altar | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

What a refreshing surprise it was to have lunch at Johan’s at Longridge last week, which opened six months ago on the Longridge wine estate owned by Aldo van der Laan, and located off the R44 between Stellenbosch and Somerset West. While there is no Johan at Johan’s, Restaurant Manager Chris Olivier is a passionate champion for the restaurant and its vegetable garden, sharing his love for his plants as one arrives and walks through the vegetable garden to get to the front door. One cannot miss that one is on a wine estate, with the clever decor touches of restaurant co-owner Johan’s daughter Maryke.

We arrived, with Chris standing in the parking area, waiting for us. He is a bubbling mine of information, and impressed with how knowledgeable he is about vegetable gardening, and it appears that he is driving the gardening. I liked how the restaurant’s policy of using the freshest produce is visible, as there are no other plants to be seen, and the flowers used to decorate the food come from the vegetable garden as well, e.g. beautiful blue borage and minute yellow rocket flowers. In the entrance hall is a framed ceramic collection of hearts made by Michelle of Love and Lace, and she has made the restaurant’s ceramic olive oil holders, vases, side plates and small serving bowls, all sporting heart and lace effects. The dining room is open-plan to the kitchen, and Chef Marissa and her team were waiting to get cooking. The room is large, but cleverly divided into sections, with a fireplace in a lounge section near the entrance, a bar counter in the middle, a seating section containing ‘love chairs’, being two tub chairs that are connected but facing opposite directions. Closest to the windows with a beautiful view over the Stellenbosch countryside and even onto Table Mountain on a clear day, is the most amazing 20-seater yellowood top table, at a fireplace too. The red brocade-covered chairs create splashes of colour, with the white-tableclothed tables. However, what makes the interior so special is the creativity of bringing the vineyard (which one does not see at all from the restaurant) into the restaurant, Maryke having found inspiration in ‘wingerdstok’ to hang on the wall, and also making designs from the little curly ‘tentacles’ from a vine, which led to their logo, created to look like the silhouette of a figure. The restaurant has a homely feel, and one cupboard had a collection of historic stone implements found on the farm, a vase of flowers, and candied kumquats, Chris calling it the ‘altar’, which reminded me of Neil Stemmet’s approach to restaurant curation and food sharing. The tablecloths are excellent quality, and were imported from Belgium. It was a beautiful winter’s day, so we sat outside, alongside the far larger vegetable garden on the other side of the restaurant. The restaurant serves as the winetasting area too, clever in blending the two arms of the business. We sat next to a very boisterous group of American wine tasters, and were happy when they left.

Longridge was bought from Winecorp by Mr van der Laan about five years ago He is a Dutch butchery company owner, importing meat to Holland from New Zealand, Australia and the USA. He met Johan Neppelenbroek in Holland, and told him about his new Stellenbosch farm, and invited the two-star Michelin De Hoefslag restaurant chef to become a partner in the restaurant. The rest is history, and the restaurant has been named after him. However, Johan is back in Holland, and the chef is Marissa Chandansing, who is also from Holland, and worked at De Kas and the Amstel Hotel. Chris worked at Au Jardin at the Vineyard Hotel, Paul Cluver, and it was while he was working at Delaire Graff that he met Mr van der Laan. He shared a philosophy of staff upliftment, and the use of fresh and natural vegetables with his guest, and this led him to leave his job and help to open Johan’s, and setting up the extensive vegetable garden and sourcing unusual vegetables, and varieties. Some of the vegetables planted include beetroot (red, Chioggia and golden), nine types of beans (including Bizana, edemame, black beans, adzuki beans, purple beans), broad beans, carrots (purple dragon and orange), three types of onions, Turkish winter wheat, flax, three types of peas, three types of chillies, white currant, five types of brassicas, and four types of lettuce. It is clearly his pride and joy, and it was sweet to see him go the garden to bring the kitchen something they needed.

Chris said they are not chasing Eat Out Top 10 Restaurant, or World 50 Best Restaurant awards, but want to operate the restaurant in a sustainable and responsible manner. The restaurant is supporting the Medical Knowledge Institute’s work in the townships, a charity that Archbishop Desmond Tutu is also involved in, and they want to start a ‘Streetsmart’-type donation request from their diners for that charity. On the Winelist Chef Johan has written his philosophy and a welcome to the guests: “A kitchen surrounded by fertile soil where vegetables, vines, fruits and herbs thrive. Where daylight shines in from all sides and where the chefs are free to express their creativity daily using the best the season has to offer. It seems an obvious concept, but I spent thirty years in the hospitality industry and travelled ten thousand kilometers to find a place like this“, he writes.

The menu was printed on good yellow paper, and contains four starter, five main courses and four dessert options. Two courses cost R195 and 3 courses R 240, served with a glass of wine. The Tasting Menu of six smaller portions costs R400, paired with a glass of Longridge wine for each course, and is included in the price. Home-baked bread was brought to the table with aubergine puree, while we decided what to order. Chris emphasised their flexibility, and one can even order one course only, or request special vegetables from the garden. A special 2-course winter tasting lunch, with a glass of wine, costs R150. An amuse bouche of Butternut Bitterballen served on a red pepper coulis was beautifully presented, using fine blue borage flowers.

