February 2025
I ate at ‘De Grendel Wine Estate and Restaurant’ during my month-long trip to Cape Town and Stellenbosch.. The wine estate is about 20 km from Cape Town in the direction of Paarl, another wine region. Booking in advance is essential as the restaurant is popular for its excellent food and views.
Founded in 1720, the farm is one of the oldest in the Cape and the first vines were planted in 2000.
From the vineyard one can enjoy the sunset and the view of Table Mountain.
The restaurant offers a 2-course and a 3-course menu. My company and I opted for the 3-course menu and were able to choose from a starter, a main course and a dessert.
The breads left nothing to be desired.
A tartelette with caviar was served as an amuse bouche.
Pork belly, tender stem, Korean barbeque, mustard, pickled cucumber
Wonderful! I love the fatty taste of pork belly!
It was paired with the Chardonnay wine ‘De Grendel Op Die Berg’ 2024.
Lamb rack, fine beans, bacon, almonds, vine tomatoes, black garlic, onion, mint, carrot and orange puree, red wine juice
Another perfect course! It was accompanied by the top wine from the De Grendel estate, the ‘De Grendel Rubayat’ from 2019. It’s a Bordeaux-style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Merlot and Cabernet Franc grapes. I was so impressed that I bought the wine to take with me.
For dessert, I opted for the passion fruit dome, Dulcey swiss roll, hazelnuts, thyme crumble, tonka bean ice cream. It was accompanied by the dessert wine ‘De Grendel Noble Late Harvest’ from 2024.
The meal and the wines were excellent and all for a total of CHF 50 (EUR 52, USD 56)! An excellent price/performance ratio!
Before leaving, we inspected the storage room for the many barrels in the wine cellar, which opened in 2004.
