{"id":17060,"date":"2011-02-19T08:56:04","date_gmt":"2011-02-19T06:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=17060"},"modified":"2011-02-19T14:38:27","modified_gmt":"2011-02-19T12:38:27","slug":"restaurant-review-paarls-proviant-kaapse-tafel-spens-is-boere-nostalgia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/restaurant-news\/restaurant-review-paarls-proviant-kaapse-tafel-spens-is-boere-nostalgia\/","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant Review: Paarl’s Proviant Kaapse Tafel & Spens is “Boere Nostalgia”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I have driven past Proviant Kaapse Tafel & Spens on Paarl’s Main Road many times, but never noticed the restaurant.\u00a0\u00a0I went to try out the restaurant this week for two reasons:\u00a0 I had read somewhere that Chef Reuben Riffel had been to eat there, and it was suggested to me when I made a comment about most Paarl restaurants, other than Bosman’s, being closed on Sunday afternoons.\u00a0 It is a flashback to the past, and was described by the co-owner as “Boere Nostalgia”.<\/p>\n

My first reaction on arriving at the Victorian style house was\u00a0one of scepticism – maybe it was the beige paintwork, which did not make the exterior look fresh or inviting to me.\u00a0\u00a0 I walked into the building, and there was no staff to welcome me.\u00a0\u00a0 On the left one\u00a0enters two sections, with names at the entrance to each:\u00a0“Tant Hetta se Spens” and “Negosiewinkel”.\u00a0 The first section has Wilson’s sweets, apricot balls and other sweets dating back to one’s childhood.\u00a0 This deli section has a display cabinet for home-made pies and their lovely farm breads (it is a surprise that one is not served a slice when eating there), which one can take home to buy.\u00a0 The menu invites one to buy from the deli, but it was very bare, as the pies and breads had not been put out in the 39\u00b0C Paarl heat.\u00a0 The second part of the shop had soaps and gift items to sell.\u00a0 Tucked away around the corner was a shelf with preserves, ginger beer, rusks, stoneground flour, and general deli items.\u00a0 Across the passage is\u00a0Uncle Tiny’s pub, set up in honour of Tiny\u00a0Neethling, who was a Springbok rugby player in the Sixties and Seventies\u00a0– his rugby jersey and other memorabilia are displayed in the tiny pub.\u00a0 One can sit outside at the back, with a lovely view onto Paarl Mountain and vineyards adjacent to the Proviant property.\u00a0\u00a0 It has a canvas roof, and it seemed exceptionally hot there, the heat being trapped underneath the canvas.\u00a0\u00a0 A fine spray mist is to be introduced, to address this problem.\u00a0 It is a space often used for stork parties, kitchen teas, small weddings and other events.\u00a0 I was offered a table inside with airconditioning, but only saw a lone table from the passage, not seeing the rest of the dining room with a massive fireplace and an ox wagon wheel light, which I saw later when\u00a0I was shown around by Chef Rob Hahn.\u00a0 The music inside reminds one of Nico Carstens, and was\u00a0from a CD called ‘Trekklavier Hits’!\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I chose to sit outside on the stoep (there are benches lower down too), at a ‘plaas’ wooden table and chairs, very old-fashioned, setting the scene for what was to come.\u00a0There are no placemats or tablecloth, and a beige material serviette had a set of pedestrian cutlery folded in it.\u00a0 A little plant in a\u00a0Lucky Star\u00a0pilchards tin dating back many years, with a little red heart, reminded one of Valentine’s Day the previous day, as did a Boland Cellar Valentine’s Day promotion, offering their wines ranging from R 55 for their Five Climates Chenin Blanc to R78 for their mouthful of a Cappupinoccinotage!\u00a0 I was ignored for a long time, after having been given the menu, a typical staff scenario of one staff member thinking another was taking care of me, it emerged.<\/p>\n

