As we were in the valley for the weekend, we
wanted to try out this restaurant which we had not visited since its change of
chef from Erik Bulpitt to Rickey Broekhoven. They had told us that they wanted
to do less fine dining and more artisanal food. Chef Rickey was sous chef to
Erik Bulpitt. It is good to see such a young and talented chef - he is only
26 - take charge of his own kitchen. He did his training at the TCA under
Rebecca Hurst and has lots of good experience locally and overseas while he
climbed the kitchen tree. He has worked in good restaurants in Sweden and with several respected South African chefs
The winter vineyards in front
of the winery on the hill. We saw that one of the cover crops is broad beans. Can't
wait to have some in the restaurant
Inside the restaurant
It has an informal open kitchen
It has wonderful views over the
valley and down to the sea with Hangklip in the distance
The menu of the day. Quite
small and simple, but choices for most
First they bring lovely sweet
sourdough bread with a good chewy crust, served with whipped lard - bread and
dripping!
As we had done two wine
tastings already that morning (driver John does spit!), we decided to play safe
and go with wine by the glass and, as we were having the same starter, we shared
a glass of 2016 South End Chardonnay. The restaurant was happy for us to share
a glass and poured it into two glasses. Golden loquats on the nose with orange
and tangerine notes on the crisp and rich palate ending with a light toast
We ordered the deep fried duck
bitterballen, a great reminder of our holiday in the Netherlands. A crisp crumb
crust with a soft, creamy shredded duck centre. Good soft mustard sauce with a
little kick complemented the bitterballen and the wine
We decided that each of us
would order one of the main courses, eat half then swap. John started with the
tender loin of Eland, served nicely pink. This came with seared onion rings and
wood sorrel and a lovely onion sauce. We suspect that the Eland had been in
buttermilk; it gives it an unmistakable tenderness. John ordered a glass of the
Full Stop Rock red blend to go with our main courses
We cracked and ordered one
serving of the Hand cut Fries with aioli. They are very good indeed. Nicely
crisp
Lynne began with the Beef
ragout, covered with a blanket of mashed potato and cream - which reminded her
of the Greek Skordalia sauce - braised cabbage and a broad bean pesto. The
ragout was intense and very rich. The beef tasted as if it had been smoked and
some pieces were almost like ham, and then added to the rich jus rather than
cooked together. The pesto added good green notes and was also rich. A great
find on the plate was some lovely flakes of crisp roast potato
We skipped dessert and, over
our very good double espressos chatted about training, restaurants food,
experience and life to chef Rickey and manager Theo van Niekerk for ages. What
nice, enthusiastic young men. The menu changes regularly. We will be back
The bill
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
