Not dinner! but tortoise we saw on our way into Helderberg Reserve
Have sold one of our plots of land in the US and so decided it was time to celebrate. Had read about Waterkloof restaurant on the Waterkloof Wine farm outside Somerset West in a Woolies Taste Magazine a couple of weeks back and decided to give it a try. Since 2016 it has been rated a top 5 SA restaurant by Eat Out Restaurant Awards (No 1 last year) and for us it definitely lived up to its billing.
We also had not really thanked my parents for their bequest to us since probate had been granted. It was a lovely way to take time to remember them and think how much they would have loved to share this experience with us. Alas that time is now behind us.
The food was beautifully presented and delivered to the table by the chefs who worked on preparing the dishes. They were imaginative and exceptionally tasty. My favourite dishes were a slow roasted beef filet accompanied by a light cheese sauce; sea bass with charcoal leek lines on a potato slice; pickled artichoke hearts as well as the petit-fors to end with. My simple descriptions don’t give justice to the effort that went into preparing and presenting these plates.
One word of caution though, we went for the smaller menu rather than the degustation menu. I don’t think I could have managed the larger menu. As it was I felt very full but not uncomfortable. We also paced the meal nicely as we were there for just under 3 hours and even then we felt some dishes were being brought out faster than we liked especially at the beginning. So we just ate a little slower and had smaller mouthfuls!
We were lucky as we had a window seat and could look down to the mountains above Gordons Bay and the Waterkloof vineyards. The cold front was moving through and the rain had passed so we had stunning views as the clouds cleared.
As we selected the wine paring option we decided to stay down and I found an excellent self catering apartment on the Boskloof Eco Estate http://vredeselfcatering.co.za/vsc Really liked the location on the slopes above Somerset West looking out over False Bay. Sat on our patio with a glass of wine watching the sunset, huddled under a blanket as the cold front had obviously decided to linger a while. Will definitely stay here again if we venture down this way again.
