Vonkel at Simonsig sits alongside the Tasting Room of the third-generation Malan family-owned wine farm. Rounding out the farm’s offering, it’s serving produce-forward and bubbly-friendly Mediterranean-style food for brunch and lunch, while also adding a relaxed and snacky food element to the farm’s Tasting Room. The restaurant is operated by seasoned restaurateur and sommelier Marc Botes of The Tafel Group.
All in the family
Simonsig’s Malan family is synonymous with Stellenbosch and the growth of its wine industry. Since 1953, the farm and the family behind it have never stopped innovating. Simonsig introduced its first wine – a Chenin Blanc – in 1968, and in 1971, Frans Malan introduced South Africa’s first bottle-fermented sparkling wine – dubbed Kaapse Vonkel – in a time when sparkling wines were carbonated and mainly sweet. In the same year, Simonsig Wine Estate (led by Frans Malan), Delheim Wine Estate (led by Spatz Sperling) and Spier Wine Farm (led by Niel Joubert) co-founded the Stellenbosch Wine Route.
Twenty-one years later, Frans’s son Johan Malan was one of 14 founding members of The Cap Classique Producers Association, which was established in 1992. This visionary group united to set high quality standards and protect the identity of bottle-fermented sparkling wine made in the traditional method. By the ‘80s, the second generation of Malans – Johan and his brothers Francois and Pieter – had stepped in to Simonsig, and in 2022, third-generation Michael took the reins as cellarmaster.
While the Malans have deep roots here, so do generations of workers on the farm, who are as much a part of its legacy as its owners. Family, the land, craft and a reverence for quality define this place so it seemed natural that the new restaurant filling a space that lay dormant since the pandemic, be perfectly in line with those values.
“Fifty-five years since the launch of the first Kaapse Vonkel, we are continuing the legacy started by my grandfather, which means always looking to improve and expand our offering,” says Simonsig’s Michael Malan. “It’s fantastic to have a restaurant again that is another platform from which to experience our wine and to provide a full experience to visitors who come to the farm.”
The restaurant
Mediterranean food is simple and when it comes to ingredients, minimalist – that’s its charm and also its Achilles heel. Anyone can make a pizza, a caprese salad or a pasta, but making them shine means using high quality ingredients as well as knowing how to work with them. In the past decade, South Africans have become much more discerning about the importance of good ingredients.
Elevating Vonkel at Simonsig from the fray is its absolute commitment to food provenance. This means sourcing best quality ingredients, like locally made burrata and mozzarella from Puglia Cheese (the gold standard for artisanal Italian-style cheeses in the Western Cape), San Marzano tomatoes grown in mineral rich soil near Italy’s Mount Vesuvius for balanced sauces, and imported Doppio Zero (00) flour for 36-hour sourdough fermented Neapolitan style pizza dough. As for that other Mediterranean staple -- extra-virgin olive oil -- it’s right on the farm: Simonsig produces an extra-virgin olive oil that lends grassy flavour and extra terroir to nearly every dish on the menu.
The Med done right – pizza, pasta, bruschetta, tartare - is the anchor at the restaurant, but it’s complemented with a fun and unfussy selection of café favourites for brunch – from a house-made banana bread served with espresso butter to bacon and blueberry flapjacks to house-baked bagels with breakfasty toppings – and a tasty variety of dishes for lunch. You can go light with farm-fresh salads, snack on delicious finger foods like olives and smoked salmon blinis, dive into a juicy upscale burger or stick to the simple perfection of a Neapolitan pizza, with a base stretched by hand and cooked in the restaurants wood-fired oven.
An operator with bubbly enthusiasm
Operator Marc Botes is no stranger to either sparkling wine or the sun-kissed Mediterranean dishes he believes naturally complement the environment and culture of South Africa’s Winelands. He has designed a carefree and lively menu with the kind of food he loves to champion: wine-friendly, rustic, simple and seasonally-driven.
Botes grew up with Kaapse Vonkel as his go-to sparkling wine, but his 20-year passion for bubbles was fully unhinged during a “wine moment” while working at a London restaurant: the tasting of a 1964 magnum of vintage champagne. “My mind was blown; I couldn’t believe a champagne of that age could be so amazing,” he says.
While working for the Gordon Ramsay Group as a sommelier, Botes blew much of his earnings on frequent weekend trips to Champagne, visiting all the top champagne houses in France. “It was my deep dive into what I loved most, and when I returned to South Africa, Cap Classique became my ultimate wine. For this reason, along with many more – like the important standing of Simonsig in the South African wine industry and the ongoing influence and authenticity of the Malan family -- it was a natural synergy for me to create a restaurant centred around food that works beautifully with Kaapse Vonkel.”
The food
Easy, tasty, fresh: the day begins at Vonkel at Simonsig with brunch, which runs from simple standards done well, like a harvest bowl of Greek yoghurt and fresh fruit, and a generous farmer’s breakfast to more whimsical creations that epitomize the concept of brunch.
