Warwick 3 Cape Ladies | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

The Pepper Club on the Beach was a safe refuge on a night that a black southeaster swept through Camps Bay, keeping potential restaurant patrons at home. Whilst its name makes one think of summer specifically, its menu is suitable for all seasons, as it has one of the most extensive menus, challenging Tuscany Beach further down the road on number of menu items!

The Pepper Club on the Beach was called Summerville before it went into liquidation, and was taken over by the owners of The Promenade in Camps Bay. The Solomon Brothers are not the favourite landlords in Cape Town, but they have money, and they invest heavily in the projects they take on. When they built the Pepper Club Hotel in the center of town, on the corners of Pepper, Long, Loop and Bloem Streets, they came up with a novel idea of bringing their hotel guests to Camps Bay, by renaming Summerville as Pepper Club on the Beach, offering the Pepper Club hotel guests a free transfer to Camps Bay in the hotel’s Rolls Royce Phantom, and usage of deck chairs, beach towels and a shower facility, in the hope that they will eat at the Camps Bay restaurant. The manager was honest in telling us that the Pepper Club Hotel guests are still slow in making the journey to the beach in Camps Bay, given the weather, and that the hotel only opened in April.

As the owner of a guest house in Camps Bay, I received a voucher to try out the restaurant a few months ago. Somehow I never got to go. A call from the General Manager of Pepper Club on the Beach, Gavin Lockitch, inviting me to try the restaurant, was the call to action which my colleague and I needed to get us to try out the restaurant. Our “welcome” outside the blustery entrance to the restaurant was odd, in that the hostess would not let us inside until we told her our name. We could see that only one other table was occupied, so that availability of tables, or matching our booking with that on a list, would have been simple. She did not appreciate my feedback in this regard.

The restaurant is large, probably seating 100 – 150 persons, so it needs lots of guests to make it buzz. With three tables filled in total during the evening, this was difficult, although the Buena Vista Social Club CD playing initially helped “fill” the space. In some sections of the restaurant the tables are further apart, which makes it feel even bigger. A private smoking dining room can seat up to 20 persons. The colour scheme is neutral, with white and beige. Nothing stands out decor wise, but many tiny downlighters give the restaurant a sophisticated touch. The chairs are comfortable. The only splash of colour is the collection of red menus. The deck outside the restaurant has new furniture, and new heaters will make it comfortable to sit outside on cooler evenings.

We met two Managers, one newer, and the other, Lynn, had been at Summerville. Ten of the Summerville staff are at Pepper Club. We had the feeling that we were almost “over serviced”, there being more staff on duty than patrons in the restaurant. The Austrian chef Reinhard Schwaihofer came to visit our table, to tell us about his favourite dishes on the menu, a welcome touch. Reinhard was previously at Summerville, and has worked at Zerbans, Fancourt and the Paternoster Lodge, amongst others, in his 20 years in this country. Carsten Kocke was the Executive Chef previously, and was a Michelin-starred chef. It was surprising to receive an e-mail from him recently, requesting that his past connection to the Pepper Club be removed from the www.campsbayinfo.com/blog. No one wanted to tell us why the chef had left after such a short time at the Pepper Club.

Our waiter offered us a drink while we paged through the big red plastic menus and winelist, branded on the outside but difficult to read, and therefore difficult to differentiate between the two documents. The menu contains a vast choice, and contains many of the Summerville items, to which has been added burgers, sandwiches, and other light meals which are served outside of lunch and dinner times. Starters are expensive, in ranging from R 64 for Calamari to a Lobster avacado cocktail at R 105. Five salads are offered, including a Prawn and Avocado salad at R 89. Steaks range from R 120 for a 200g ladies’ fillet to R 150 for a 300 g beef fillet, and they are served with a choice of two side orders, including chips, salad, mushrooms, and mash. Four sauces can be ordered additionally, each costing R 25. Other interesting dishes are the Cape Malay lamb curry (R 130), Trio of game (R 165), 13 fish dishes (the cheapest seafood platter for one costs R265), and six pasta dishes start from R 70, five pasta types available for each dish. Close to 30 sushi options are available as well.

Once we placed our order, we received European style rolls with cumin seed, served with the most attractively presented garlic butter, herb butter and paprika butter. My Avocado Ritz (R79), a favourite, was excellent, with the avocado taken out of the skin, and the three prawns thick and juicy. I could only fault the over-decoration of the plate with bits of lettuce, paprika and tomato. My colleague was very happy with her grilled calamari starter (R64). For the main course I enjoyed veal cutlet (R130), looking and tasting as if it came straight off the “braai”, absolutely tender, placed on top of the best mash I have ever eaten, as well as three asparagus spears. My colleague’s herb-crusted ostrich steak (R148) was too large (250g) for her to finish. The portions are generous, and so too was the Apfelstrudel (R55), which Chef Reinhard recommended as his speciality. It was served warm, with well-cooked apple and large raisins, “oven fresh” the Austrian way, said Chef Reinhard. A very generous portion of real fresh cream came with the dessert.