The menu holder is a cheap black plastic one, and the inside front cover states that it is sponsored by Haute Cabriere.\u00a0\u00a0Yet the page opposite had a full page advertisement for Boland Cellars, to encourage one to order their wines for Valentine’s Day, and I did not see any Haute Cabriere wines on the winelist.\u00a0\u00a0The KWV head office is close by, and its logo is\u00a0visible on a\u00a0number of the menu pages.\u00a0\u00a0 The menu introduction refers to the ‘old friends’ bobotie, vetkoek, malva pudding, rusks and ‘boeretroos’ (coffee) one would have enjoyed in “Grandma’s kitchen’, the menu says, which one can expect on the menu at Proviant.\u00a0 Breakfast is served all day, and\u00a0creative names have been chosen to describe the menu offerings, e.g. the Boland Breakfast consists of bacon, ‘skilpadjies’ (liver in ‘net vet’), sausage, minute steak, farm bread and jam, at R69; a Farmer’s Breakfast is a reduced version of this at R55.\u00a0 Bacon and eggs, and poached eggs cost R38, while scrambled eggs cost R45.\u00a0\u00a0 A number of light meals are on offer, including various burgers (R45 – R55), vetkoek and curry mince (R42), fishcakes (R45), generous home-made pies (R45), and toasted ‘samies’ (R36).\u00a0 Starters include ‘Farmer’s Caviar”, being marrow bones (R35); bobotie springrolls (R38); a trio of pat\u00e9s (R49);\u00a0and chicken liver peri peri, crumbed calamari and lamb kidneys, all three costing around R42.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Salads range in price from R35 – R48, and include ‘Kiep-Kiep’,\u00a0with roast chicken, bacon and egg; ‘Boland Bliss’, with smoked trout, avocado and feta; and ‘B&B’ with biltong, blue cheese and brandied dried fruit.\u00a0The prices of main courses hover around R100, and are mainly below this price.\u00a0 The list is extensive, and includes oxtail, Chakalaka rump, biltong cheddar rump, spicy lamb bunny chow, vegetarian bobotie, lamb shank, chicken schnitzel, fish and chips wrapped in newspaper, kudu loin, and a popular tourist “South African Plate” of bobotie, lamb curry and oxtail.\u00a0\u00a0 On the table a menu\u00a0notice promoted a Friday evening Seafood buffet, costing R120,\u00a0which includes paella, snoek pat\u00e9, curry fish, prawns peri peri, calamari,\u00a0Greek salad, and mussels, and is good value for this special offer, and Proviant generally has excellent prices.\u00a0 In winter the Friday evening special\u00a0of curries is very popular.\u00a0 On Sundays a 3-course Carvery buffet is served, at R105.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I ordered the crumbed pork chops (R85), and it was the home-made apple sauce that attracted me to this dish, sweetish but delicious.\u00a0 The plate was brought to the table by Chef Rob, and it had two chops, mash, butternut, and broccoli with a cheese sauce, all wonderful.\u00a0 With it was served a really serious steak knife.\u00a0 I had no intention of having a dessert, but when I saw the deep-fried ice cream (R25) on the menu, I had to try it.\u00a0 It was a tasty vanilla ice cream encased in phyllo pastry and fried.\u00a0\u00a0 The pastry had a chewy texture to it, and was served in a caramel sauce.\u00a0 Other “Scale Busters”, as the menu called them, are peppermint fridge tart, Malva pudding, and Van der Hum cr\u00e9me brulee, also costing an unbelievably\u00a0low R25.\u00a0\u00a0 For ‘4 o’clock tea’ muffins, scones or cake\u00a0are available, at R25.\u00a0\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was making notes when Nicky Hahn came to me, and asked if I needed help or information, which I declined.\u00a0 She seemed a bit disturbed that I was copying her menu, and I explained to her that I was writing a review.\u00a0 All of a sudden she recognised me, from the time she and her husband Rob ran Rickety Bridge’s restaurant and guest house in Franschhoek.\u00a0\u00a0Rob told me that he opened Pearl Valley’s kitchen 21 years ago, and then he was part of the team opening the Park Hyatt\u00a0in Johannesburg.\u00a0\u00a0 He was one of six selected chefs leading the team of 80 chefs cooking for Nelson Mandela’s presidential inauguration, and he proudly showed me the certificate of appreciation which he received.\u00a0 Had I not been recognised, my review would have been very different, as the poor service by the waitresses\u00a0had been\u00a0most off-putting.\u00a0 It proved to me once again how important hands-on service by the owners\/managers is.\u00a0\u00a0 Needless to say the service was perfect from this point onwards.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>Rob and Nicky Hahn\u00a0are joint owners of Proviant with Marian (Neethling) and Mark Maingard, who now live in Namibia, but are returning to Paarl shortly.\u00a0\u00a0 Marian was the original owner of Proviant.\u00a0 The very Afrikaans nature of Proviant (e.g. the Afrikaans menu section is before the English one, Afrikaans names for the room sections inside, Afrikaans-only Seafood buffet offer, the waitresses address one in Afrikaans, and Afrikaans bill) is in contrast to the English sounding Rob, but it probably means that he will ensure that they do not alienate their English-speaking customers too much.<\/p>\n