House-baked bagels come with several different toppings, including smashed avocado, whipped goats cheese and rocket. There’s a potato rosti topped with crispy bacon, mushroom and a poached egg, a smoked salmon and seaweed caviar Croque Monsieur and a lobster roll with panache…the Royale Roll is butter-poached crayfish on a brioche roll with creamy scrambled egg and Cap Classique beurre blanc.
Besides juice and coffee, nothing goes better with brunch than bubbles, and there’s plenty of that to go around at Vonkel at Simonsig.
Lunch kicks off at noon, and with its variety of small bites, starters and substantial plates, is a grazer’s paradise, which all pair beautifully with Simonsig wines. Little snacks like smoked salmon blinis topped with crème fraiche and umami-rich seaweed caviar, crispy fried artichokes with a tzatziki dipping sauce, and pork scratchings are imminently grazable along with a selection of bruschetta with lovely fresh toppings; or one could kick off a meal with an artisanal cheese or charcuterie board.
Starters and salads are pared down and informed by the seasons, like an heirloom baby beet salad with whipped goats cheese, toasted walnut and charred orange; a market tartare -- either beef or seafood -- and crispy squid. Simple ingredient-driven salads like pear and ricotta, and Caprese burrata are fresh, light and full of flavour.
Like everything else at the restaurant, the burgers are ingredient driven and delicious. The buttermilk fried chicken burger takes free range chicken to another level with slaw, umami ketchup and miso mayo; and the bone marrow beef is unctuous and flavour-rich, made with Chalmar beef and bone marrow.
Neapolitan pizza is a specialty here; the sourdough base is a recipe that Botes has been working on for years, and it is hand-stretched to order, resulting in a crust that is perfectly chewy. There is a seasonal rotation of toppings: popular choices include the classic Margherita, Mushroom (a white pizza with the addition of confit garlic, parmesan and rosemary), Nduja which is spread with the spicy Calabrese pork and tomato paste, and Burrata, which is everything you love about Italy on a pizza – tomato, Parma ham, burrata, rocket and parmesan. For a bit of fun, try the crust dippers, crispy bits of crust that come with a duo of aiolis for dunking.
Pasta is homemade: there’s a tagliatelle with artichoke and cherry tomato, as well as pappardelle with a sauce of slow braised lamb shoulder.
Vonkel at Simonsig takes pizza to the dessert table with a crunchy hazelnut brittle-topped chocolate and hazelnut pizzette. Beyond that, you can go either light, with a plate of warm homemade cinnamon sugar donuts, or rich, with a dark chocolate fondant.
The wine
The restaurants wine list is comprised exclusively of wines produced at Simonsig. While there is a generous selection of Cap Classiques and non-sparkling wines to choose from, the sky (or rather the cellar) is the limit: the restaurant will gladly serve any older vintages that are on the premises.
In an era of huge wine mark-ups on many South African wine estates, Vonkel at Simonsig is bucking the trend. The mark-up is R10 per glass and R30 per bottle from the cellar door price, which just covers the basic cost of wine service. “You’re at Simonsig because you want to drink Simonsig wine; it would seem crazy to charge customers an excessive amount, when the wine is made right here on this land,” says Botes.
Tasting with a bite
The tasting experience at Simonsig just got a lot better now that the restaurant is next door. The Tasting Room offers delicious snack platters for two and for four people, with smoked salmon blinis, wild mushroom arancini, crispy artichokes and pork belly scratchings, as well as artisanal cheese and charcuterie boards. This is a great option on its own, or it could be the “first course” before moving to the restaurant for your meal. Note that bookings for Vonkel at Simonsig and the Tasting Room must be made separately on DinePlan.
Many ways to vonkel
At the farm, Simonsig offers a number of ways to taste the Kaapse Vonkel that has marked special occasions and everyday celebrations for generations.
Sparkle with Simonsig is a tasting of a selection of Cap Classique wines from Blanc de Blancs to Demi-Sec while a mix of Kaapse Vonkel and Simonsig wines is another option, or you can choose to customise your selection from both categories. There’s no greater salute to sparkling wine than the Sabrage, and the Sabrage Experience teaches this time-honoured ceremonial gesture firsthand, although with a blade rather than a saber. Follow the Vonkel is a degorging experience in the Kaapse Vonkel room, or opt to blend creativity with bubbles and paint your own bottle of Kaapse Vonkel to take home while tasting.
Vonkel at Simonsig
Simonsig Family Vineyards
Kromme Rhee Road
Koelenhof, Stellenbosch, 7605
South Africa
Opening hours
- Brunch: 09h00–12h00 daily
- Lunch: 12h00–17h00 daily
Bookings: Via Dineplan
Telephone: 021 888 4915
Website: www.simonsig.co.za
Instagram: @vonkelatsimonsig
The Tafel Group
The Tafel Group is a Cape Winelands-based restaurant operations group founded and directed by seasoned hospitality professional and sommelier Marc Botes. Creating memorable experiences that are at the happy intersection of wine, food and hospitality is its aim, both through its own operations and in a consulting role.