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
We had no room for dessert but John enjoyed a double espresso
Ma and Pa patrolling the lawn
and an olive thrush just found a worm
The bill
And in the parking area, as we left, a magnificent Ferrari
250 California from the early 60s
set us wondering which customer it belonged
to
