April is Royal Wedding month, and the forthcoming marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton has inspired The Square Restaurant at the Vineyard Hotel & Spa in Newlands to offer a ‘Best of British’ menu, changing every week, in the run up to the wedding on 29 April.

Currently The Square serves Welsh Rarebit, Fish Pie and Spotted Dick.  The menu changes on 11 April, and Slow Roasted Pork Belly, Braised Lamb Shank and Treacle Tart will be served.   From 18 – 24 April the ‘Best of British’ menu includes Bubble and Squeak, Beef Wellington and Poached Salmon Trout.  From 25 – 30 April The Square will serve Warm Scotch Eggs, Beer Battered Hake, and Steak, Kidney and Guinness Pudding.   The ‘Best of British’ costs R 140 for two courses and R 170 for three courses.

Alex Jenkinson is the new sous chef at The Vineyard Hotel & Spa, and he is driving the new ‘Tastes of 2011′ theme at The Square.  “Each month we will feature a different themed menu.  We devised a British menu for each week in April, building up to the royal nuptials towards the end of the month. Being half British and half South African, I really enjoyed developing the four different menus and hope this comes across in our guests’ dining experience”.  The Vineyard Hotel & Spa GM Roy Davies added: “It’s no secret that winter months are slow months in the hospitality industry.  As such, many restaurants offer ‘winter warmer’ specials, and do so with great success.  But it’s necessary to be a step ahead of the competition, so we’ve tried to be a little more creative and relevant with ‘Tastes of 2011′”.

The Vineyard Hotel & Spa is planning to run a series of themes in The Square restaurant in the next six months, including 19th century menus in August, South African menus in September, Feel Good Food menus in May, and Classical Food menus in July.

The Square Restaurant, Vineyard Hotel & Spa.  Collingwood Road, Newlands.  Tel (021) 657-4500.  www.vineyard.co.za

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