{"id":17030,"date":"2011-02-15T07:28:02","date_gmt":"2011-02-15T05:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=17030"},"modified":"2011-02-16T15:53:23","modified_gmt":"2011-02-16T13:53:23","slug":"restaurant-review-cafe-benedict-a-restaurant-with-heart-and-passion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/franschhoek\/restaurant-review-cafe-benedict-a-restaurant-with-heart-and-passion\/","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant Review: Caf\u00e9 Benedict a restaurant with heart and passion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Having\u00a0had\u00a0a Valentine’s dinner on Sunday evening at Grande Provence, and having been spoilt there, I had no intention of having another dinner last night.\u00a0 However, when I saw the 5-course Valentine’s Day menu at Caf\u00e9 Benedict on Franschhoek’s main road\u00a0the day before, I decided to go there for Valentine’s Day, it being their first dinner, at a\u00a0cost of\u00a0R200, inclusive of a glass of sparkling wine by Dieu Donn\u00e9.\u00a0 Caf\u00e9 Benedict is owned by Robert Maingard – he is the landlord of the new Franschhoek Centre too, and owns\u00a0about half of the Franschhoek main road.\u00a0 Dieu Donn\u00e9 wine estate and restaurant is one of his properties.<\/p>\n

I was\u00a0impressed with\u00a0the trouble that the restaurant went to to make everything look beautiful and romantic, especially as they had not\u00a0had any advance bookings.\u00a0 But sitting outside, and being\u00a0in the same centre as the new fancy “Woolworths”-style Pick ‘n Pay, with tourists walking past looking for somewhere to eat, the restaurant had almost reached capacity an hour later, an attraction for the tourists (mainly European, and who do not make much of Valentine’s Day) in that they were allowed to order off the a la carte menu as well.<\/p>\n

I have written about Caf\u00e9\u00a0Benedict<\/a><\/span> <\/strong>before, just after it opened about six weeks ago.\u00a0 Since then, a new menu has been introduced, in A3 size, and offers an all-day breakfast, salads, sandwiches, and\u00a0“Early dinners”, served between 4 – 6 pm.\u00a0 A sweet little Valentine’s Day card was on every table, with a photograph of two children and a bunch of roses, with the following introduction: “It gives great pleasure to welcome you to the first of many dinner events.\u00a0 Please lean back, stress less, drink more, eat contently and fall in love.\u00a0 There is no greater love than that of food.\u00a0 So why not?”\u00a0 And this I did – Chef Llewellyn’s meal was a feast of passion, cleverly thought through to make the meal special, and excellent in its execution.<\/p>\n

The tables and chairs are white, and I missed a tablecloth in honour of the evening.\u00a0 Everything else was outstanding – a tall candleholder\u00a0with a candle floating in a\u00a0red liquid attracted attention to passersby, and gave every dish served a rosy glow.\u00a0\u00a0 A silver underplate with two sets of St Tropez cutlery, as well as a spoon and a fish knife, a black serviette presented with a red ribbon, and good quality glassware gave the table setting elegance.\u00a0\u00a0 Craig brought\u00a0a jug of ice water to the table, with slices of lemon, and strawberry pieces, to suit the colour of the day.\u00a0 Chef Llewellyn and the waitress both wore red tops in honour of Saint Valentine.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Craig brought\u00a0the glass of sparkling wine, and took my order for the main course, a choice of three (kingklip, steak or lasagne).\u00a0\u00a0 The Dieu Donn\u00e9 Brut Blanc de Blancs 2009 is almost sold out, and its 2008 predecessor is listed on SAA’s in-flight winelist.\u00a0\u00a0 The first course was\u00a0called a Grecian Kiss, and was a\u00a0slice of tomato, cucumber, an olive and feta presented on a toothpick\u00a0on top of a\u00a0shot glass, and Craig said I should eat it first and then\u00a0drink the homemade olive oil and strawberry balsamic\u00a0in the glass.\u00a0 Then followed a deliciously spicy smoked tomato gazpacho, with vodka and celery cr\u00e8me, perfect for the 27\u00b0C evening in Franschhoek.\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/a>I loved the lemon and basil granita, served as a palate cleanser with a beautiful long elegant spoon, and it made me feel that it was doubly refreshing, both the lemon and the basil having a wonderful fresh taste.\u00a0 My ‘linefish de provence’ (kingklip) was served with an excellent fennel and ‘champagne’ foam on warm francillion crush (French crushed potatoes)\u00a0minus the mango mousse it was meant to have as well.\"\"<\/a>\u00a0 I am not usually a fan of fennel, but it was a wonderful marriage with the kingklip.<\/p>\n

The piece de resistance, however, was the wonderful assiette of desserts, served on a two-tier high-tea style holder, with a collection of sweet treats, mainly in red, and Chef Llewellyn decorated the glass shelves of the holder to add to the Valentine’s theme, and used flower petals and raspberries\u00a0on it as well.\u00a0\u00a0 The dessert selection contained tiny pieces of rose geranium\u00a0jelly, chocolate cake,\u00a0rumbles (wonderful date, Marie biscuit and chocolate balls rolled in pink coconut flakes), fruit salad, ice cream in a dark biscuit case, and a\u00a0berry yoghurt slice with a brandy snap, which I enjoyed with an excellent\u00a0LavAzza cappuccino (R15).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One can experience some of the dishes which were on the Valentine’s menu, including the\u00a0linefish (R85), on the a la carte menu.\u00a0\u00a0 Other main courses include duck, chicken and prawn curry (both costing R85), and sirloin (R95).\u00a0\u00a0 Salads range in price from R40 – R60, and more unusual ones are Mediterranean couscous with slow roasted lamb, marinated chickpeas, and a grilled prawn and calamari salad.\u00a0\u00a0 Caf\u00e9 Benedict is not licensed yet, but will make wine available when the next door wine shop opens at the end of the month.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Chef Llewellyn is a chef to watch – he is passionate about food, and ‘his’ Caf\u00e9 Benedict, having been given\u00a0free reign by Mr Maingard in the running of the restaurant.\u00a0\u00a0 I fell in love last night –\u00a0with the food of Chef Llewellyn at Caf\u00e9 Benedict, just as he invited his diners to do in the Valentine’s message on the table. It is a shame that they close at 18h00 at the moment, but I think that the walk-in success of the Valentine’s dinner may have shown Chef Llewellyn how well he could do if they stay open later, to include dinner.\u00a0\u00a0 Caf\u00e9 Benedict\u00a0is the restaurant in Franschhoek which offers by far the best value for money.<\/p>\n

Caf\u00e9 Bendict<\/strong>, Franschhoek Centre,\u00a023 Huguenot Road, Franschhoek.\u00a0 Tel (021) 876-4404.\u00a0 Website still under construction.\u00a0 Twitter: @BenedictCafe\u00a0 Monday – Sunday.<\/p>\n

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

Having\u00a0had\u00a0a Valentine’s dinner on Sunday evening at Grande Provence, and having been spoilt there, I had no intention of having another dinner last night.\u00a0 However, when I saw the 5-course Valentine’s Day menu at Caf\u00e9 Benedict on Franschhoek’s main road\u00a0the day before, I decided to go there for Valentine’s Day, it being their first dinner, […]<\/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":[124,14,20,21],"tags":[9216,32378,250,9954,32369,9217,6749,957,252,3625,2433,759,9953,9952,1721,1587,9951,32373,171],"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