Acclaimed Werf Restaurant Launched in South Africa's Gastronomic Heartland

  • May 20, 2015
Acclaimed Werf Restaurant Launched in South Africa's Gastronomic Heartland
With farming at its core and already renowned for its award-winning wines, a series of carefully curated food, wine and activity options have been introduced for the enjoyment of both day visitors and guests staying in the farm cottages.

Located in the 330 year old Werf, the sensitively renovated farmyard comprising The Manor House and a series of gabled outhouses, is the newly opened and much anticipated Werf Restaurant. Housed in the original wine cellar and former dairy it offers a fresh modern take on country-style cuisine using farm grown, local and ethically-sourced ingredients. Under the direction of the acclaimed Executive Chef Christiaan Campbell, a strong advocator of a farm to table ethos, its open-kitchen concept provides a visual experience that is complemented by a menu inspired by the seasons.

“For lunch time dining, I wanted a hustling, bustling country kitchen type of restaurant that concentrates on a seasonally driven menu using as many as possible of our own veggies, herbs, fruit and pasture reared beef from the Angus cattle on the Farm, and green list approved fish,” says Campbell. “Dinner will be a slightly more formal experience, but even then never stiff and uptight, and always celebrating the bounty of the farm with respect and passion.”

The Werf Restaurant had been given South Africa's Heritage Council's go ahead for a very necessary facelift. In collaboration with local architect Philip Briel and Spanish Interior Designer Lazaro Rosa-Violan a glass conservatory has been added to bring light into the space and provide views overlooking the gardens and onto the peaks of the Groot Drakenstein Mountains beyond.

For a café style menu, visitors may prefer the Farm Shop and Deli sited in the former Wagon House where tables spill out into the open, shaded by the grand oak trees that line the Werf. Freshly baked breads, artisanal jams and oils, charcuterie and homemade organic beef burgers along with farm grown fruit and vegetables can all be enjoyed here. For those staying on the Farm, these can be collected in a basket to be enjoyed on the veranda of their cottage.

The immensely popular Le Pique Nique at Boschendal also sees a new menu that highlights the local fare. Wicker baskets are filled with freshly prepared trout rillettes, grilled vegetable terrines, patés, farm breads, salads and homemade desserts to be enjoyed on a blanket under the trees or on tables scattered across the lawns, with a bottle or two of Boschendal wines.

Horse riding and carriage rides in a two person cart drawn by a Percheron draft horse have also been added. Those staying in one of Boschendal's cottages have further exclusive access to the farm. The mountain slopes offer 34km of mountain-biking trails and 12km of scenic hiking trails. There is also a Spa, swimming in the cottage pools, or guests can cool off in a farm dam and try their hand at trout fishing.

Visit website: www.boschendal.com