.: Franschhoek Visit - Chefs Warehouse at Maison

One of the reasons we decided to go to Franschhoek on Monday the 8th of March was that it was our 18th wedding anniversary and this seemed like the ideal way to celebrate to it. We would be there when there were not many people about. Franschhoek is nicely busy at weekends and we are avoiding being with any sort of crowd. The downside is that many restaurants do not open until Thursday or Friday and the weekend, so our choices were limited. We have been to several of the Chef's Warehouse restaurants and were very happy to discover that their Maison restaurant is open on Mondays. (They close on Tuesday and Wednesday)

Walking in, you go through the very impressive chef's garden full of herbs and vegetables for the kitchen

Seating outside for the wine tasting - this is also a wine farm: Maison Estate with its own wines, a deli, a guest house

and owner Chris Weylandt’s family home

Wandering the gardens is a selection of very pretty chickens. These fluff balls are Silkies

We had booked a table on the terrace and, for a Monday, Maison was quite busy

The farm’s black porker wanders around and is quite tame

How tame we were not prepared to test out

All the chickens and the pig are corralled safely at night

Views from the terrace of the farm's vineyards and the garden

The same menu is for lunch or dinner
It is exciting food, with lots of variation, different combinations of flavour, texture and aromas

You do not have to have the main menu, you can just order from the starter menu and the dessert menu
should you not want a full meal. There is a varied wine list and Maison wines are available by the glass

Another view of the terrace

There are also very pretty speckled hens

A view of the restaurant from the garden

John thinks this wood collection is the same wood

that was here at the beginning of Maison restaurant some years ago

It looks very well seasoned

We decided to push the boat out, do the full 8 dish Tapas menu for R1 000 for two

Having a British pension can be useful for splurges like this

We have known the manager, Rebecca, for many years so it was lovely to catch up on what she has been doing. She worked with Chefs Warehouse owner Liam Tomlin in several of his early ventures. She presented us with a surprise; two glasses of Maison 2014 Blanc de Blanc Cap Classique as a celebration of our Anniversary, lovely and crisp, a bready nose, and golden delicious apple, fresh and cooked on the palate

The first round has three dishes. This is Arepas, a crisp round deep fried bread, filled with Fennel and Pork sausage meat and accompanied by a spiced Buttermilk dressing, heavy with green coriander, some lime, mint and chilli. It was something new for us, and resembles a deep-fried pita bread, very enjoyably crisp but it is made with cornmeal and originates in northern pre-Colombian South America

Then savoury and light as air, crisp choux gougères straight from the oven,

served with a rich crème made of aubergine and smoked yellowtail, topped with olive oil, smoked fish,

deep fried capers, preserved orange rind

The summer salad with roast pear, apple, shaved fennel, celery, herbs, pecan nuts,

flower petals on a bed of buchu curd, rather like a cottage cheese

John had a glass of the Maison wooded Chenin

Then two more plates appeared

A ceviche of kingklip with fresh litchi and Mango in a passion fruit tiger's milk sauce/marinade

with keffir lime leaves and slices of red chilli

And some wood fired Venison (soft and tender Impala) in a honey, flaked almond and sweet olive dressing,

with shaved courgette rolls, petals and herbs

A bit of the venison with the sweet almonds and olives was quite a taste sensation

It seems we are in for an early autumn

We are experiencing very unusual weather for early March, which is usually one of our best summer months

Next course was a dish all on its own and it so deserved showcasing. Delicious! A creamy Parmesan and Truffle risotto, with Genesis heirloom varied tomatoes which had been gently roasted and peeled. It was one of the best risottos Lynne has ever had, superb in its simplicity, the correct 'bite' on the rice and the base stock used shone. She later asked the chef what he added and it is made from a barley stock, which adds the correct amount of umami. It is topped with different basil leaves and pine nuts. One to try at home, definitely

Chanticleer the Cockerel appears in all his glory

and you can see why the French thought him worthy of being their emblem

And then the final two dishes. They do look small and you share them between you but this is plenty of very satisfying food. A sticky tender piece of roast lamb rib from the Karoo with a rich fig Fesenjam Sauce, a gentle goats cheese and lavender mousse, wood fired figs that were then pickled, a crumb of pistachio and lemon and sprinkled with pomegranate aruls. We could have eaten an entire plate of the rich lamb ribs

The final dish was really perfectly cooked piece of freshwater trout, unusually thick, skin seared to a crisp at one side, the flesh of the trout just cooked, oh so tender and falling into flakes with a beautiful flavour; in a rather Malay atchar coconut milk broth, well spiced but not too much to hide the delicacy of the trout. It was on a base of roast sweet potato slices. A meal that is a flavour and texture extravaganza