Franschhoek’s Huguenot Street eating has another option since Ryan’s Kitchen opened at Rusthof Country House. Chef Ryan Smith and Russian wife Svetlana serve lunch and dinner in the small dining space, and summer should see lunches and even tea and scones on the lovely lawns.
A small open kitchen and limited tables means diners are within chatting range of the chef, making the dining experience intimate. Smith boasts an impressive resume of big-name hotel stints. I found the style too contrived when he was responsible for menus at Mange Tout fine dining restaurant at Mont Rochelle Hotel, but at Ryan’s Kitchen his delight in preparing food on a small scale shows on the plate. Dinner starters and desserts I tried were particularly creative, which might explain their price tags (R65 - R75 for most starters; R95 – R115 for mains; R50 to R55 for desserts).
I’ve been told lunch options are a little simpler; my only experience is of dinner. Smith’s innovative style is visual yet playfully tasty – ingredients receive a contemporary make over and nostalgic South African foods are incorporated at times. But don’t make the mistake of expecting traditional country interpretations. Dishes such as ostrich bobotie have a twist – in fact you often see Smith using his blowtorch for finishing touches.
A frequently-changing menu always has a vegetarian option, and could feature peri-peri duck liver parfait with winter melon jelly, salted caramel and bitter chocolate spray, or seared smoked trout masala with prawn bell pepper and chorizo emulsion. There’s vacuum-poached fish with smoked potato puree, streaky bacon and winter greens, followed by naartjie panna cotta partnered with citrus salad and oatmeal crunchies, or Milo melktert with clove ice-cream and popping chocolate.
And if you don’t fancy the return drive, the restaurant’s location inside Rusthof Country House could provide a lazy excuse to negotiate a room from owner Ruth McCourt.
Tel 021 876 4598, 12 Huguenot Street, Franschhoek. ryans kitchen
It’s surely a sign of a nation’s maturity when foodies reject fancy foreign styles to rediscover local home cooking. AmaZink Eatery in Stellenbosch’s friendly Khayamandi township is the latest spot to offer this option, and I hope it catches on. Opening during June 2010 for the World Cup, Overture chef Bertus Basson was roped in as culinary consultant. But it appears that township intrinsics have been left intact so the menu available at lunch or dinner is largely a result of cook and owner Loyiso Mbambo’s inspiration.
Spend: About R90 to R110 for two to three courses, excluding drinks. Those with moderate appetites might want to share starters or desserts as portions aren’t small. 
As a winter sunny Sunday lunch choice in Franschhoek, few venues beat Bread 
As with most dishes at Bread 
June 22nd was an amazingly proudly South African day. With overseas socceroos in tow from Australia, Mzoli’s Place in Gugs was our logical Cape Town destination to watch Bafana Bafana bow out of the World Cup in style. There are plenty of flatscreens around and the volume is always full blast. Our Bafana boys played incredibly passionate soccer, and the vuvuzela-blowing Guguthlethu contingent we joined were behind them with every cheer and roar.
Specify if you want barbeque marinade (worth having), the required portions of mielie pap, spicy chakalaka of raw green peppers, onion and chilli – essential condiment – and mielie bread (we thought we paid for delicious-looking giant slices but the bread was finished when we collected our order). If you’re there for sport, hold on to your belongings whenever a goal is attempted because people are packed tight and the room reverberates. Bring tissues for the loo and ignore the lack of soap to wash your hands and you’ll manage just fine.
Series of wood fires burn constantly in the grill area and the enamel bowls line up with numbered tickets of individual raw meat orders. People return periodically to nag the grillers that their table is still waiting, but patience is required – our order went in early yet we still waited about three hours for our braaied food. There were some tricky balancing moments while carrying food to the table through the seething masses pouring in the other way to watch their team. But the lamb chops and sausages in particular were charred to deliciousness.
Living within a long-range kick of Green Point stadium has massive advantages when you’re attending a live game. But visiting overseas friends and locally-based family think so too, which means I’ve been making a lot of warm soup and quick meals to feed the departing hordes. In between there is the serious business of watching games on 
Anyway it’s delicious and oozily gooey - so worth the effort to make!
Garnish with lemon zest and serve slices with vanilla ice cream.
Exotic creatures with broad shoulders, fairy wings and wigs wander past sipping from oversized champagne glasses as you’re taking in the Boot-Ishoe stall selling numbered gumboots adjacent to the temporary tattoo parlour. A mojito is thrust into your hand near the front of the theatre queue as you’re focusing on a washline of pink and orange hot pants hanging above a veggie garden of plastic pumpkins.
Talented Valentina Love conceptualises the show.
Equally awe-inspiring are the Russian roller disco duo of Kristine and Ivan Prokopyuk, who trained in Moscow State Circus. Kristine’s glittery gold and black body is whipped vertically and horizontally as the couple whirl around a tiny circular stage. Fellow countrywoman Polina Volchek contorts her flexible gymnastic body with multiple hula hoops in positions I didn’t think possible. There is local show content too – a vocal high is South African divas Lilian Khumalo, Marguerita Freeks and Dorothy Engelbrecht of The Original Tons of Fun with their cover versions spanning the decades. “You’re just too good to be true…”
Alongside doner kebabs, Indian snacks and plenty of pre-made curries in sauces in bain maries, there are vegetarian savoury alternatives. Some of it looks dried out or highly coloured, but the volumes of people eating suggest that nothing sits there too long. The majority of items are in the R20 to R30 price range, so you can eat well without much hassle or expense. We split up and collectively ordered and paid for a chicken biriyani (R25), mildly spiced and fried potato wedges called Jira aloo (R20) and a personal favourite, masala dosa (R20). Portions were plentiful.
charming old-style café called Bread Milk 
People say Waterkloof is like dining in a glass box 300m above the Atlantic Ocean. Other special features? Waterkloof is about transparency: there is an open kitchen with nothing to hide. What you see on the menu is pretty much what you get, no crazy explanations. Something elegant but not stiff. A good bottle of wine, a good meal, an amazing view in an amazing building.
