News24 | Getting Outdoors | The great road trip pie contest: Manser boys choose their Top 5

Riaan Manser and his boys Samuel and James took on the Big 5 of pies to decide which was the best.

Is there anything better than hitting the long road and stopping at your favourite place for that road trip pie? But which beloved pastry rules the roost? Riaan Manser gives his take on five of the best in this week’s Pick of the Pies. Who’s your winner?

When people are heading out onto the road down country or up country, irrespective of the why or the where, one thing stays consistent: the debate over who delivers the greatest road trip pie on earth.

For some, it’s the long stretch on the N1 out of Gauteng. For others, it’s seaward bound N3 heading to walm waters in KwaZulu-Natal.

For us, the Manser boys took to all the main arteries leading in and out of Cape Town for the greatest “Pie Crawl” of all time, and lived to tell a story and vote on who is the best.

Many an outdoors weekend is spent in Hermanus, and the roads that lead here are riddled with the “Big 5” of the pie world. We were to try them all.

This is how it was to go down: We would drive until we had found our five in our neck of the woods, planning to split each pie three ways and only reward ourselves with a cooldrink at the end. Space-saving strategy here! Below we will introduce each pie and then verbatim share our immediate notes and comments. Enjoy!

Shamrock, Broodstories, Ou Meul

Bettys Bay kicked us off with a pie I had not heard of but has apparently garnered millions of fans since its start up in 1973. Shamrock pies, exclusive to Coffee on Clarence, are only R38 – which, from the outset, caught my attention. But never bet on price, it has been said.

Christi, the owner of the shop, informed me I had tried them before. I do recall – but today I had the young boys with me so had to choose the vanilla of pies: the humble sausage roll.

Here’s the low-down: Shortcrust pastry. No flakes. Packed with flavour and filling. But I’m not a sausage roll fan.

Kleinmond meanwhile has a new bakery called Broodstories – beautiful look and feel from the entrance to the interior. When I asked the lady behind the counter what brand of pies they have, she was a bit puzzled. I then asked her who baked their pies. To which she confidently, proudly, but still a bit puzzled answered: “I do, I bake these pies!”

We took the R42 pepper steak option here, holding thumbs that the boys were in tough mode. They were!

The verdict: Quality filling. Friendliest bakers. Look the part. Kleinmond’s Michelin star bakery. Stunning place. Soggy and flat and not good looking pies. Come on! Just a little bigger and a facelift and you’re the complete package.

Heading towards Botrivier, we pulled in at Ou Muel bakery. Probably the most famous for me personally. Up the West Coast towards Yzerfontein and Paternoster no trip would be complete without an Ou Meul pie. Cost: R58 bought us the lamb and mushroom. Wow. This one was a hit. Samuel gave it 9 out of 16 and James gave it a solid 9.8 score. Out of what I don’t know.

The judges said: Large, traditional-looking. Medium crust plentiful. Full juicy tender filling. Boys loved its flavour the most thus far. A meal on its own.

N2 legends: Houw Hoek and Peregrine

Houw Hoek is such a legend of the pie world that I am sure we are all familiar with nationally. For this one we were properly excited, but by now feeling the significance of three pies down already, and R47.90 buys a pie here.

Steak and kidney: Large and heavy. Value for money. The boys enjoyed it, amazed at how much filling; it was creamy because of the kidneys. Didn’t know the kidney are from the cow as well.

Relief all round. Eyes drooping now. Hold on people!

Grabouw is home to the popular “we have it all” padstal: Peregrine. Play areas, coffee shops, wine selection and beers, the energy is too awesome. Travellers bumping shoulders all intertwined in different missions and destinations.

The final offering, a Peregrine pie at R49. They got the raw end of the pie race to be evaluated on a full tummy. Solid and fully packed. Chose another vanilla option in chicken and mushroom. Absolute lovely – just slow-going. Our first pie took three bites each. This one took at least 10 bites each. Took home a curry mince four-pack and one large chicken mushroom to show our appreciation of what they do.

And the winner is...

We were “maagies vol, ogies toe” at this stage. But we were all unanimous in our decision.

It is clear that the legends are the legends for a reason. They have done for the pie industry what Apple did to the personal technology market.

The Pie Crawl Leader Board: Peregrine, Houw Hoek, Ou Meul followed closely by Shamrock and then at the rear, Broodstories.

But none of them will disappoint. Come hungry.

What’s your favourite? And where should we try next? Let us know in the comments, or email feelgood@news24.com.

- Riaan Manser is a pioneering international explorer with multiple world-firsts and has joined the team as the new outdoors editor of News24 Outdoors, driven by Ford.