{"id":16569,"date":"2011-02-06T10:37:59","date_gmt":"2011-02-06T08:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=16569"},"modified":"2011-02-07T01:06:56","modified_gmt":"2011-02-06T23:06:56","slug":"restaurant-review-seasons-restaurant-at-diemersfontein-functional-no-woolworths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/restaurant-news\/restaurant-review-seasons-restaurant-at-diemersfontein-functional-no-woolworths\/","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant Review: Seasons Restaurant at Diemersfontein functional, no Woolworths!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I cannot help but associate Diemersfontein with Woolworths, which creates a very high expectation.\u00a0\u00a0Max Sonnenberg first bought Diemersfontein in 1943 as a fruit farm outside Wellington, and it now is\u00a0run by his grandson David.\u00a0 Max Sonnenberg was the founder of Woolworths in 1931, and is South Africa’s leading retail outlet,\u00a0 synonymous with quality and innovation.\u00a0\u00a0 I did not find any such “Woolworths” quality at Diemersfontein and its restaurant Seasons when I had lunch there\u00a0last Sunday, on my weekend visit to the Wellington Wine Route<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

It starts when you drive in, and the entrance wall states that Diemersfontein is a ‘residential wine estate’, which seems to be more focused\u00a0on the residential side of things.\u00a0 As one drives to the restaurant, one does not see any vineyards, just dry dusty land.\u00a0\u00a0 The view from the restaurant is onto the Paarl Mountain in the far distance, and onto a very dusty and dry field below, with some horses on it, as well as a dam.\u00a0 Again, one has no sense of being on a\u00a0wine estate at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Seasons restaurant and wine tasting building is a\u00a0functional one, and the two sections are linked\u00a0by a courtyard, with shading provided, given the Wellington heat.\u00a0\u00a0 There is\u00a0no Seasons branding on the restaurant building, and if I had not seen guests eating outside, I would not have known where to go.\u00a0 I had expected the restaurant to be the old manor house, which I had visited many years ago, but that has become guest accommodation, and serves as an office for Mr Sonnenberg, I was told.\u00a0 For the quality of the wines, the Diemersfontein reputation, and the Sonnenberg ownership, I was shocked at the restaurant interior, with garden furniture inside, and a gap in one section,\u00a0with no tables at all.\u00a0\u00a0 There is no attractive reception counter, or any redeeming feature to make this restaurant look attractive, and it is purely function-driven.\u00a0 My heart sank, and I feared the worst.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I chose to sit outside, also on garden furniture, which was more appropriate.\u00a0\u00a0 Plants have been planted in old wine vats, but looked sadly neglected and probably take a beating from the south-easter and heat, and were more functional looking, to fill a vat, rather than to look attractive or to add colour to the courtyard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was ignored when I arrived, and there did not seem to be a Restaurant Manager on duty at all. I had to ask the waitress Denisia, who walked past me, if she could seat me.\u00a0 She wanted to know for how many persons the\u00a0booking was, so that she could find my booking.\u00a0 She was not interested in my name, as the number of persons booked would identify which table I should be seated at!\u00a0 My heart sank further when Denisia could not tell the surname of the chef,\u00a0and she told me immediately that he was not on duty anyway!\u00a0\u00a0 Edward Maqegu\u00a0took over from Chef Johan van Schalkwyk, who now runs The Stone Kitchen on the Dunstone Boutique Winery <\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>on the Bovlei Road in Wellington.\u00a0\u00a0 Chef Johan still does the catering for events at Diemersfontein.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Denisia redeemed herself, and was very attentive throughout the rest of my visit, and brought me a massive jug of lemon and ice water.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The tables have a good quality white table cloth with a burgundy material serviette.\u00a0 The cutlery is average, certainly not purchased from Woolworths!\u00a0\u00a0 Each table has a small Cape Herb and Spice Company salt and pepper grinder, which could have been bought at Woolworths.\u00a0 The black plastic covered menu has untidy plastic pockets\u00a0for each menu page, and an introduction promises: “Fresh local ingredients, beautifully presented”.\u00a0 The latter certainly is an overpromise.\u00a0 The menu also asks one to tell the waitress if one is rushed for time, something I have not seen before.