The Longridge HPG (handpicked grapes) wines made by winemaker Clinton Le Sueur are extremely well priced at R17/R63 for the White, Red and Rosé. The MCC cost R29/R145; Chenin Blanc R29/R118; Sauvignon Blanc R25/R112; Chardonnay R33/R135; Cabernet Sauvignon R38/R150; the most wonderful smoky Cabernet Franc that I fell in love with and bought three bottles of R42/R177; Shiraz R45/R181; Merlot R36/R145; and Pinotage R37/R155. Most red wines on the winelist were 2007 vintages. The tap water was served with a dash of lime, which spoilt the taste of the fresh farm water for me.

I chose the two course menu and my son the Tasting Menu, so that I could get a taste of his dishes too. His Tasting Menu started with a garden salad, served with tiger prawns and tarragon sabayon. This was paired with the Longridge White blend. It is the best garden salad I have seen, carefully made from the gems from the garden, and to which had been added finely chopped olives, celery, croutons, red pepper and pickled onions. The Celeriac and apple soup was a novel combination, and was sprinkled with chorizo, absolutely delicious. It was paired with the Longridge Sauvignon Blanc. My first course, and the third course on the Tasting menu, was Pork Belly, served with a salad of black beans prepared Asian style, which was paired with Longridge Chardonnay. The Pork belly had wonderful crispy crackling. My son’s Ravioli contained aubergine and a pinenut filling, and was served with a most beautiful beetroot crisp, adding strong colour to his dish, and to this was paired the Longridge Pinotage. Both of us had a perfectly prepared medium rare Kudu, served with sauteed mushrooms and Chinese cabbage, to which Chef Marissa had added her special gingerbread sauce (called ‘ontbytkoek’ in Holland). This course was paired with the Longridge Cabernet Franc.

With the dessert a 2008 Radford Dale dessert wine was served from a most beautiful and elegantly designed bottle, Johan’s at Longridge being the only restaurant to serve it. We chose the Chocolate Fondant with vanilla ice cream and rhubarb compote, the fondant opening to thick chocolate inside. The cappuccino was served with a meringue on the side.

I was the guest of my son for the lunch, and only heard from him in the car that Chris had comped the lunch – he and my son had been colleagues at Delaire Graff. Johan’s at Longridge is refreshingly different, with its visible focus on its vegetables, the impressive interior decor, the great view, the great talent of Chef Marissa and her team, the excellent service from Chris, and the wonderful Longridge wines, which were a revelation, the Cabernet Franc being the highlight of the wines I tried. Johan’s at Longridge is another exciting addition to the Stellenbosch Restaurant Route, and an Eat Out Top 10 Restaurant contender for 2012.

Johan’s at Longridge Restaurant and Wine Bar, Longridge Winery, Eikendal Road, off R44 between Stellenbosch and Somerset West. Tel (021) 855-2004. www.johansatlongridge.co.za (The website looks professional, with the current menu, a winelist, beautiful photographs, and even a blog). Closed Wednesdays and Thursdays, and on Sunday evenings. Open for lunch and dinner Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and for Sunday lunch.

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

I met the dynamic ‘warrelwind’ interior curator (not designer!) Neil Stemmet from KONCEPT for the first time at Decorex about two weeks ago. There he stole the show with his amazing BOS Tea House that he designed for the ice tea brand, and the stand won an award for the best Green stand. It was here that Stemmet started talking to me about his vision of the Restaurant of the Future, which he had embodied in his BOS stand design, but it was too much for me to comprehend in the busy and noisy exhibition hall, so we agreed to meet at Hemelhuijs with Sonia Cabano, highly respected chef, cookbook writer, and now Twitter fan.

Neil told me that he grew up in Upington, and Hemelhuijs owner Jacques Erasmus did too, and it was at Neil’s Le Must restaurant in Upington that Jacques cut his first chef’s teeth. Neil’s restaurant made the Style Top 10 restaurant list in 2004, unheard of that a restaurant so far from the Cape Town and Winelands could achieve this. He says that his was the first restaurant to introduce “Afrikaanse kos” in Upington. Neil started a blog called ‘Sout & Peper’, a blog solely in Afrikaans, and he is proud in documenting the recipes and stories about food preparation of up to 200 years ago, which he is transforming into a book. ‘Sout & Peper’ food preparation is based on the ‘keep it simple’ principle, a good design principle too he says, and he gives the example of Karoo lamb, which should be prepared in the local way by just popping it into the oven with salt and pepper, and one should not make a Greek lamb out of it. Neil’s book will be called “Sout en Peper”, and will be a collection of stories about the origin of South African food, and it will only be published in the ‘volkstong’ Afrikaans, being a ‘kos storieboek’. It will explain how to cook local dishes, and more than one recipe may be provided for a particular item. Neil said his book will be ‘sout en peper’ too in containing both sadness and humour. He will also include recipes from South African cookery icons from many years ago, such as Hildagonda Duckitt and Louis Leipoldt.