Casual or fine dining? To South African tastes Waterkloof is fine but not pretentious dining. I love a dish we created today: glazed pork belly with quartered boiled beetroot, Granny Smith poached in Circumstance Sauvignon Blanc and fresh black figs. It’s simple, earthy and the flavours match. In international fine dining restaurants you often see lobster, foie gras, turbot… I’m bored with that. I love the forgotten vegetables: beetroot, cabbage, fennel and butternut.
News of Lannice Snyman’s passing early this morning left a lump in my throat. We’d been walking in the Clifton area, glimpsing sunshine snatches over wild seas before the Cape stormy weather set in. So I only checked my phone after hearing a text alert from the third foodie friend. I discovered a poignant message from daughter Tamsin Snyman about her mixed emotions at losing her mother on the occasion of celebrating her first mother’s day with new baby Trinity. Wow.
At Neethlingshof Estate’s recently revamped tasting area, sign up in advance for a Slow Wine and Flash Food pairing designed by Lucille Jacobs of Neethlingshof. Clearly a good deal of thought went into the detailed discussions focusing on how wine weights balance the respective flavours and weights of the accompanying snacks. The food arrives in a take-away box – it’s ‘flash food’ - from Pink Salt Catering in Stellenbosch. Jacobs wasn’t available the day a friend and I booked an afternoon session, but her temporary replacement did a thorough job.
We were seated at restaurant tables under the trees where wine and heritage guide Tiaan Jacobs provided some background about the six wines we would taste. He’d worked in the vineyards and kitchen before joining the wine team, so we were in capable hands.
The cooking demo class space takes up half the warehouse. Artisan bread classes, demos by guest local chefs and occasional big international chef names are part of the 2010 lineup.
The headline sounds quite dramatic, but actually nothing went up in flames. That line is merely to lure in all kitchen equipment junkies who get hot and sweaty when talk turns to implements… With a few April holidays to manoeuvre around, I never got around to trying out the luminous green Neoflam Ecolon fying pan I was given to test. So when the Merry Muncher decided to make French toast and bacon over the weekend, I handed over the new pan to be put through its paces.
On that upbeat note, Terroir at Kleine Zalze only offers a tasting menu on request, but they have just launched a Green Season menu that represents great value. I was invited to sample a few dishes from the two or three-course options as they will change over the winter months. I’m happy to report that chef Michael Broughton hasn’t lost his touch, and winter should be a very good time for locals to fill a Terroir table with family or friends.
The man sporting a mohawk has an enquiring mind. His likes: classic recipes, slow braises, deep-frying, cookbooks and good-value meals. Dislikes: sous vide cooking and dishes that look pretty but are devoid of flavour. If he serves a ‘tongue in cheek’ braised ox tongue and pig cheek, it means the Overture kitchen is having fun. But it will be made from scratch with integrity. To avoid wastage, the offcuts will form the base for stocks, sauces, mousse or terrines.
I decided the weather was merely doing the Capetonian thing: arriving fashionably late.
Rather doubtful of ever finding a modestly-priced culinary pick-me-up, six of us went for Sunday lunch in Hout Bay. And I’m happy to report that a new venue called Wild Woods saved the day. A one-page menu offered enticing options, many ingredients sourced from small-time farmers or artisan producers. I spotted some nostalgic dishes I recall eating as a child, but with a creative twist here and there. A hand-selected wine list ignored boring co-operatives or monopoly wineries with convenient distribution, and instead showcased labels from interesting small-timers such as Adi Badenhorst. Six options came in at under R100 a bottle.
Bistro favourites dominate main course options too, ranging between R60 and R100. Between us we tried crackling-crisped hunks of pork belly - comfort food if ever there was – in a pool of mustard sauce, mash and roasted fennel bulb. Along similar lines, a deliciously old-time Sunday roast beef included creamed horseradish, perfectly puffed Yorkshire pudding and a glossy gravy. Grilled sirloin was nicely aged and ably matched by Café de Paris butter and crunchy narrow chips. Roasted free-range chicken breast sounded an unusual combination with fresh porcini slices, potatoes and béarnaise, but worked surprisingly well on the plate. If anything lagged behind it was service. Friendly enough, but staff training is obviously a work in progress.
The winding drive to La Petite Dauphine guesthouse is textbook Franschhoek tourist stuff, and the daytime restaurant offers a lovely summer setting with tables outside an old sandstone building on a shaded terrace overlooking a duck pond.
You may not feel like you have capacity, but the fresh bakes are so worth it (R35 to R42). I couldn’t resist because the cake display tempts whenever you’re en route to the building housing the bathrooms. After a 20-minute break before coffee and a very large slice of lemon meringue, we got lost in feathery white peaks and tangy lemon filling, relieved that we’d had the sense to share one piece. The carrot cake also has a following.
Franschhoek options include Mont Rochelle Hotel and Country Vineyards blankets offer comfy settling alongside the dam or tables in the gardens. Three choices range from the Country Basket (R290 for two), Gourmet Basket (R370 for two) or Deluxe Basket (R450 for two), depending on whether you’re wanting basic country fare, or a gourmet fill of Franschhoek trout, Tiger prawns, shucked oysters and petit fours at the deluxe end. Children under 12 at R85pp. Tel 021 876 2770, 
Previously only in the 
Tricky things to photograph: spot the whale fin! 