This winter, Bistro Sixteen82 at Steenberg Farm is introducing a refreshed seasonal menu shaped by comfort, shared dining, and a closer integration with the estate’s newly launched Canvas Collection wines.
The winter offering brings together five small plates designed for sharing, reflecting both the season and a continued shift toward slower, more social dining. This year, however, the experience is more deliberately connected to wine, with each dish created to sit alongside specific expressions from the Canvas Collection.
Executive chef Kerry Kilpin says the starting point was not a reinvention of the winter menu, but a way of working more closely with the wines being released this season.
“We’ve had a winter lunch menu for years, but this year we wanted to do something a little different to celebrate the Canvas Collection,” says Kilpin. “Shared dining has always been part of Bistro Sixteen82, and we wanted a format that allows people to experience the wines properly alongside food, both at lunch and dinner.”
The result is a sequence of small plates designed to move across different styles and temperatures, beginning with a seasonal soup paired with the Blanc, followed by a reworked version of the restaurant’s pickled fish.
“The pickled fish is something we’ve always celebrated and kept evolving,” she says. “It works beautifully with the Semillon. It’s a dish shaped by the team over time, and it continues to change.”
From there, the menu moves into richer winter flavours, including mushroom and beef carpaccio and slow-cooked venison, designed to complement Nebbiolo.
“We wanted to show the versatility of Nebbiolo,” Kilpin adds. “It works not only with warm dishes like venison, but also with colder preparations. It’s about contrast and balance.”
The structure of the menu encourages sharing, with dishes arriving in a rhythm rather than a strict sequence.
Kilpin says this approach naturally suits winter dining, where meals tend to be longer and more conversational. “Sharing changes the pace,” she explains. “It becomes more relaxed and the table more interactive. That’s really what we’re aiming for.”
The Canvas Collection itself brings a new dimension to the pairing philosophy at Steenberg. Marketing manager Carryn Wiltshire says the collaboration reflects the ethos behind the new range.
“The Canvas Collection was created as a space for freedom and expression within our portfolio,” says Wiltshire. “Pairing it with Bistro Sixteen82’s winter menu allows guests to experience that philosophy in a very tangible way. It’s not about rigid rules, but about discovery, how the wines interact with different flavours and how each guest finds their own interpretation.”
She adds that the format also reflects how guests increasingly engage with wine experiences.
“People are looking for more curated but relaxed experiences,” she says. “They want guidance, but they also want room to explore. This pairing offers both.”
For Kilpin, the goal is not complexity for its own sake, but clarity in how food and wine interact.
“One of the most important things for us is that people don’t feel they have to think too hard about it,” she says. “The pairing should work naturally, feeling both generous and easy.”
The result is a winter menu that sits comfortably within Bistro Sixteen82’s established identity, while reflecting a subtle shift toward deeper integration with the estate’s winemaking philosophy. The Canvas Collection, comprising Semillon, Nebbiolo, and Blanc, brings texture and range to the experience, but remains open-ended in interpretation.
Kilpin believes that openness is part of the appeal.
“What I enjoy most is that people experience it differently,” she says. “Some will follow the pairing exactly, while others will mix it up. There’s no single answer, and that’s the point.”
As winter dining settles into a slower rhythm, the pairing of food and wine at Steenberg becomes less about structure and more about conversation between plate, glass, and guest.