Cuvée restaurant at Simonsig Estate near Stellenbosch is nothing like the glowing press release would have you believe; it's far better.
Let it be noted that décor is not my area of expertise. I have no idea how a restaurant "flaunts an elegant milieu", nor how that description would correspond with its further description of being a Cape Dutch voorkamer.
I have never seen a Cape Dutch voorkamer, but I doubt it looks anything like the chic, airy and modern Cuvée interior. But then the press release also quotes Neil Stemmet, who masterminded the restaurant's design, as calling it unpretentious yet stylish, which to my untrained eye is right on the money.
Not that we sat inside; why waste a glorious sunny winelands day sitting inside, no matter how stylish the interior?
You can also spend a leisurely hour at the adjacent tasting room - just R25 buys you a glass and samples of five wines. They make about 20, so if you're really keen, the price is negotiable from that and it's an excellent preamble to lunch.
Chef Jacques Erasmus has created one of the most original menus I've seen in ages, not only in terms of its content but in the clever serving portions.
Everything is offered as a starter-portion size (usually half-size) and cost, and a main-course size and cost. But you can have the half-size portion as a main course, too, at the lower price, which makes experimenting easy.
More inspired still is that a different Simonsig wine is recommended with each meal and their wines are all available by the glass, some at quite ridiculously low prices.
I had the half-size portion of scallops and prawns in a Cape Malay broth with coconut, fresh ginger and lowveld lychees (R75/R140) as starter. It was subtly sweet and perfumed but may have lacked a little punch. The ginger was, indeed, freshly sliced and the Simonsig Gewürztraminer, with its own perfumed lychee notes to accompany it - at R18/glass - is the only way to go.
My only gripe is that it's a really small portion for R75.
My friend had warm rolled aubergine and Fairview goat's cheese with Simonsig pecan nuts, garlic chives, tomato butter and white wine cream (R55/R100). Quite a mouthful in all respects, which she described as earthy and delicious.
My main course (half-size) was peanut-crusted fillet of pork with sweet soy, garden radish and Citrusdal ruby grapefruit cream (R60/R110) - as delicious as it sounds. The recommended wine was Merindol Syrah, which wouldn't have been my first choice, but it worked. If you'd rather stick with white for white meat, I'd go for either the Simonsig Chenin Blanc at just R18/ glass, or indulge in Chenin avec Ch≖ne (chenin with oak) at R38/glass - it recently got 4½ stars in Wine Magazine's Chenin Challenge.
My companion had the grilled cutlets of Hantam lamb with asparagus, lemon, capers, anchovy and mint, the last combined as a salsa verde spread over the cutlets (two in a half-portion), which were cooked perfectly to order. They disappeared quickly.
Main courses (of all sizes) are served with a garden salad with as much produce from Simonsig's own vegetable gardens and fruit orchards as possible.
It's not often, however, that you can rave about an "extra". Don't miss the crisp-fried crushed new potatoes (R15) - parboiled, gently broken with a fork, then salted and deep-fried. They are unspeakably delicious and one portion serves two, if you can show a little restraint.
The desserts, unlike everything else, are quite pricey: R50 for a classic crème brûlée, good in an everyone-knows-how-to-make-this-now way, is a bit stiff.
We weren't given any option about trying the baked dark couverture chocolate fondant with pistachio nut ice cream, Cuvée's flagship dessert. It's R65, but it is faultless. However, I do hope they take my advice and serve the ice cream on the side rather than on top; when it starts melting, as delicious as the ice cream is, it dilutes the intense chocolate gooeyness, which simply isn't on.
The ultimate test of a restaurant - and our winelands are so full of good restaurants now, it's an important one - is whether I'd go back. The answer: in a heartbeat. The menu is fantastically original, the size options make all sorts of sense, and the ability to sample flights of wine at such reasonable prices is always alluring.
I already have my eyes set on the sugar-cured Franschhoek trout and pineapple carpaccio dressed with mustard and dill (R55/R100); fresh white fish and braised fennel bulb cooked in paper with passion fruit butter (R60/R110); and delicately spiced tartare of Chalmar beef with Malmesbury sour cream (R60/R110).
Ranking the Analysts 2009
Address: Simonsig, Kromme, Rhee Road, near Koelenhof
