Kloof Street has become known as the street in Cape Town with the most restaurants, at around 35 at the last count.   A number of the restaurants are fast-food, many are coffee shops open at day-time only, and few open for dinner.  Manna Epicure caters for hungry Capetonians looking for a friendly eating venue with unusual dishes at a reasonable price.

Agnes and Jonny (Johannes) van der Westhuizen are the fourth owners of Manna Epicure, it having achieved cult status when it opened in  2008, its coconut bread being an absolute hot.  The first owners were Jacques Erasmus, who looked after the baking side of things in particular, with co-owner Maranda Engelbrecht.  The partnership broke up, Jacques opening his heavenly Hemelhuijs in the city centre, and Maranda becoming a consultant chef to Babylonstoren. A short-term operator left soon after taking over, and then Betsie van der Merwe took over as owner, passionate, enthusiastic, and always visible to her customers.  All of a sudden she left, having sold the restaurant to Agnes and Jonny about a year ago.  The Van der Westhuizens met in London, according to the restaurant website,  and Agnes bravely followed her man to South Africa, and to Citrusdal in particular, where he grew up, and there they owned Die Sitrus restaurant.  Jonny is the chef, and Agnes does marketing, staff, and the rest.  Both owners are very low-key in their restaurant.  I have never met Jonny, and Agnes two or three times, one not knowing when she is there as her office is downstairs.  When they lived in Citrusdal, the couple stayed at our Whale Cottage Camps Bay on occasion.  As the restaurant is a daytime establishment, in my perception from the length of time that I have known it, Agnes invited me to try out a dinner, which has its own menu, very different to their daytime all-day breakfast (they still offer the coconut bread, and my favorite is ordering it with avocado and scrambled eggs) and lunch menu, as well as unusual delicious cakes, a rarity to find in Cape Town.

The restaurant is painted white, even the wooden floorboards, with sparse decor, with one painting on one wall, and a ‘chandelier’ made of sticks and crystals.  I remember the lovely tea cup and saucer as well as cutlery chandeliers when Manna Epicure first opened.  One passes the cake table as one enters, and the cake decorating by the talented Pastry Chef can be seen from the open plan counter.  Nothing much about the decor has changed in the past year, except that it feels sparser.   A new addition is a group of hanging plants.  I prefer to sit outside in the daytime, but it was too cold for that last night. The most visible change created by the new owners is the very prominent modern branding outside.   A surprise was seeing good quality white table cloths for the dinner service, and a runner with the names of South African cities, including Cape Town. Material serviettes are offered. Small bowls of salt and pepper are on the table, with a small glass candle holder, and Mount Ceder extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar were brought to the table with the rye bread and butter, a nice touch that one has the choice.  The bread knife doubles up a an eating knife, not ideal for the bread with a pointed tip and serrated. One size of wine glass is on the table, and seemed a little small for red wine.  Music is lounge, at times too loud during the day, and only really audible when most of the other patrons had left.

Neville looked after us, handing us the impressive menu boards, in black on hard board, full of categories of choices of starters and main courses.  We had to ask Neville what the main course sub-divisions of Slow Food (a mix of fish, beef schnitzel, chicken breast, and Chateaubriand), On the Bone (lamb, pork, and beef ribs as well as T-bone steak), and The Braai (burgers and steaks prepared on a braai style cooker we were told) were.  My friend Bettie chose an interesting sounding Argentinian steak tartare (the Argentinian menu connection is not explained on the website), which Neville prepared for her at the table.  On a wooden board was a slice of Melba toast, with containers of egg yolk, red onion, finely chopped steak, and chimichurri (very good value at R75).  I have never tasted chimichurri sauce, an Argentinian condiment similar to pesto, made with parsley, garlic, and olive oil, and it gave a fresh taste to the steak tartare, topped with the egg yolk.  The table preparation reminded us of old-time dining.  I ordered a Moyo verde prawn nachos starter, which was a not-very-crunchy nachos cup with avocado, topped with prawns in a chimichurri sauce, with a corn chip topping, expensive at R110 I felt, especially for a starter.  Other starter options include an interesting and unusual selection of oysters, pan roasted skilpaadjie (served with chimichurri sauce too, at R65), cheese croquettes with green fig preserve (R70), braised ‘skaap stertjies‘ served with gaucho spices (R65), whole baked camembert (R80 for two persons), and a Manna platter of parma ham, droëwors, biltong, cheeses, and breads (R135 for two to share).  Every plate has a balsamic vinegar squiggle (not my favourite, especially for breakfast dishes), and most have pea shoot garnish (a favourite).

