The last time we stayed at Wildekrans in Bot River,
the chef Greg Henderson had just arrived to open Forage restaurant. A year and a half later we returned, with most of our wine club in tow, to stay in the Lodge for
the weekend and have dinner in the restaurant on Saturday night. There were 18
of us seated at three tables. Forage has been gaining a reputation for
interesting modern food and it is located in an area rather barren of fine
dining
The restaurant is in a large
barn like building with a vaulted ceiling, sparkling chandeliers and an interesting
mural feature of herbs and spring vegetables
The kitchen is partially open
to the restaurant and is so well ordered and quiet as the kitchen staff
silently glide about preparing such pretty dishes
The menu. It changes with the
seasons and with availability of ingredients. Chef did not insist on this large
group having a set menu, which is their usual practice, as it helps the kitchen
when they have such a large group staying and dining at the Wildekrans Lodge. Chef
agreed that for R350 per person, we could choose three courses from the à la
carte menu
Chef goes foraging locally for
lots of herbs, vegetables and things from the sea, strand, forest and bush. This
was balsamic vegetable infused with herbs, and a mustard butter
These accompanied the ash
damper bread rolls - cooked in the ashes of the fire
Our friendly and helpful
waitress explains the menu. Other tables ordered bottles of wines to share, our
table decided to go with the suggested pairings which are by the glass for each
course. The Estate wine pairing is R35 per glass and the Barrel Selection is
R75 a glass. We did order a bottle of the Wildekrans MCC to start with; this is
made from Chenin Blanc and shows some sweetness from the ripe grapes
One of the chefs taking such
trouble with presentation
But first an amuse - under the
glass, some smoke from an indigenous sage (sativa) plant set alight...
... a nasturtium ...
... and beneath that the
smallest morsel of fillet steak, very tender and smoky on a Hollandaise sauce,
on a peppery nasturtium leaf. One lovely mouthful
Chef plating up one of our
starters
Shoreline: A mousse of pork
jowl, baby clams, champagne jelly and dressed with a foam and kelp caviar. Paired
with Wildekrans MCC Brut Rosé NV
Pond Ecosystem: A creamy Waterblommetjie
soup, with a bulrush tempura, smoked and cured wild Overberg trout. Paired with
Wildekrans MCC Chenin 2014
Duck in the Pines. Paté squares
of wild duck liver on a duck skin crumble and topped with a smoked plum jelly
and lazy daisies. This was accompanied by a warm pinecone, studded with pine
nuts and redolent of pine oil. You sprinkled them over the dish. Served with
crisp toasted bread. We both had it and enjoyed it very much, paired with the
Wildekrans Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2017, fresh and lively
A palate cleanser of orange
sorbet dipped in orange zest. Good but very cold when you put the whole morsel
in your mouth at once
Preparing the main course. The
Renosterbos Lamb was the most popular dish
Thuli Cattle Story: Sous vide
Nguni sirloin, fynbos boerewors, beef cheek, smoked Cape Watsonia bulb,
dandelion maize polenta and a good dark jus. Served with a Barrel select Shiraz
2014
John chose the Farmlands dish. The
very well hung, perhaps a little over hung rabbit and guinea fowl were wrapped
in bacon and had been cooked sous vide. It certainly was ripe and rather
slippery to cut. This came with a pork hock, Bietou gel, wild onion, baby
turnips, veld patat (sweet potato) wild grass and a dark jus. Paired with the
Barrel select Cape Blend 2014
Lynne chose the Demersal (fish
living close to the floor of the sea or lake) as there was promise of razor
clams with the dish. It was a large slice of unskinned hake, which had been
steamed, covered with a rather tasteless foam - promised was a champagne urchin
foam. The hake was billed as smoked, but there was not a lot of smoke in the
dish. Served with tiny clams, a solid smoked salmon mousse, some baby sour fig
(edulus) leaves, and an undiscovered secret: some white mussel meat which was
absolutely delicious, rather like abalone. We need to eat these more, rather
than use them as bait. Next to the fish was the razor clam, finely diced and
served with some leek-like vegetable. What this dish needs is some sort of
lemon butter sauce or another to add some moisture to the very delicate hake. This
was paired with the Wildekrans MCC Brut Rosé
Two choices for dessert. Lynne
chose this one as she was assured that there is no dairy involved. Fallen Lime
is a white chocolate and sugar candy sphere; you have to hammer to get into it.
It is set on a rather stony dark sand (some
described this as grape nuts) and one hard piece nearly broke a tooth. Secured
to the plate and filled with some creamy French meringue and hiding a ball of
soft lime curd. Served with the Protea Potion, house made sweet and bitter
Vermouth with Protea nectar
The other choice was Van Noot’s
Secret: a small milk tart with cinnamon snaps, a sugar work piece, Herzog
biscuit crumble and topped with a vanilla bean and goats’ milk ice cream. Served
with the powerful Wildekrans Chenin Blanc Grappa 2013
Chef Greg Henderson. Our group
were surprised and astounded at this adventurous meal, the presentations, the
ingenuity and the fact that, if one had a meal like this in the city, one would
pay twice as much or even more. Thank you Chef and the really superb staff who
took care of our every need
The bill for our table of six
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
