{"id":12882,"date":"2010-10-10T09:16:41","date_gmt":"2010-10-10T07:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=12882"},"modified":"2010-10-10T15:15:29","modified_gmt":"2010-10-10T13:15:29","slug":"restaurant-review-buitenverwachting-is-beyond-expectation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/restaurant-review-buitenverwachting-is-beyond-expectation\/","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant review : Buitenverwachting is beyond expectation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I have not been to Buitenverwachting for so many years, that I cannot remember when last I had been there.\u00a0 The wine estate has become over-shadowed by its neighbours in the\u00a0Constantia valley, and seems to have become hidden as a Cape Town restaurant destination in the past few years.\u00a0 By appointing Sandy Bailey as a PR consultant, this is about to change, and resulted in her extending an invitation to food and wine bloggers and to journalists (including the lovely Jos Baker, Angela Lloyd, John and Lynne Ford, Cathy Marston, Maggie Mostert and Hennie Coetzee) to join her\u00a0and delightful soft-spoken winemaker Brad Paton and his wife Wendy\u00a0to enjoy the newly launched\u00a0Sunday lunch\u00a0buffet\u00a0last week.<\/p>\n

Buitenverwachting was originally part of the Constantia wine farm, belonging to Simon van der Stel.\u00a0\u00a0 In 1773 it was sold to Cornelus Brink, who named it Nova Constantia, writes WINE <\/strong>magazine.\u00a0 In 1794 Arend Brink bought the farm and called it Buitenverwachting (beyond expectation).\u00a0\u00a0 Buitenverwachting is now owned\u00a0by German citizen\u00a0Richard M\u00c3\u00bcller,\u00a0whose son Lars Maack has been running the estate locally for the past\u00a0few years, and personally handles the international marketing of the wines, especially focused on Germany.\u00a0 The drive to the wine estate makes one feel that one is leaving the busy city and escaping to the countryside, a beautiful tree-lined lane taking one to the estate, and then one has to drive slowly past vineyards and\u00a0lawns with grazing sheep, to get to the restaurant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The chef is Austrian Edgar Osojnik, who came to Buitenverwachting from Grande Roche.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A six-month stint at Bosman’s culminated in a\u00a0farewell party for Osojnik, and it was at this party that he met his future wife, and he decided to stay in South Africa.\u00a0 In 2003 Osojnik was recognised as the Top Chef of the Eat Out<\/strong>\u00a0Top 10 Restaurant Awards for Buitenverwachting.\u00a0 Chef Edgar offers a fine dining menu for dinners, and a lighter Courtyard menu for lunches.\u00a0 He is also offering a special Asparagus menu, which costs R260 for three courses, including a glass of wine, until the end of November.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On Sundays the buffet lunch is set up inside the restaurant, and was a most generous\u00a0selection of starters, mains and desserts, with a cheese plate to\u00a0follow, at R240 (half price for children under 12 years).\u00a0\u00a0 I do not recall seeing so many starter dishes for a buffet before, most unique and special, and not\u00a0just a variation of salads which one experiences so often.\u00a0\u00a0The presentation of the starters and desserts attracted attention.\u00a0 For example, the sushi looked like little gift parcels, as Osojnik created square sushi\u00a0slices with colourful ingredients such as avocado, rice, and salmon, with a black “tie”.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The starters included Vitello Tonnato, Vegetable-goats feta tian with rucola, Cauliflower-broccoli Royale with Dukkah Chicken Breast, Prawn espuma, smoked Norwegian salmon buttermilk terrine, Bobotie in a ramekin, Duck liver parfait set on caramelized apple, smoked fish, roasted asparagus with Parma-style ham, tomato-mozzarella, Melon with smoked Kudu, Potato salad, Roast Beef filled with French salad, and Caesar salad with white anchovies.\u00a0 Mains are a traditional buffet, with a selection of leg of lamb, Chalmar rib-eye steak, veal breast, roast pork belly, linefish of the day and chicken curry.\u00a0 Potatoes are served roasted and Dauphinoise, there is basmati rice, a choice of five vegetables, and five sauces are served with the main course. Desserts and cakes included Sacher Torte, Schwarzw\u00c3\u00a4lder Torte, Gugelhupf, Kardinal Schnitte, Chocolate Mousse, Yoghurt Cr\u00c3\u00a8me Catalan, fruit salad with Marsala Zabaglione, Vanilla Pannacotta with fresh strawberries, as well as a cheese platter.<\/p>\n

