Nanaga Farm Stall: home of the Eastern Cape’s legendary lamb and mint pies

Nanaga Farm Stall: home of the Eastern Cape’s legendary lamb and mint pies

By Lynda Ingham-Brown

The adage that good things often have humble beginnings couldn’t be truer in the case of this iconic farm stall, situated at the convergence of the N2, R72 and N10 between Gqeberha and KuGompo City. If you grew up in the Eastern Cape or went on holiday there, chances are that a pit stop at Nanaga Farm Stall was non-negotiable – the legendary pies, roosterkoek, freshly pressed Oakly pineapple juice from nearby Alexandria, and sweet bakes are still drawing generations of those same families and gaining new fans daily.

But when and how did it all start? In 1969, Lynn Lake started selling cabbages from the back of her bakkie, a stone’s throw from where Nanaga is located today. Those cabbages, which were grown on Nanaga Farm and Dairy, which Lynn and her husband, George, owned, were the start of the thriving business that is still run by their family today. Once word got around that Lynn had something good going, she expanded, building a small farm stall and increasing her offering to a whopping 12 pies a day (now they make up to 2,000 a day), freshly made roosterkoek, and the fresh pineapple juice they still sell today.

“The queue for pies stretches all the way out of the front door.”

The stall went from strength to strength, with Nanaga soon becoming a popular spot for travellers to stop and stretch their legs on long journeys. In 1996, a fire destroyed the original stall, but it was soon rebuilt on the same site with its one surviving Mac Adams oven, which is still going strong today. In 2008, the current building was established, with Lynn and George’s daughter, Leigh-Ann McKenzie, and her husband, Malcolm, taking over the business when Lynn and George retired to nearby Kenton-on-Sea. This time, it was built on the other side of the N2 to prevent motorists from doing U-turns on the national road to make sure they didn’t miss out on their pies and pineapple juice – it’s said that the local traffic cops were disappointed when they lost this regular income stream!

From those small beginnings, Nanaga is now a huge operation, comprising the farm stall and a restaurant. Manager Mike Oliver says that in season, they use about two tonnes of flour per week and 350–400 kg of meat to produce 11 different varieties of pie, including the most popular lamb and mint, pepper steak, chicken, lamb curry, venison, wild boar and more, plus the homemade roosterkoek, which is available with both sweet and savoury fillings.

All the pies, roosterkoek and sweet bakes are made on site, with the meat for the pies sourced from trusted local suppliers. “We have a handful of local butchers who we trust to supply us with excellent quality meat,” says Mike. “We’re loyal to them because we take quality very seriously.” That much is abundantly clear judging by the number of people who visit, especially when the Springboks are playing in Gqeberha and fans make the journey to watch the game. “The queue for pies stretches all the way out of the front door,” Mike laughs, “and the queue to pay goes around the whole shop!”

In season, families stock up on frozen pies, jams, preserves, condiments and biltong on their way to their holiday destinations to make sure everyone has their Nanaga fix. If you haven’t yet been, you’re missing out!

Watch as Eat Out culinary director Abigail Donnelly tries one of Nanaga’s famous pies…

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