BISTRO SIXTEEN82
Tokai: 021 713 2211
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Steenberg Estate, Steenberg Road, Tokai
Breakfast, lunch & tapas daily. Breakfast 9am-11am; lunch 12 noon-4pm; tapas
GPS: 34° 3' S / 18° 26' E
Tantalising tastes abound on the updated menu, which also boasts new Steenberg wine pairings. Leave space for the bread and butter pudding, writes JOS BAKER.
SPRING on a plate, catching Cape Town’s changeable weather in a transitional menu ranging from popular pork belly to a foretaste of fresh summer pleasure. That’s a quick word-bite on the new-look bistro’s burstingly fresh fare.
Named after the year in which Steenberg was established, the clean-lined, industrial-styled Bistro Sixteen82 spills out into an inviting area of indigenous gardens, reflective water features and views of vineyards, mountains and Constantia valley. A delightful spot for summer lunching or tapas, it’s not open in inclement weather, so check availability when booking.
Giving enthusiastic new exec chef Kerry Kilpin time to find her feet, I waited till after the recent subtle facelift to lunch at Steenberg. I found it high time that diehards stopped hankering after Brad Ball’s macho creativity and welcomed the lighter touch and softer seasonal sensitivity of the new regime.
Kerry cooks what she loves to eat and that love shows in her food. (Be warned; her pet hate is overcooked rice, so don’t complain if it’s suitably al dente). Her objectives are simple, revolving round people having a great time in a place that’s special without those top market trimmings. Her major pleasure right now is that the revamp has doubled the area of the kitchen, saying sagely, “a happy kitchen makes for happy food”.
Obviously the young Silwood-trained chef is influenced by her time with Franck Dangereux. She joined him at La Colombe as chef de partie in 2003, was appointed sous chef the following year, and in 2006 left with him to help open the Foodbarn restaurant in Noordhoek – at that time “a farm stall serving toasted sandwiches.”
But while she respects Franck and regards him as a mentor and major influence, Kerry’s no copy-cat. His influence shares space with extensive travel (she blushingly confesses to having yielded an irresistible impulse to filch a menu from Le Moulin de Mougins, Roger Verger’s old restaurant near Cannes) and her favourite cheeses are the soft variety like Languedoc and Taleggio. Asia is a more recent find: a visit to Thailand, shopping at local markets and cooking her first authentic dish, took her in a new direction, fusing Eastern trends with her classical training.
Besides, her culinary roots go deeper. Even as a child growing up on a farm in Bathurst, she enjoyed baking; her enjoyment backed by a keen business sense. At month-end, when her father paid staff wages, she’d cannily have cakes for sale. “The little business continued when I went to boarding school. At weekends I’d come home to bake to sell to my classmates. By the time I left school, I had no doubt that I wanted to go to chefs’ school and learn to cook.”
Her fetish for freshness surfaces in the bistro menus. Popular items remain listed, but the season dictates the supporting ingredients. So instead of fussing that “it wasn’t like this last time!” relish “real food” smacking of the season. And match it with Steenberg’s highly rated wines, for new food and wine pairings have made all their wines, except the Magna Carta, available by the glass and each has been specially selected to complement a particular dish.
When faced with so appetising a menu choice, sharing seemed the simplest solution. Standout success was the oven-baked panko-crusted cheese fritters with sprouts, clementine and thyme jam, minted greens and toasted pumpkin seeds. Cut into the crisply-coated fritters and let loose the cheese. Then take it slowly with the spring-like accompaniments. Also a cut above the norm were tempura prawns with crunchy fennel and apple salad, citrus dressing and chilli aioli, and smoked salmon cannelloni with lemon butter.
The menu offers sustainable fish; the choice depending on the catch of the day. When I heard the magic word “tuna”, balm to my fish-starved appetite, I predictably settled for the Steenberg tuna treatment. Besides, this farm’s white wines, superb solo, are perfect fish partners. Just-seared as ordered, and plated with assorted mushrooms, garlic and thyme cream, the meaty fish slipped down in sybaritic style.
Other tantalising tastes were the Moroccan chickpea ragout, with coriander, poppadoms and aioli; and the fascinating combo of five-spice seared venison carpaccio with wild rocket, colourful beetroot, pecorino shavings and juniper dressing.
But do leave space for the totally contemporary, deconstructed bread-and-butter pudding. Not in the least like the traditional, comforting pud, it’s even better: the rich and more-ish mix contains dates and Amarula, honeycomb ice-cream and toffee sauce.
Or, as Kerry’s a self-confessed chocolate freak (at the age of 16 she came back from a Swiss holiday with 15kg) you’d be safe with hazelnut chocolate terrine: layers of dark chocolate, hazelnut biscuit, white chocolate terrine, star anise, citrus ice-cream, and lace biscuit.
l Starters R68-R125; mains R115- R185; desserts R55-R66. Wine pairings vary from R47-R135 a glass.