By Ross McNaughton of RNZ

Just three months after they were pulled from the pie warmers, Pakūranga Bakery’s horse meat pies are available again and proving just as popular as ever.

The pies, inspired by lo’i hossi, a Tongan horse meat dish, went viral on social media over summer. But the bakery had to stop selling them in January as the lo’i hossi mixture they were using contained horse meat that hadn’t been cleared for human consumption.

There is only one meat processor registered to slaughter and process horse meat for human consumption in New Zealand. Auckland Council and the Ministry for Primary Industries both confirmed to RNZ that Pakūranga Bakery was now sourcing its horse meat from that registered supplier.

The lo’i hossi pies went back on sale on Friday, and by the time RMZ arrived that afternoon, there were only two left.

Bakery manager Pho Bok said he had sold over 100 lo’i hossi pies that day.

He said a lot of customers had been asking when the horse meat pie would be coming back.

“They’re just happy, over the moon,” Bok said.

He said other popular flavours like mince and cheese or steak and cheese sell between 40 and 50 per day.

While the bakery had previously bought the lo’i hossi mixture premade, Bok said his staff were now doing all the preparation themselves on site.

He said the horse meat needs to be cooked for several hours until it is tender “then you can try to shred it with your hands. And then you put it into the coconut cream, onions, and mix it all up together”.

The lo’i hossi mixture is then put into pastry and baked like any other pie.

While the idea of eating horse meat was a novelty for some people, it was common in many countries.

Bok said the cross-cultural appeal was part of what makes the lo’i hossi pies so popular.

“Pies, kiwis, it’s a staple,” he said, “and then when you’re putting two cultures together, you can’t beat it.”

Videos of Pakūranga Bakery’s lo’i hossi pie were already appearing on social media again, so it seemed it was on to a winning recipe, now that its meat supply was sorted.

– RNZ