The 'Southlander' pie from Sanga's in Cromwell. Photo / Supplied
In an unassuming corner of Cromwell’s industrial zone lies the newest notch on the South Island’s great pie-belt.
The unofficial pastry pathway links some of the Mainland’s most popular pie shops, taking in towns like Darfield, Sheffield, Fairlie and now the home of the giant fruit.
The Central Otago bakery is not especially new – it opened in 2021, a short distance from Highlands Motorsport Park, but it takes time to ascend the podium.
Brothers Chris and Rob Sangster and their mate Miro Kollar created Sanga’s Pies on a 25-minute road trip.
“We played ice hockey together in Alexandra for the Alexandra Flames,” says Kollar.
“We always talked about what’s missing in Cromwell and there was a shortage of good pies in Cromwell. We decided we’re going to bite the bullet and start a pie business together.”
Kollar, from the Czech Republic, is a trained chef. He had spent time in hospitality from the time he arrived here, in some instances as head chef.
The Sangster brothers were in construction.
“Being tradies, they do have the taste for good pies,” says Kollar, before explaining that his business partners also had experience in the hospitality trade.
All three shared a passion for quality – something they could see disappearing from the humble pie.
“There was a time when all the pies were shrinking, everybody was trying to keep the cost down and putting less meat [in] and making them smaller, so we said, ‘well – let’s not?’,” says Kollar.
Instead, they filled their pies with high-grade ingredients – and embraced creativity with new flavour combinations.
“Rob and Chris are master smokers, so they do smoked meat on the barbecue. For example, the ‘Cheeky Cow’ - smoked beef cheeks with blue cheese and mushroom sauce. That’s a very popular pie,” says the chef-turned-baker.
The menu at Sanga’s is creatively worded, too.
From the ‘Baby Boomer’ (an old-fashioned mince pie) to the ‘Southlander’ (corned beef & mustard sauce with a sprinkle of fresh peas) and the ‘Hey Dahl’ (a vegan offering with lentils).
“We just keep trying to invent different things, but the most important thing is that we make good quality pies that have good flavours,” says Kollar.
The latest invention may offend some younger readers.
“At the moment, we have the pepper pig. Pork scotch, in a pepper sauce with shiitake mushrooms. And also with port wine jelly, a bit of a sweetness into it. I think it’s quite a popular one,” says the man behind it.
Kollar says the most popular pie at Sanga’s will surprise nobody.
“I think you could guess it, it’s the steak and cheese of course - the ‘Holy Smoke’. That’s definitely the number one, we make about 2000 per week.”
Being from the Czech Republic, Kollar’s experience with pies was minimal before he arrived in New Zealand.
“If you asked me if I wanted a pie, I said ‘yes’ and I would expect something sweet and not meaty or savoury at all. I was like, ‘Well, that’s a bit strange’. I came to love it. It was my favourite lunch, having a pie,” says Kollar.
He says the pastry was the biggest learning curve in creating Sanga’s celebrated goods.
The result is flaky perfection.
“You know what they say - ‘if you eat a pie and you don’t have crumbs all over the place, it’s not a good pie’,” says Kollar.
Sanga’s pies will stand up to your next road trip that passes through Cromwell, too. It will, however, leave its mark.
“You can eat and drive, but you have to probably vacuum clean the car after.”
That hasn’t deterred customers from waxing lyrical about their baked goods both online and face-to-face. Their word-of-mouth referrals are a daily occurrence at the Chardonnay St shop.
“I was sort of blown away by that. We were a bit lucky we got a bit of publicity when we opened and I always said, ‘only in New Zealand the pie shop can make the national news’,” says Kollar with a laugh.
“I never thought it was going to grow as fast as it has. We are fortunate enough that people love it.”
Mike Thorpe is a senior journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.