One of the more fascinating things in British Isles cuisine is the meat pie. We just don't have them in the US, which I think is a pitty. (Sure, steak and kidney pie is something that I can do without, but there are others that are quite yummy.)
A meat pie is a pretty simple thing: You take some meat, make a nice thick stew, plop the whole mess into a pie shell of some sort, and then bake it. It's crunchy, it's flaky, it's meaty, and, a good portion of the time, it's good.
In pubs meat pies tend to be something less than a pie, exactly. Usually they forget the put-the-stew-in-the-pie bit and instead just give you stew and put a flaky sort of bun on top. Same effect, really, and it keeps the flaky bits from becomming soggy.