remember most from ponty to hirwaun - glyn neath,in the 50's i used to help out on the bread vans[hopkin morgans]

the best for ice cream is opposite the bus station bargoed it still there.

and the pies used to be from hanson pies and pasties.now its all clarks pies of cardiff.

I remember running a tea bar at RAF St Athan in the late 1979s and I got my pies from Peters Pies and Pasties based in Caerphilly.

[meatboy]

welsh,how did you guess boyo?the bracchi's were the first italian family to come to the valleys and open a cafe so the name stuck and all italian cafe's [bracchi's] were born.

they had those fancy coffee machines with the steamer stem on the side to froth up the milk,they were also used to steam pies in a steel dish with a hole in the lid cover.

they also made yumee toast with real salty butter,and their ice cream was not bad either.

marenghi's on the tumble in pontypridd was the first i remember 1950's.they are still there.

I remember the brachis in Aberdare.... used to go with Mum and Dad when on leave from Africa. The coffee machines had a great big Eagle on the top if i remember correctly and the cappuchino took ages for the sugar to sink through the foam. Servinis or Carpaninis comes to mind.

i remember most from ponty to hirwaun - glyn neath,in the 50's i used to help out on the bread vans[hopkin morgans]

the best for ice cream is opposite the bus station bargoed it still there.

and the pies used to be from hanson pies and pasties.now its all clarks pies of cardiff.

I remember running a tea bar at RAF St Athan in the late 1979s and I got my pies from Peters Pies and Pasties based in Caerphilly.

i used to like the old small pies when they first started up thomas's of merthyr,can you remember the little glass cabinets on the bar that they used to warm them up in.i think it was the son peter thomas who moved it all to caerphilly.now a very rich man.

[meatboy]

the founder of peters pies is in fact the brother of peter still going strong today at 96 stan thomas a sir in fact.it just goes to show how much money there is to be made producing a good pie.south wales has peters,clarks and a mate of mine who started up in ponty aswell called the welsh pantry.i remember him when he first started only problem was getting the gravy right.when he did he never looked back.i did see they have a few producers in patts.anyone got a good word on them.

[puchooay]

Buri-Ram Pie Man.

He don't make the pies apparently his wife does all the work, he's just the delivery boy ,but good value .

It is my understanding that the Burirampieman is actually a nick name that he gained from his customers, of which I am one.

You know...a bit like the milkman, gasman and ice cream man. Don't see what difference it actually make about who makes the pies. So long as the high standard is maintained.

Have you ever tried their products. Try "googling" the above nickname.

[billd766]

RE Meatboy@ post #34

i used to like the old small pies when they first started up thomas's of merthyr,can you remember the little glass cabinets on the bar that they used to warm them up in.i think it was the son peter thomas who moved it all to caerphilly.now a very rich man.

I used to have one in the tea bar. The key orderly was trained to switch on the pie cabinet and the 5 gallon urn (after making sure there was enough water) and I used to bring in the pies and sandwiches from home to sell.

One guy used to bring in his pork pie and put that in there for lunch break. It was revolting. hot pork pies.

[Chao Lao Beach]

The egg looks a bit "dodgy but the pie looks good. Where on Soi 65?