One of the best things about any roadtrip is the necessity to stop at a farmstall. A farmstall is the perfect excuse to indulge in food you wouldn’t normally eat, simply because you’re on a roadtrip. In other words: it’s the ideal place to indulge.
While there are many farmstalls dotted on the road from Cape Town to Knysna (or to many other places, for that matter), the only one you need to know about is Peregrine’s, in the Elgin Valley. Here is a farm stall so perfectly located (just over an hour from Cape Town, so still on the main route out of the city), so perfectly stocked (more on that later) and so deliciously farm-like (complete with a nursery, rustic wooden building and flowers growing over the toilet door) that you’ll feel like you’re on holiday the moment you arrive.
Now, there are many treats that Peregrine’s has to offer, but there are really only three that you absolutely have to try.
Number 1, in order of importance: a Peregrine’s pie. Homebaked, stuffed full of goodness and in a variety of delicious flavours (including, most popularly, their roast chicken, their venison and their pepper steak), these are pies that redefine the word pie. Oh yes, they’re that good.
Number 2: the koeksisters. Koeksisters are practically a national dish, and these are no exception. Not too big, not too sweet, but absolutely too dripping with flavour, these koeksisters are cheap and cheerful – and the perfect way to introduce foreign travellers to one of South Africa’s favourite treats.
Number 3: the fresh fruit. Now, this might not sound like an indulgence, but when you see the abundance of fresh fruit at ridiculously cheap prices, you’ll realise that it absolutely is. The Elgin Valley is known for their apples, but my favourites are the golden yellow plums in summer (pure sweet juicy heaven) and the bags of kiwi fruit in winter (a rare treat). Best of all, combine all three – either sitting down and having your pie served with hot chips and thick gravy, or eating it al fresco style on the picnic tables outside; chase it with a koeksister or two; take a bag of fruit on the road to munch on during your roadtrip.
In the summer months, Peregrine’s is also the perfect spot for an ice-cold, sweet and creamy soft serve ice cream cone, which might just be the best summer road trip snack known to man. So there you have it. Wherever your next road trip takes you, make sure it takes you past the Elgin Valley and Peregrine’s – quite possibly the best farmstall in the whole of the Western Cape. (Any contenders, anyone?)