Neil is so avantgarde that he put up a sign on his BOS stand to say “Decor is dead”. He explained this as not being the slavish following of design trends, but rather ‘anything goes’, he said, with a focus on sustainability and heirlooms, utilising timeless classics. His mantra is “curate, not decorate”. He is somewhat of a trend setter, and therefore he recently read the work of Dutch trend forecaster Li Edelkoort, who spoke at the Design Indaba earlier this year. He was so excited that she forecast the colours purple and green as the new trend colours, and these two colours are the ones he chose for a project to be launched this evening at the new Freeworld Design Center on Waterkant Street, next door to Hemelhuijs. Green symbolises the heart chakra, he said, and stands for universal love, while purple represents the 7th chakra of spirituality. He calls these ‘heirloom colours’. Green is going back to a shade with a black tone added, as it was used 200 years ago, he said.

Neil proudly says that ‘curation’ comes from the heart and the soul, and it is not pre-planned or pre-designed to scale. It just happens. The curator trusts his/her mind, and one should not ‘theorise’ the process. There must be an ‘altar’ as the focus point the restaurant, on which the food is displayed – in the BOS Tea House this was a lit high table, and the food was presented on large platters, Neil getting the Cape Town International Convention Centre to serve food in these that he felt suitable. He became very serious when he talked about the use of purple in making an “anti-Roman Catholic/papal statement”, in retaliation to how this religious group “has raped the world for money”, his view contentious to many, no doubt. But Neil speaks his mind, and has done so for many years. Food is blessed by those eating at the ‘altar’, but it does not mean prayer necessarily, but rather is a sharing and connecting with those that one is having the meal with. Vitally important is what is served – it must be fresh, real and imperfect (in other words, it is no longer the perfectly round tomato from Woolworths, but an odd-shaped one fresh from the farm). ‘New food’ is roasts, and pies for the left-overs. Woolworths is a no-no to shop at, he says, as its products are too perfect! He told Sonia and I that he could feel a shift in energy amongst the people who ate at the BOS stand, due to his curation, which was focused on “designing a space to accommodate and enhance human life”. “Altar Music” is vital too, and he often uses film scores (e.g. from ‘The English Patient’), ‘chakra music’, or Lebanese music, as he did on the BOS Tea House stand.

I ordered the pork and chicken liver terrine with the most unusual accompaniment of orange preserve at Hemelhuijs, and Neil was very envious of my choice, saying it embodied ‘food of the future’. Neil said that the restaurants can no longer be run as currently, and he sees neighbourhood restaurants springing up, which are supplied by the residents in that neighbourhood, and supported by them too as customers. This creates a relationship with one’s social community, and waiters must know their patrons, and serve them accordingly. Neil also talks about ‘lardering”, using fruit and vegetables of this season for next season, by preserving them, and making relishes, keeping all of this in the ‘spens’. “Real’ bread will be baked at home again instead of supermarket bread being served, simple cuts of meat will be served, and gas will be used as a means of cooking to conserve electricity, and all one’s baking will be done on one day for the week ahead, to save time and energy. Consumers will become more independent in their supply, growing their own vegetables and herbs, and turning them into long-term sustenance. Restaurants will not have menus any more – the chef will decide on the day what he can prepare, given what fresh supplies he has. Clients will learn to be brave in trusting the chef in his food preparation choice, and clients will be in the kitchen inside the restaurant, with the chef, while he prepares their food.

Restaurants will have chairs, couches, or even beds in them, with music, books and children – they will no longer be elitist. Good examples of such restaurants are Pierneef à La Motte, Towerbosch (for which Neil did the interior), Babel (seven years ahead of its time, Neil says), and Hemelhuijs. The food served in such restaurants is elementary, honest and sustainable as far as possible (e.g. in New York restaurants grow vegetables on top of city skyscrapers, Dash restaurant is growing vegetables and herbs on top of the V&A Hotel roof, and Dear Me is growing its herbs in special containers hanging from its ceiling). Restaurants are no longer places at which to just eat, but also serve as a replacement of one’s office and home, a ‘connecting space for like-minded people’, our ‘home away from home’! This trend will spread to accommodation establishments too, with guest houses and hotels becoming ‘non-guest houses’ and ‘non-hotels’, making the guest feel at home but in which one’s privacy is not compromised. As customers we will become ‘excessively open’, Neil says, becoming so ‘naked’ that all can ‘see’ one, and one can say “here, this is me”!

It was the accolades and attention that his BOS stand created that led Ravi Naidoo, the organiser of the Design Indaba, to invite Neil to create a pop-up store in the very fashionable Fashion Mall of the V&A Waterfront, for an as yet unannounced project.

POSTSCRIPT 16/5: Neil Stemmet was one of four curators/designers invited to present their interpretation of “Openness to Explore” at the Freeworld Design Centre on Waterkant Street. Each designer designed a pod.

Neil Stemmet, KONCEPT, Cell 082 373 3837. www.konceptdesign.co.za

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