OPEN DOOR
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Pushing culinary boundaries; tantalising taste buds
Uitsig Farm, Spaanschemat|River Rd, Constantia
021 794 3010
Family-friendly
Open daily Monday to Saturday: breakfast 9am-11am; lunch 12 noon to 3pm; community hour 3pm-6pm; a la carte dinner 6pm-9.30pm.
Sunday: breakfast 9am-11am; lunch 12 noon to 3pm
GPS: 34° 1' S / 18° 26' E
The restaurant is friendly and unpretentious. Try the tempting new breakfast menu, or opt for a flavour-driven wine-pairing dinner, writes JOS BAKER.
THIS week’s pick of holiday destinations is Constantia – in premises that originally operated as a local school. 2001 saw a radical change: the property (with prime wine wine-growing land dating back to Simon van der Stel) was sold and the former school converted into a wine-tasting centre, wine shop and the River Café restaurant.
Popular with “ladies who lunch”, the River Café provided me with one of my most vivid foodie memories. Picture a celebratory table of women besieged by an enormous baboon, which had stirred from the mountain to pillage the bowls of fresh fruit in the centre of the table. The screams, as I recall, could be heard at La Colombe. The baboon, so I’m told, hasn’t been back.
In 2014 the farm was sold to the present owners, and the building transformed into the Open Door restaurant, the latest venture of savvy business partners: restaurateur and sommelier Neil Grant and Barry Engelbrecht of Burrata and Bocca. The venue opened in May this year, and second time round, the after-sale transformation was far more thorough, extending from a fresh traditional green-and-white exterior to a streamlined interior.
The team has done its best to honour the heritage of the building in imaginative touches like wooden beams (the wood salvaged from the school and re-positioned above the front entrance). The rooms have been opened up, with new divisions creating new dining areas, fanning from an Art Décor bar, and including both a “kitchen table”, positioned for an up-close view of activity in the open-plan kitchen, and a wooden deck making the most of the winelands setting.
That’s the background: now for the relaxed reality. I’m going back. I was drawn by the promise of breakfast – something new at this friendly, unpretentious venue – so thought I’d try a few bites of the family breakfast and lunch. (Don’t: the food’s too good. You’ll fade without doing justice to either). But it’s the flavour-driven wine-pairing dinner I’m now eager to try, for I trust Neil’s expertise, and the restaurant houses a 1000-bottle temperature-controlled cellar. The fascinating, eclectic winelist includes some amusing “unknowns” and you can, of course, opt for breakfast bubbles: Champagne or MCC.
A friend assures me there’s nothing easier than looking after the kids on week-end mornings: he simply loads them into the car, heads for the bike park at the Open Door, then relaxes inside for a peaceful, man-sized breakfast. Now that school’s out, take advantage of a reviving afternoon “community hour” offering a savoury or sweet of the day, or charcuterie and cheese platters. You can send the youngsters biking while you relax with a coffee or reviving glass. When hunger strikes and the breakfast bikers return tired out, they can feast on treats like a boiled egg with sourdough soldiers (there’s the option of both hen’s or duck’s) while sipping a freshly prepared Green Giant or peanut smoothie.
Not surprisingly, adults want to rekindle childhood memories. But how about creating adult breakfast lusts with cinnamon brioche “French toast”, bacon, glazed pears, pecan nuts and banana brandy butter, or a toasted brioche with poached eggs, bone marrow, citrus hollandaise, chorizo and sweetcorn? My token gesture to breakfast was an irresistible “sticky bun” (no bun this, but a deliciously mouth-melting, nut-encrusted pastry) freshly baked by new team member Christine de Villiers, former pastry chef at The Tasting room/Le Quartier Francais.
At lunch, intrepid bikers can order from the children’s menu: spaghetti with peas, bacon and parmesan; fried chicken drumsticks; or the familiar territory of a toasted tomato sandwich with vegetable crisps, followed by home-made ice-cream with hot chocolate sauce.
For adults, lunch is an altogether more sophisticated affair, rich in unexpected and assured flavours. Having masterminded the menus at both Burrata and Bocca, versatile exec chef Annemarie Steenkamp, now supported by Alex Rykaart from Burrata as sous chef, has switched effortlessly to a playful, contemporary food style. Crisp pressed octopus ribbons and citrus segments are dramatically offset by an intense dark pool of black squid ink, intense tomato and salty fried anchovy; a serving of gin-cured tuna combines flavour and texture with smooth avo purée, tasty green olive beignet, and crunchy radish and celery salad.
As main courses we ordered three, primarily because my Cordon Bleu companion wanted to try both the flavour and weight of two. Sadly, my chilli allergy barred me from following suit, but she confidently recommends all three (including mine).
The fresh brioche roll, plump with butter-tender pulled pork belly, was livened with chilli, lemon grass, delicious sesame mayo, crunchy-stemmed coriander and kimchi; pan-roasted linefish with mussels, crushed potatoes and cauliflower florets, was enhanced by chilli and lime.
My perfectly cooked Norwegian salmon trout was, as it should be, crispy-skinned, still flaky, and simply plated with a potato fondant, white onion purée, mango atchar and endive.
Be sure to leave room for dessert. I settled for an alluring, darkly delectable mix of raspberry and smooth Lindt chocolate ganache, with the colour contrast of beetroot cream and raspberry beetroot sorbet. As for my friend, I’d not seen her at a loss for words before. She was rendered speechless by her light and delicate basil-infused pannacotta, topped with a thin layer of plum jelly and almond milk granita, and scattered with basil micro-herbs. All she could manage was a long-drawn-out “ooh” of appreciation.
* Fresh pastries R20; full farm breakfast R85 and a range of variations between; hand-selected coffee beans blended in-house daily, from R20; speciality teas R18. Lunch starters R64-R85; soups and salads R58-R85; mains R97-R172; desserts R45-R62. Dinner menus shed soups and starters but carry many lunch items and all desserts. Mains from R97-R169. Children’s menu R47-R72 excluding dessert.