Brad has been the winemaker at Buitenverwachting for the past six years, and his colleague, cellarmaster Hermann Kirschbaum, has been at the wine estate for the past 18 years.\u00a0\u00a0Brad worked at Chamonix in Franschhoek with Gottfried Mocke before studying winemaking at Geisenheim in Germany and worked there too, for a total of nine years, now speaking perfect German.\u00a0 He is grateful for his German language skills, as they receive many German visitors\u00a0at the estate.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0One gets the feeling that not only is the wine estate steeped in tradition and history, but its staff are loyal, and that consistency in all respects is the success factor at Buitenverwachting.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Brad told me that the recession is hitting wine farms, and the newer small independent operators appear hardest hit, many not being able to pay for their bottles to get their wines sold.\u00a0 He feels that prices of the newer wine estates are too high.\u00a0 Sales to restaurants have been badly hit, he said, as BYO is seeing a growth due to excessive prices of wines in restaurants.\u00a0\u00a0 He also felt that Constantia restaurants should be more “Proudly-Constantia”, in\u00a0stocking brands from the Constantia wine estates.\u00a0 Buitenverwachting has recently appointed Meridian for its distribution.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I was surprised to hear how reasonable the Buitenverwachting wine prices are, with\u00a0entry level Buiten Blanc costing R45, and the Merifort (a lovely smoky Bordeaux Blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec, and Petit Verdot) costing a mere R55.\u00a0\u00a0 The other stalwart wines in the Buitenverwachting range are Blanc de Noir, Chardonnay, Rhine Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Christine, and Merlot.\u00a0 Brad and his colleagues are making “out of the box” wines too:<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Intensity: 85 % Sauvignon Blanc and 15 % Semillon<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Trinity: Riesling, a Chenin Blanc and Viognier blend<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0 Rough Diamond: 60 % Petit Verdot and 40 % Malbec<\/p>\n

Going back to Buitenverwachting after so many years was a reminder of the talent of Chef Edgar and his restaurant team, as well as of the quality of the estate’s wines.\u00a0 I plan to return to try the Asparagus menu.\u00a0\u00a0 I am a new convert of the Buitenverwachting Merifort, even though I am a dedicated Shiraz drinker.<\/p>\n

Buitenverwachting<\/strong>, Klein Constantia Road, Constantia,\u00a0www.buitenverwachting.com<\/a>.\u00a0Tel (021) 794-3522.\u00a0 Monday – Saturday lunch and dinner, Sunday Buffet lunch.\u00a0Corkage R55.<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/a>\u00a0Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have not been to Buitenverwachting for so many years, that I cannot remember when last I had been there.\u00a0 The wine estate has become over-shadowed by its neighbours in the\u00a0Constantia valley, and seems to have become hidden as a Cape Town restaurant destination in the past few years.\u00a0 By appointing Sandy Bailey as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,20,21,19],"tags":[7790,7797,7802,7784,7812,7811,7792,7809,402,425,32366,2791,1386,421,2881,32378,7814,3803,7785,7818,7539,2679,7801,4796,7870,7806,144,7713,7805,7815,7800,7791,7789,7799,7712,7804,7810,883,7796,7788,7803,727,7786,3625,13,7813,7798,7817,7787,422,7794,7793,7486,7808,7816,7311,32373,4473],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t