Sales have soared at an unassuming Northland bakery since Al Brown started posting reviews of its pies and pastries on the video platform Tiktok.

I love pies, and pies love me.

I just love them. Bloody awesome. They’re right up there. I say I’m a pie connoisseur because when I first left school and was a farm worker, I used to buy about 40 pies every 10 days. That’s what I lived on. I’ve eaten a lot of pies.

The bacon and egg slice scored a more modest 6½ but won praise for its value and generous proportions. Brown guessed the almost half-kilo slab of breakfast contained four eggs and six rashers of bacon but cost just $5.50.