The main course choice was difficult, although Bettie decided on the pan-roasted fish of the day (R125), which was farmed cob, beautifully presented with a crown of lemon, and a smear of carrot, which she raved about. I selected beautiful tasting biltong-spiced slow roasted lamb rib (R145), simply presented on a wooden board, which comes with ‘crackling’ and onion rings, Neville forgot to tell me, so we ordered a side of buchu carrots and a gem squash with corn kernels and melted cheese, sides costing about R20 each.  I ordered a mushroom sauce, but did not finish it, it being dominated by truffle oil. The mains took a while to come to the table, but then the restaurant was full, which surprised us for a Sunday evening.  In the Slow Food section pasta is offered at R95, beef schnitzel at R80,  pan roasted free-range chicken at R90, moules marinière at R115, and Chateaubriand costs R 325 for two.  In the ribs section, 750 g of Côte de Boeuf costs R350 for two to share, and is cut off the bone at the table. Other rib dishes range from R110 – R150.  Steaks cost around R130, and burgers R70.

The dessert list is on a separate (white) menu board, and again a variety of options is offered. Bettie’s choice was crème brûlee, her favourite, and she loved the crispy large biscotti topped with a strawberry, served with it.  I chose a layered coffee and hazelnut parfait, which had a berry base, hard set chocolate topping, and on top of that pistachio and vanilla ice cream, a decadent ending to the meal. The desserts cost around R45, and other options include éclair au chocolat, fruit salad, panna cotta with berry coulis (which they brought to the table in error instead of the parfait, but rectified quickly), banana split, and a slice of cake from their daily selection.  The dry cappuccino was perfectly made, but then I have been there often enough!

The winelist presentation has a very different feel to the more modern looking menus, in a branded white leather cover, almost giving one the feel that it dates back to the previous owners. No vintage information is supplied.  Bettie had a glass of the Manna Epicure house red, a steal at R30/R120 for the undefined 2013 blend from Kaapzicht, while I had a glass of Cathy Marshall Amatra Merlot 2012 (R56/R225).  Sparkling wines offered range from R195 (Miss Molly Cap Classic) to R 4220 for Billecart Salmon Cuvée Elisabeth Billecart Rosé 2000.

In the winelist we saw a dinner special advertised at R90 for two courses and R125 for three courses, if one eats between 17h00 – 19h00, which is extremely good value.  The menu items for the special come from the dinner menu.

I was surprised at the transformation of Manna Epicure as a dinner venue, and the extensive interesting and unusual French/South African/Argentinian menu which is offered, clearly filling a need for locals and tourists (there were two German-speaking tables close to us).  Service could be snappier, but Neville did tell us when the main courses were five minutes from being served.  Unforgivable was the stretching in front of us to lay the fork on the left, from the right.  His colleague-with-the-hat seemed flippant when I asked him to explain the Moyo starter, and asked for a bigger glass of water. I missed the excellent service of Arno, the Restaurant Manager, but he appears to work morning shifts on weekends.  It is hard to judge what an extensive menu awaits one for dinner, on the basis of the daytime menu.  It would be nice to see more of the owners.

POSTSCRIPT 2/10: Today I met with Agnes and Jonny, to get to know them, to ask some questions, and to take some better daytime interior photographs.  My first question was about the Argentinian link to Manna Epicure, already offering an interesting mix of French and rustic proudly-South African dishes. Johnny worked in Dubai at Jumeirah, and was the Food & Beverage Manager of its Latin American La Parilla restaurant, which served steak, lobster, and fish, with the distinctive  chimichurri sauce, made with parsley, garlic, olive oil, red vinegar, and oregano. He learnt there that the Argentinians serve their meat ‘naturally’, only adding chimichurri sauce, or with moyo verde, using coriander instead of parsley.  Jonny has developed a special spice mix which is rubbed onto their Chalmar beef.  Their meat hangs for another 4 – 6 weeks once it is delivered.  Jonny loves nothing more than to work in other restaurant kitchens when he has time off, and so has spent time at The Pot Luck Club, The Test Kitchen, The Mount Nelson Hotel, and the former Constantia Uitsig.  I was asked to correct the perception that had been created by Betsie van der Merwe that she had been a previous owner, which is not correct, making Agnes and Jonny the third owners of the restaurant.  We talked bread, and their pecan and raisin bread is by far the most popular. Agnes explained the ‘Slow Food‘ section on their menu, being made from ingredients which are local, seasonal, and home-made.  She also told me that the winelist is new. Their ciabatta, rye bread, wheat-free bread, and coconut bread are sold in loaves, as well as used by slice in their breakfast dishes.  While Jonny and Agnes are no longer a couple, they remain business partners, and have plans for new restaurant openings.

Manna Epicure, 151 Kloof Street, Tamboerskloof, Cape Town.  Tel (021) 426-2413. www.mannaepicure.com  Twitter: @MannaEpicure  Monday – Sunday, Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com   Twitter:@WhaleCottage  Facebook:  click here