The 2024 Cape Pie Report

Besides the scenes of nature in its wintry finest, the Cape winelands’ chilly season is an apt time to test the culinary splendours of the hot pies on offer at various farm-stalls and roadside coffee-shops. This I do a lot of during my travels between the wineries of Stellenbosch, Elgin, Robertson and Franschhoek, as a pause in the journey to sample the pastry-clad culinary offerings presents an apt time for reflection, eyeing the winter Boland wonderland and enjoying the sustenance of a baked and meaty culinary masterpiece.

But sharing is caring, thus I present the Cape’s Top 5 rural roadside pies of the year thus far.

Ou Meul (Botrivier) Pepper Steak Pie: A perfect flaky, butter-infused crust yields to unleash the seductive aroma of sauce-coated cow flesh, brioche and a spicy lift of pepper. The tender sheath of pastry offers warm, doughy flavour as it prepares the palate for the savoury wave to follow. This comes in a surge of silky gravy accompanied by tender morsels of cubed beef that upon the bite fall into tasty shreds of meaty joy. The symphony of sauce-coated and accurately cooked steak has one eating with hunger – wolf-like – and is an emotional moment as such glorious sustenance reminds one that mortality is at stake were it not for this food from the gods. 98/100

Peregrine Farm Stall (Elgin) Venison Pie: The pastry might be a tad thin, virginal and fragile, but this is only to enhance the generosity of the filling. And this is shredded, lovingly shot antelope, the primal gamy tang elevated by a rich sauce, well-spiced with an exotic hit of ground clove, a perky prod of vinegar and some rock-salt, all aiding in giving the pie that samurai umami character. The meat-to-crust ratio comprehensively favours the filling, making this the most carnivore-friendly pie on the road. The finish is long and lasting on account of the extraordinary gravy that brings meat and pastry together in one harmonious offering of taste and comfort. 96/100

Klein Joostenberg Deli (Koelenhof, Stellenbosch) Springbok Pie: The reassurance and relief begins with the weight of the pie in the hand, a significant presence suiting the greedy travelling eater. The pastry is a combination of golden-crusted crunch and a warm, tender inner-layer of dough baked with skill and attention. Filling-wise, the springbok shows an Old World note with more herbs than spice, the saffron-hued flecks of carrot offering brightness to the eye as well as a rich vegetative presence in the mouth. The slivers of Karoo springbok have drawn-in the gravy, making for joyous meaty-eating, the high-protein flesh perfectly complemented by the life-affirming layer of gluten-packed crust. 94/100

Houwhoek Farm Stall (Elgin) Steak-and-Kidney Pie: The lid of dense pastry yields to a dark, mysterious gravy showing a welcoming fatty sheen reflecting from morsels of beef and rounded mounds of kidney. Sauce-to-flesh ratio is absolutely perfect, allowing the steak to show its tender, meaty charm in tandem with the feral sensuality lurking in the dense organic folds of the kidney. The pie offers tidy, splatter-free eating as the density of the pastry serves as a mop, soaking-up the sauced morsels before they can launch stain-causing and hand-burning droplets. 94/100

Potbelly (Klapmuts, Stellenbosch) Lamb Curry Pie: A squared pillow of golden pastry breaks, foreign and exotic scents of spices and sub-continental cookery waft to the nose. The sauce is curried with fruity notes of peach, dry apple and sultana. Fatless cubes of well-cooked lamb are somewhat overpowered by the sauce, which is gelatinous and plenty yet envelopes crust and flesh to create a culinary accord of utmost satisfaction. It is a big pie, cooked with minimum intervention and with the sustaining presence to make one last another 175kms. 93/100

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6 thoughts on “The 2024 Cape Pie Report

  1. A wonderful article Emile – thank you. As one often travelling in the winelands I have tasted most. Must do the Bot River. You need to have indicated price however – Peregrine is rather spenny, Joostenberg pretty good value, and good old Pot Belly with its 175km offering must top them all on the SPQ scale (Size,Price, Quality)

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