The winelist is even more extensive than the menu, running to ten pages, a page per variety. Laurent Perrier is the most pricy of the three champagne brands stocked, at R1490, and Pongracz Desidirius the most expensive of the four sparkling wines, at R395 – however, the standard Pongracz costs R169. Sauvignon Blanc wines feature most prominently on the list, including Southern Right (R149), Neil Ellis Groenkloof (R158), Steenberg (R167), and Iona (R198). Twelve wines-by-the-glass are offered, and the reds include L’Omarins Terra Del Capo Sangiovese (R38), Warwick 3 Cape Ladies (R58), and Porcupine Ridge (R32). The Ridgeback Shiraz, one of the two shirazes which can be ordered by the glass, was out of stock, but the waiter brought an Asara with the same vintage in its place, a commendable gesture. Corkage is R25 for the first bottle, and R40 thereafter.

My colleague and I were most pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed our dinner, and would return and recommend it to our guest house guests. One would hope that it would fill up, to give the large restaurant more of a buzz and a vibe,

Pepper Club on the Beach, The Promenade, Victoria Road, Camps Bay. Tel 021 438-3174. www.pepperclubonthebeach.co.za. (only the menu is available)

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

Hidden in the suburb of Paradyskloof (meaning “valley of paradise”) outside Stellenbosch, opposite the Stellenbosch Golf Course and on the road to the Vriesenhof wine estate, is Majeka House, a 5-star Boutique Hotel, with a top class French-style restaurant, a cuisine paradise, blessed with a creative young chef Anri Diener.

Co-owner Karine Dequeker is French, having studied at the Lausanne Hotel School, and worked at the Grand Roche Hotel, Lanzerac Hotel and Table Bay Hotel as Banqueting Manager, and it is her heritage that comes to the fore in the French-style menu of the Restaurant at Majeka House. Her husband Lloyd van der Merwe comes from the corporate hotel route, having worked at Protea Hotels and Holiday Inn, and at SETA, the hotel industry training body, before he became a training consultant. Majeka House previously was the private home of Karine’s father, and she and her husband set about a redesign of the property, spread over three erfs, to make it an 18-bedroom Hotel, opening 18 months ago. The property is spacious, and the bedrooms, swimming pool, parking area and restaurant all are generously sized. One would not know about the restaurant if one drove past the Hotel, as it is not separately branded nor visible. The Majeka name comes from the first two letters of the names of three of the owners of the property.

The invitation to review the Restaurant at Majeka House came from the Van der Merwes, who read this blog regularly, and from my son, who is one of the managers of the Hotel. I accepted the invitation, with their understanding that the review would be written objectively and critically, as always.

An interesting introduction to the Majeka House restaurant is the arrival of an amuse bouche in one’s bedroom at 18h00, whether one eats at the restaurant that night or not. I received a salmon roll and a butter pan-fried prawn on greens, a lovely way to make one look forward to dinner.

The Majeka House restaurant can seat about 30 diners, and leads to the bar and library. It has a large fireplace, with two interesting paintings by Vicky Sander on each side of it. The dominant wall has trendy wallpaper in gold and black, the curtains are silk-style in a golden/cream colour, the chairs are suede-style, with Persian carpets scattered on the wooden floor. Chandeliers add the French touch. The staff uniforms are Africa-inspired, in blue and cream, perhaps a contradiction to the French feel. The dark wood tables have a cloth over the centre, set with fine glasses and cutlery. What was unusual was the homely touch of a massive serviette in a serviette ring, lying at an angle across the diner’s eating area, as opposed to the left, or on the side plate, as is the norm. The fresh rose from the garden and a flower-inspired candle holder rounded off the table decor. Most of the crockery used is from Wonkiware, which adds a design touch to the dishes presented, the chef being minimalist as far as garnishing goes.

Music-wise a piano can be seen, but luckily there is no pianist tickling the keys (the Mount Nelson Cape Colony’s pianist does not stop playing, and it became irritating eventually). I found the French-style rock music too loud and too heavy, and was delighted when Hotel Costes was eventually played.

