Winelands Eatery – Barouche at Blaauwklippen

I recently found myself staring at a pair of black swans walking chest deep in snowbells at the Blaauwklippen estate between Stellenbosch and Somerset West. We were checking out whether the farm would be suitable for a family wedding and as soon as the swans strode into view, their red beaks exploring the foliage around them, I was convinced.

To be fair, if the swans had been off swimming in the river than runs along the property, I might have been won over by the shear number of gracious old buildings littering this unpretentious estate. The gabled Manor House is fronted by oak trees planted to give the tower of Babel a run for its money and flanked on both sides by long lime washed buildings. From the Manor House veranda you look out onto a wide lawn and beyond to a pasture, more farmland and blue mountains. The perfect place to say “I do”.

The estate’s Barouche restaurant is housed in one of the old buildings remodeled inside along more contemporary lines. Being a closet old world charm junkie, the trendy décor and geometric dark wood furniture in the restaurant seems to me a bit at odds with the vintage personality of the rest of the farm. What the restaurant lacks in décor soul though, it makes up for in the kitchen.

The menu emphasizes fragrance and flavour, with old favourites getting a new lease on life with novel ingredients. You can have the caesar salad in a variety of guises: topped with pan-fried line fish or prawns, stir-fried chicken or beef paillard or try the ultimate in healthy salads – the beef bobotie samoosa salad with pineapple and sweet chilli compote.

The double baked blue cheese soufflé, tandoori rubbed ostrich sosatie and crispy duck leg confit set on red cabbage, caramalised apple and bread dumpling with a balsamic jus, also had me swabbing away drool as I agonized over which meal to make my very own.

I eventually settled for the fragrant stir-friend chicken breast strips and prawns with chilli and ginger which made my tastebuds and my waistline smile. The rest of my party went on to dessert and while my girth strained to get at the dark chocolate tart and duo of coffee mousse, I tried to appease it with a skinny cappuncino.

After lunch, a stroll to the carriage museum and bonding time with the cart horses in their paddock sealed everyone’s opinion that this was a special place, perfect for celebrating a very special event.