Head to the country for a long, lingering, delicious lunch with family and friends. At these eateries, the chefs keep it simple, serving a set menu of the best of what’s available right now. But that understates the experience somewhat.
This is true fine dining – freshly picked produce turned into beautiful bowls and platters of food, served with fantastic wine, in a setting that adds that extra magic ingredient you won’t find in the city. The menus change often, so this is an experience you can enjoy time and time again.
Jan Franschhoek
Chef Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen (of Michelin-starred JAN in Nice, France) invites you to his Franschhoek summer table, in a historic cottage in the lavender fields of La Motte wine estate. Lunch is served only once a week, on a Sunday. To experience his eight-course tasting menu and wine pairing at this sublime pop-up is to surrender to a culinary magician. An 18-seater dining table is set against a kaas en konfyt (cheese and preserves) cornucopia that looks like a Van Dyck still life. Look but don’t touch, yet… There is much to savour before the final course – such as a slap-pap-tjip, evoking memories of the corner café; the nostalgia of cinnamon and delicate doilies with dessert, moerkoffie made in the fireplace. And much more…
Good to gather at Rozendal
Rozendal started off with vineyards but serendipitously pivoted when a visitor helped transform a flawed wine harvest into gourmet vinegar. The vinegar cellar doubles as a restaurant on Friday evenings and weekends – spilling into a tree-shaded courtyard with views of the picturesque farm and a meadow where two alpacas, two cows, a pig, two horses, three dogs and some chickens reside. For chef Jess Shepherd and her husband Luke Grant, respect for produce is paramount and you’ll taste it in their three-course, sharing menu. It’s inventive, wholesome, bounteous and truly, deeply farm-to-table.
Kleine Zalze Restaurant
The relaxed Winelands setting at Kleine Zalze centres on the spacious bedouin-tented terrace for summer (with a cosy farmhouse feel indoors). Chef Nic van Wyk’s classic, upscale bistro food adds to the appeal of the postcard-worthy views and gardens. By now an institution, the Sunday lunch harvest table has regulars returning again and again, on a culinary world tour that takes their taste buds to a new destination each month. Whatever the destination, you can enjoy four courses of relaxed deliciousness. There is always a vegetarian option, too.
To see the entire list, click HERE.