The Tasting Menu’s four courses are listed from 1 – 4 in French, reinforcing the French style of the restaurant. One has a choice of two dishes per course, and it costs R250, or R400 with a wine paired with each course. The lovely waitress Phelisa brought an unusual glass plate with what looked like a tablet – a small round white ‘something’ with the word WOW on it. She poured warm water over it, and it rose and expanded immediately, to become a cloth with which one can wipe one’s hands before starting to eat. I had never seen this before, and it was a nice unusual touch. Warm bread was served with butter.

The menu is not branded, and the items are printed on a patterned sheet of cream paper presented on a brown leather menu holder (as are the winelist and the a la carte menu), in quite small type, making it difficult to read, especially the wine that is paired with each dish, as it is in an even smaller type size.

I started with Chicken liver parfait, very creamy and soft, served with melba toast on a port jelly, its sweetness an interesting contrast to the parfait. The alternative was a Potato veloute, with fennel and smoked salmon fritters. I chose to drink a glass of Tamboerskloof Syrah 2006 with the first three courses, although I could have had a different wine with each course. The second course was a beautifully presented Mushroom risotto served on butternut puree, with a crisp parmesan wheel. The mushrooms were minute and delicate, the risotto perfect, and the food colours on the plate necessitated minimal garnishing. The alternative option was Pan-fried quail with a crayfish and saffron sauce with fresh gooseberries, a most interesting sounding combination.

The Beef fillet was a touch too close to the rare side, rather than the medium rare that I had ordered for the third course, served on celeriac puree, with oven roasted shallots and port jus. This made it difficult to cut the steak slices with the non-serrated knife provided. The alternative choice was a Buttered Kabeljou, served with a mussel and oyster mushroom ragout and Parisienne gnocchi. The highlight of the menu was the Millefeuille of chocolate mousse, served with a rectangular-shaped flat coffee meringue and citrus fruit, absolutely yummy and a chocoholic’s dream. The alternative Pear crumble with vanilla creme never stood a chance as a dessert choice. As if the four courses and the amuse bouche were not enough of a delight already, a plate with a homemade marshmallow, coffee meringue and truffle was presented with the perfectly made cappuccino.

The a la carte menu offers five options per course. Starters start at R50 (Tomato tarte tatin), and include Pan-fried scallops (R65), Tempura prawn salad (R65) and De-boned quail (R90). Main course prices peak at R180 for Seared Springbok loin, but Beef fillet (R140), Lamb cutlets (R150), Spinach ravioli (R95), and Poached linefish served with a lobster broth (R100) are also offered. For dessert Creme Brulee, Hibiscus granite and a trio of sorbets cost around R50, and a soft-centered mini chocolate cake and a cheese selection cost R80.

Chef Anri is a protege of Etienne Bonthuys of ex-Tokara, having worked for him for more than five years. She helped open the Delaire restaurant in chef Christian Campbell’s kitchen, and felt that Majeka House offered her an exciting challenge, in making the switch. She has the most exciting prospect of working at the Michelin 3-star restaurant L’Esperance in Saint-Pere-sous-Vezelay in Burgundy for two months. The Van der Merwes have developed an exchange programme with the restaurant, having welcomed its Senior Sous Chef at Majeka House earlier this year.

The winelist presents a good selection of wines predominantly from the Stellenbosch region, and one imported champagne (Pol Roger Brut at R760). Each wine is described briefly and commendably vintages are provided. Wines-by-the-glass are between 2 – 5 years old, and very reasonably priced (R26 for Dalla Cia Chardonnay, R20 for Villiera Chenin Blanc, R24 for Dalla Cia Sauvignon Blanc, R18 for Land’s End Rose, R30 for Villiera Tradition sparkling wine, R28 for Marklew Merlot, R39 for Dalla Cia Cabernet Sauvignon, R43 for Rainbow’s End Cabernet Franc, R31 for Bilton Pinotage, R34 for Tamboerskloof Shiraz, and R38 for Warwick 3 Cape Ladies blend).

The Restaurant at Majeka House is a treat, especially if one decides to spend a night of paradise in Paradyskloof at Majeka House too, and not drive back to Cape Town. The chocolate mousse is an absolute must! Not being very well-known yet, Majeka House could do well to embrace Social Media Marketing, in starting a Blog, tweeting more regularly, building the profile of Chef Anri, and perhaps consider an independent name for its restaurant.

The Restaurant at Majeka House, 26 – 32 Houtkapper Street, Paradyskloof, Stellenbosch. Tel (021) 880- 1512. www.majekahouse.co.za (Both the a la carte and the Tasting menu are listed. The Image Gallery does not have a page dedicated to the restaurant, and has few food photographs) Twitter @Majeka_House. Monday – Sunday. On the Stellenbosch Restaurant Route.

POSTSCRIPT 22/11: Following the advice in our review, Majeka House has announced that its restaurant will be called Makaron Restaurant from now onward.

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