Elgin Cool Wine Festival – South Hill dinner

We were invited by Kevin and Sandy King to join them for dinner at their South Hill wine estate on Saturday night 

We met Kathy and Selborne Boome there. Kathy is the Executive Head of Elgin and Grabouw Tourism and, if you are into rugby, you will know that Selborne Boome is a former Stormers and Springbok rugby player. He is now an apple and pear farmer in Elgin. Also there were Annareth Bolton and Mariette du Toit Helmbold of Destinate. We all sat at the same table with Sandy and Kevin King

The restaurant is light and spacious and is filled with art, most of which is for sale

Some festival goers were eating outside, although the night was "drawing in" as they say

Autumn is upon us and fires are being lit

We loved this amusingly painted barrel and the ceramic child's head on it

The menu. We think it is very good value at R275 (£14.85 to you Brits) for three courses

The restaurant was full of people enjoying themselves

The starter of French onion tart on buffalo mozzarella with garden greens was very good

as was the roasted tomato soup. We were served very good homemade bread

We both went for the Twice-baked Gruyère cheese soufflé with rocket in a vinaigrette dressing

Meltingly light and cheesy, it was delicious

We drank the South Hill Sauvignon Blanc with the starters - full of those wonderful fig leaf aromas you get on Elgin sauvignons, crisp and full of green peppers and granadilla. With the main course, in addition to the South Hill Cabernet on the table, we were treated to this magnum of 2012 Kevin King Micah (named for Kevin's grandson), an unusual blend of 50% Syrah, 25% Mourvedre, 25% Barbera. The Barbera gives it a little wildness; the wine was full and soft and went wonderfully with the meat dishes

Most on our table ordered the Butter chicken and rice, topped with a poppadom and served with sambals

We did have some food envy as they said it was very good

We both ordered the Dukkah nut-encrusted deboned leg of lamb with Greek yoghurt, mint and chermoula,

served with a very flavourful couscous, jewelled with fruit. The seasonal vegetables were rather al dente and a bit hard to cut

The Traditional gammon looked moist and was served with a creamy mustard sauce,

baked apple crisps, scalloped potatoes and season greens and carrots

The seasonal Elgin Apple and Blueberry crumble served warm and topped with ice cream for someone with room for dessert

We had coffees and Green tea and then it was time to head to our accommodation

Thank you Kevin and Sandy for a lovely evening

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