.: 04/03/25

Thursday, April 03, 2025

A birthday lunch at The Table at Oak Valley

We have had some wonderful times at Oak Valley Wine Estate in Elgin,
enjoying their wines and having excellent meals in their classy Poolroom restaurant,
so relaxing with dining indoors or, more appropriately in Summer, around the pool
The theme of the restaurant and its name have changed this year and it is now The Table at Oak Valley,
which is an offshoot of The Table at De Meye in Stellenbosch,
of which we have seen very good reports in the last few years

Our friends from the Netherlands were here and there was a birthday to celebrate,
so Lynne suggested we try the reimagined restaurant
The theme is unique and we quote from their website:
"Leigh and Brendan will bring their renowned set, three-course, sharing-style lunch concept to this new venue,
featuring locally sourced, seasonal ingredients
The rich abundance of produce and local offerings from this region will add new dimensions to the menu"
and its only one hour from Sea Point

Our table by the pool

We had a quick wine tasting at the table to choose the wines we were to have with lunch

and our urbane multilingual waiter Teddy brought us the first course. Service was excellent

Warm, freshly baked ciabatta bread, a garlic aioli, some very good black olives and some piccalilly

and, given our mostly senior ages, an appropriate wine to choose, the Fountain of Youth Sauvignon Blanc
A Platter 4.5 star wine, crisp, aromatic, layers of Sauvignon flavours and so enjoyable with food

For the second course, the 2022 Sound of Silence plush Pinot Noir, grown high up on the slopes of the Groenlandberg

Perfumed and intriguing nose, with a hint of spice, red cherry, black cherry on nose
and then it follows through on the palate
with a bite of chalky tannin, and an immmersion into more dark cherry and cranberry fruit
with some umami and a zing of grapefruit on the end; another food wine

Please NOTE: the menu changes with the seasons and the weather. This was what we ate on the 16th of March

Voted by some as the best dish of the day, the combination did initially give us pause
Plump new season's black figs baked and surrounded by warm gooey, cheesy Welsh Rarebit
A magic made in heaven and topped with a fresh green leaf salad coated with grated parmesan
It disappeared

Experienced restaurateur Leigh Thorncroft supervises the kitchen and does the menu planning for both restaurants
Her husband Brandon cooks at both restaurants
They alternate their presences at them on alternate days with Leigh at one and Brandon at the other

Succulent roast duck for the two at the table who are not huge lamb fans

But they did sample the lamb; there was plenty and they said it was very good, enough to change their minds

Crisp cos lettuce sections with Green Goddess dressing and some gently pickled red onions

A rich and spicy Aubergine and Chickpea stew, with faint Moroccan tagine notes,

topped with fresh mozzarella and a herb dressing. This was much enjoyed and would be so satisfying for vegetarians

Slow cooked shoulder of lamb with a rich wine jus, topped with green beans

SO tender, we could just tear it off the bone

About to tuck in. We demolished almost everything... so yes, we do sincerely recommend the food

It is also a lovely relaxed way to enjoy lunch with friends and family and the stress of ordering is relieved

You can phone ahead to see what the menu might be on the day you want to come

It is freshly cooked, perfectly seasoned and delicious

They are sensative to allergies you might have and can recommend other items

And they have just released their cookbook which contains the recipes of the food we ate

It is on sale in the tasting room

They will be open in the winter and the menu will change for the seasons

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Restaurant Week supper at La Boheme, Sea Point

La Boheme in Sea Point is one of our local restaurants and has just had a huge makeover

while the building above it was being refurbished
It was Restaurant Week, so we decided to go and try their new eclectic menu
We like the new street look too, outside tables protected by glass panels and windows and doors that open out

The inside ambience is more open and welcoming than before, with good lighting, sensible tables and comfortable chairs

The new, good value Restaurant Week menu,

very much in the style of partner restaurants Silk and Bouchon in Heritage Square

It is not much different from their normal menu

We chose six different dishes and shared them and it was plenty for us

The restaurant was full and busy and there was a good buzz

The three large Tempura prawns with Avocado purée were delicious

We're not sure where the smoke(d) tomato, spring onion and cucumber were, but the pink sauce was good too

Pan fried squid and chorizo on aubergine paté wth a balsamic reduction

The baby squid had great texture and flavour; the two tiny pieces of crisp chorizo added good spice to the dish

Asian tuna tartare with avocado purée was fresh and well made, the pale tuna in tiny cubes

Springfield Albariño 2021 from our cellar

We like to bring something that will complement the food and this certainly did. Corkage is R90 a bottle

They serve cocktails; we do not often imbibe, although a good dry Martini is always a possibility...

Deep fried pulled lamb, feta and jalapeño wontons were beautifully crisp

and the spicy dipping sauce gave the rather fatty lamb a good buzz of chilli

Bourbon BBQ pork belly with apple slaw had good flavours but sadly was mostly fat rather than meat

We did mention it to the restaurant

We both tucked in before remembering to photograph it. The presentation as served was much neater

Southern fried Buttermilk chicken bao bun - the second of the week - certainly lived up to expectations

Moist chicken inside a crisp coating in a gooey bao bun, with spicy pico de galo sauce and ginger and soy aioli

All our stories can be opened from the archive list near the top of the column on the right

If you do not wish to receive e-mails from us, please email menucape@gmail.com with the word 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in your email

Click here to follow our blogs

If you would like to purchase a signed print of one of our photographs, please click here
All content in this article is © John & Lynne Ford, MENU

See John's photographs and follow us on YouPic

An outing to Groote Post and a last lunch at Hilda's Kitchen

We wanted to go to Darling Cellars to buy some wine and we took our Dutch friends with us
Lunch was on the schedule so we booked at Hilda's Kitchen restaurant at Groote Post
It was named for the famed 19th Century cook Hildegonda Duckitt
We had heard that husband and wife Shaun and Chef Debbie McLaughlin would be leaving the restaurant in April
after 22 successful years, so we wanted to see them to say goodbye
We have had so many great meals here over the years

A giraffe or two greeted us on the way into the farm, which has game roaming the hills
You can even book a game drive after you have done the wine tasting and eaten in the restaurant - or before....