\u00a0 The menu has\u00a0a Tapas list of ten items, which serves as the starters, Denisia said, and then lists main courses (none above R110, which is for venison)\u00a0and desserts (R35 – R40).\u00a0\u00a0 The menu has a Diemersfontein wine recommendation for every item on the menu, including\u00a0each Tapas item.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I had ordered the duck liver pat\u00e9, and it arrived soon after the order was placed, three generous triangular slices, a steal at R20.\u00a0 I had asked for it to be served with toast, but the bread arrived untoasted, and was quickly returned toasted.\u00a0 It was functionally presented on a sideplate with a sprig of parsley, not passing the ‘beautiful’ test. I took half of the pat\u00e9 home.\u00a0\u00a0 Other Tapas options\u00a0include Bobotie Wontons, salmon and asparagus, and prawn cocktail, ranging in price from R20 – R38.\u00a0 One can also order light meals such as burgers and a prego steak roll, and there is a choice of four salads.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>The kingklip (R95) was fantastic, to my surprise, just simply grilled, with no hard crust as I had experienced at Mange Tout<\/a> <\/strong>last week,\u00a0\u00a0two very generous pieces, with crushed new potatoes and a green vegetable mix of beans (slightly undercooked), broccoli and courgettes.\u00a0 Out of place, and not really adding to the ‘beauty’ of the dish, was a very dangerous-looking orange aioli made with roasted peppers and mayonnaise.\u00a0\u00a0 I was served a fish knife for it.\u00a0 Other main course choices include fillet, lamb cutlets, chicken Malay curry, prawns, and venison.\u00a0 Had I stayed for dessert, I could have ordered Cr\u00e9me Brule\u00e9, chocolate mousse, milk tart, lemon cheese cake and chocolate and pecan nut tart.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The winelist is in a similar plastic cover, and will not win any Diner’s Club Winelist awards.\u00a0 It is a very restricted winelist, and consists mainly of Diemersfontein wines and is proudly-Wellington in the choice of the rest, and the prices are exceptionally reasonable.\u00a0 What is a shame is that the Thokozani (Zulu word for ‘let’s celebrate’)\u00a0brand is not explained on the winelist, as being an empowerment project at Diemersfontein.\u00a0 Two sparkling wines are offered: Thokozani (R18\/R105) and Villiera Tradition Brut (R150).\u00a0\u00a0 The Thokozani “CVV” (a chardonnay, chenin blanc and viognier blend) costs R16\/R54.\u00a0The Thokozani Ros\u00e9\u00a0 costs R12\/R39.\u00a0 The Shiraz options are both from the estate – Diemersfontein Shiraz costs R23\/R78 and Carpe Diem R34\/R120.<\/p>\n

Seasons also serves breakfast from 8h00 – 11h00, costing R55 for Boland Eggs Benedict, and the other egg options cost less.\u00a0 A fruit platter with yoghurt and muesli seems expensive at R55.\u00a0 I would go back to Seasons Restaurant for the kingklip alone, but the restaurant is in need of a major interior and management overhaul, and must live up to its ‘beautiful’ plating promise.\u00a0 Seasons has such amazing potential, with a captive audience of home owners on the estate, and its proximity to the traffic flow in and out of Wellington.\u00a0 Given that the town is in dire need\u00a0of good quality restaurants, it is missing a golden business opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Seasons Restaurant<\/strong>, Diemersfontein, Jan van Riebeeck Drive, Wellington.\u00a0\u00a0 Tel (021) 864-5050.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 www.diemersfontein.co.za<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0(The website dedicates only one page to the restaurant, and has no photographs of the food.\u00a0 The menu is available.\u00a0 It clearly has not been updated for a while, as the Thokozani wine range is not featured in the Wine section).\u00a0\u00a0 Monday – Sunday, Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/a>\u00a0 Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I cannot help but associate Diemersfontein with Woolworths, which creates a very high expectation.\u00a0\u00a0Max Sonnenberg first bought Diemersfontein in 1943 as a fruit farm outside Wellington, and it now is\u00a0run by his grandson David.\u00a0 Max Sonnenberg was the founder of Woolworths in 1931, and is South Africa’s leading retail outlet,\u00a0 synonymous with quality and innovation.\u00a0\u00a0 […]<\/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":[124,20,363,21],"tags":[9769,9730,32378,9764,9766,9723,3265,9768,9767,9734,6241,9313,9685,6520,9763,9765,8266,9726,252,3625,1650,9727,1074,9660,9733,2837,7311,32385,9662,32373,49,171],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\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\n\t\t