South Africa Dining: Another Heavenly Lunch

I’m a sucker for a picnic. Sunshine, wine and simple foods combine to form the most delicious of experiences. Alas, Atlanta’s summers tend to be too hot for outdoor dining, so we have just a small window of spring and fall to enjoy dining al fresco (and this year it seemed to rain throughout the fall, except for our wedding weekend!). So I was all too happy to indulge my picnic fantasies in South Africa’s wine country.
Our trusty 2010 Platter Guide (the definitive guide to South African wines) told us that Kaapzicht Winery had a picnic area, so we picked up two bacon sandwiches and a charcuterie platter at Bread and Wine, a popular Winelands lunch spot. When we arrived, we started to set up at the picnic table by their tasting room, but the winemaker spotted us and recommended we check out their vineyard picnic area. After some wrong turns and a bit of off-roading, we wound our way up to the top of their vineyard. It turns out that Kaapzicht is Afrikaans for Cape View, and that’s exactly what we found – we could see all the way to Cape Town.

Better yet, we were all alone, save a couple nearby vineyard workers. We set out our $5 bottle of Kaapzicht rose, and savored our bacon sandwiches, olives and meat platter. Never has a bacon sandwich tasted so wonderful. Who knew it combined perfectly with rose?
Mr. AT turned to me and said this is what it’s all about. And I agree – a gorgeous perch, simple but delicious foods and wine, and my honey, there is truly nothing else I could ask for. Sigh…if only we could indulge in this a bit more often. But for that one afternoon, we lingered over our wine, ate with our hands and enjoyed a truly romantic meal. Heaven!

South Africa Dining: Lunchtime Bliss

We ate at many of South Africa’s top restaurants during our trip, but two of our most casual meals, both Winelands lunches, stick out in my mind despite being among the most casual.

Cape Town Dining - Jardine

After Foodbarn our expectations were quite high for Jardine, one of the highest rated restaurants in Cape Town and even the country as a whole. Alas, our taxi ride there was ill-fated. Our driver claimed to know where it was, so we didn’t pop back into our hotel for the address. After some aimless driving around he admitted he had no idea where he was going, and apparently no one on the other end of his ever-crackling radio had access to Google. After 20 minutes of driving up and down the road it was supposed to be on, and even a failed attempt to stop and ask another hotel (FYI, dodgy tourist hotels apparently don’t know where restaurants on their own streets are located), we finally found it.

Hallelujah! We entered only to find that we were in fact the only ones there. Weird given our reservation was for 7 and we were late, right? They made us wait for our table even though there was quite literally not another diner upstairs, but we didn’t know that yet, so we just unwound over a glass of champagne. Upon being seated, we began to question why no one else was there. For sure the stretch of road it’s on is un-scenic and appears to be across from an adult video store, but Jardine has received such accolades that I assumed more people would be there.Fortunately within half an hour of being seated other diners trickled in, and by the time we left, it was reasonably full. It’s never fun to eat alone!

Cape Town Dining: Foodbarn

After reading a great write-up in the NY Times, I was curious to try the Foodbarn, in Noordhoek. Getting there required a 40 minute drive that was both harrowing and lovely along the cliffs overlooking Cape Town’s beaches. We were rewarded with stellar views on the drive and a phenomenal dining experience.

First off, the French chef’s name is Franck Dangereux, which is just plain awesome. And I just now read that he trained under the chef from Moulin de Mougins in France, site of my all time greatest meal, so he’s even cooler than I imagined!

The setting is nothing special. The restaurant is pleasantly appointed and certainly has the feel of a converted barn. As we found everywhere in South Africa, no matter how nice the restaurant guests arrived in jeans, but here more than most places, it felt appropriate. Our server was an adorable guy who had the rosy cheeks and exuberance that only come with youth. He was certainly not a ultra fine dining kind of waiter, too cheeky and enthusiastic for that, but he seemed perfect for such a relaxed atmosphere.

We had the choice between a multi-course bistro set menu and a la carte. Mr. AT went with the former, and I chose the latter.

While Mr. AT started with salmon ravioli, I oped for tempura of prawns on a tian of avocado , confied eggplamt and tomato, served with basil salsa and finished with a red chilli syrup- Despite it’s long list of ingredients and visually titillating presentation, it was really a pretty straightforward dish. Certainly, there’s nothing complicated in the notion that crunchy shrimp, spicy sauce, and mellow veggies are divine together. Yum!



Both of our entrees were hearty and delectable, too. My steak with a creamy sauce, pearl onions and a mache salad were perfectly prepared and just frenchified enough to be totally decadent. Mr. AT’s lamb chops, the first of many on this trip, were also cooked to a lovely pink medium rare.


Our dessert, while good but not exceptional, came with a sweet inscription of congratulations to us, and we found the XXX portion of the inscription to be a hilarious and most likely unintentional message to a newlywed couple.


In hindsight, we continue to refer to Foodbarn as one of our favorite meals. Given we ate at some of the country’s finest restaurants, this is actually quite a compliment. So what accounted for our fond memories? It was ultimately the price/quality/charm trifecta that sold us on it. Many SA restaurants are priced comparably to high-end Atlanta restaurants, but Foodbarn still felt like a deal. For $27, Mr. AT got 3 courses and a glass of wine. Not too shabby, right? Add to that the delicious food and charming, attentive server, and we were talking about Foodbarn throughout the rest of our trip.

Check it out for yourself:

The Foodbarn Restaurant & Deli
Noordhoek Farm Village, Village Lane, Noordhoek Telephone: +27 (0)21 789 1390