The winelist is almost proudly-Paarl.\u00a0 Wines by the glass include a dangerous sounding Masons “Klipkapper” Chenin Blanc at R18\/R60, Masons Shiraz (R20), Nederburg Ros\u00e9 (R20\/R73), Protea Chardonnay from Antonij Rupert wines in Franschhoek (R25\/R89), and KWV Cuve\u00e9 Brut (R30\/R86).\u00a0 A nostalgia moment was to see a full-page promotion encouraging one to drink KWV’s Roodeberg, which was a treasure many many years ago, only exported or available via farmers who were members of the co-operative.\u00a0 It is sold for R89.\u00a0\u00a0 Laborie’s Brut (R125) and Shiraz (R85) are also sold.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Proviant will not be to everyone’s taste, South African English-speakers possibly finding it too Afrikaans, and younger restaurant goers finding it too old-fashioned. \u00a0But it is excellent value for money, and a good plateful of food is served.\u00a0 Chef Rob\u00a0described Proviant as serving ‘honest food’, and said that it is ‘the modern day Oom Samie se Winkel’ from\u00a0Dorp Street in Stellenbosch. The bill was brought to the table in a ‘blikbeker’, demonstrating the absolute focus\u00a0on the theme.\u00a0\u00a0The nostalgia got to me when I saw\u00a0an ad for Sunrise toffees\u00a0in the menu, taking me right back to my childhood. \u00a0\u00a0Rob sent me on my way with a massive potbrood, which he described as their “small one”, given that they sell an even larger size too, and it was a demonstration of the generosity of the ‘olden days’, when visitors were sent on their way with a gift. Proviant is\u00a0now participating in the Laborie Lazy Days market on Saturdays, and sells its\u00a0farm bread there.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Proviant Kaapse Tafel & Spens<\/strong>, 54 – 56 Main Road, Paarl.\u00a0Tel (021) 863-0949.\u00a0 www.proviant.co.za<\/a>\u00a0(Website down). \u00a0Tuesdays until 17h00, Wednesdays – Fridays until ‘late’, Sundays\u00a0until 17h00.<\/p>\n

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

I have driven past Proviant Kaapse Tafel & Spens on Paarl’s Main Road many times, but never noticed the restaurant.\u00a0\u00a0I went to try out the restaurant this week for two reasons:\u00a0 I had read somewhere that Chef Reuben Riffel had been to eat there, and it was suggested to me when I made a comment […]<\/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":[124,362,20,21],"tags":[3668,6768,9972,9988,9984,143,4492,9985,9980,32378,253,9999,9978,581,9997,884,4279,1136,10002,9983,4009,9987,10024,10023,9996,399,9974,32392,9990,9993,9981,9998,32384,9765,9994,3522,9977,10001,4956,6993,9970,9971,3625,1347,583,6035,9989,9991,9975,787,32376,8053,10000,9979,9982,3592,9992,9986,9973,32373,9976],"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