{"id":17214,"date":"2011-02-21T10:15:06","date_gmt":"2011-02-21T08:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=17214"},"modified":"2011-03-21T10:51:20","modified_gmt":"2011-03-21T08:51:20","slug":"restaurant-review-laborie-le-restaurant-food-surprisingly-good-service-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/wine-news\/restaurant-review-laborie-le-restaurant-food-surprisingly-good-service-not\/","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant Review: Laborie Le Restaurant food surprisingly good, service not!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It was the photograph of the prawn and pineapple tian that wine writer Edo Heyns took at Laborie Le Restaurant earlier this week, and tweeted,\u00a0that made me drive to Paarl to try Laborie Le Restaurant.\u00a0 I was surprised to find a restaurant with outstanding food, but sadly the service left much to be desired.\u00a0\u00a0I am not sure of the exact name of the restaurant – it is generally referred to as Laborie Restaurant, but the winelist and the website refer to it as ‘Laborie Le Restaurant’, as does the business card for Executive Chef Alicia Giliomee.<\/p>\n

My last visit to Laborie was a few years ago, for a family birthday lunch.\u00a0 I remember it being a set menu, and being okay, nothing spectacular.\u00a0 I’ll start at the end, which was the part that finally drove the nail in the service coffin, and that is that the property belongs to the KWV, and the restaurant is leased out to the Belgian owner\u00a0Peter Rues.\u00a0\u00a0 The security staff at the boom are contracted out, and when I wanted to exit, I had to stop at the boom and hoot, despite the security guard being able to see me driving down from the parking area, which meant that he could have opened it so that I could just drive through.\u00a0 He was incensed that I had hooted, and a war of words erupted.\u00a0 I had to call the restaurant to ask them to get the boom opened, and as soon as he saw me making the call, he opened it.\u00a0 I was seething when I left.\u00a0\u00a0 The incident left a very bad taste, and the Manager Nadia Beutler was very sweet in reporting the matter to the estate manager, and\u00a0in apologising via Twitter.<\/p>\n

Since I had last been to Laborie, the parking area in front of the building has been planted to lawns, and the parking is now behind the building.\u00a0 There is no signage to indicate where to go to the restaurant entrance,\u00a0so I followed other guests to find the\u00a0entrance.\u00a0 On non-windy days one can sit outside, and enjoy the view onto the Drakenstein mountains.\u00a0 On my way in I noticed an outside table that had an old tree trunk as the base, with a glass top.\u00a0\u00a0 As the southeaster was blowing quite strongly, all the doors were closed, and we were uncertain as to where to enter.\u00a0 I chose the first door, and saw staff talking to guests who had used the next door.\u00a0 I was ignored and had to request someone to seat me – the waitress spoke to me\u00a0across the spacious restaurant, and no one bothered to come over to me.\u00a0\u00a0 Flora finally decided to help me, and I chose a table.\u00a0\u00a0 The restaurant filled up quickly, and it was a contrasting mix of older Paarl residents lunching\u00a0ahead of the Garden Club AGM to be held there, and business executives, including some journalists, and KWV CEO Thys Loubser, whom I have known for many years.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The restaurant building is beautiful from the outside, dating back to 1961, and looks like a historic building with thatched roof and gable in the Cape Dutch style.\u00a0\u00a0 Inside the large room is functionally filled with tables, with a surprisingly modern chandelier, and chairs are brown leather.\u00a0 The table cloth is a yellow\/gold colour, and the patterned green curtains could probably do with an update.\u00a0 The serviette was\u00a0white, and one set of heavily used cutlery was set on the table.\u00a0 I liked the vase with fresh flowers on each table.\u00a0 Greenhouse olive oil and balsamic bottles are on the table, with\u00a0small salt and pepper grinders.\u00a0 Flora brought the menu and winelist, both with a mock-croc cover, and well-branded and identifiable as the winelist and menu (the bill was presented in a green plastic holder, and should have had the same cover, to create synergy).\u00a0\u00a0Flora and I did not get on well at all, and she neglected me service-wise, so much so that I had to request my order to be taken by another waiter.\u00a0 I was told that she has worked there for 30 years, and unfortunately it shows.\u00a0 I asked her for the name of the chef, and she only knew\u00a0her first name, but quickly added that she was off-duty, and that\u00a0Lesley was in the kitchen, being “the Coloured one”!\u00a0\u00a0 Flora’s apron was dirty, not acceptable for the start of the lunch service, and her name tag was upside down.\u00a0\u00a0 Staff wear white shirts and black pants, and a Laborie branded apron.\u00a0\u00a0 She removed my side plate and serviette when she removed the other table settings.\u00a0 I had\u00a0a wow moment when I received a Direct Message on Twitter, welcoming me to\u00a0the restaurant.\u00a0 I had not booked nor had I identified myself on arrival, and I also had not tweeted about being at Laborie at that point in time.\u00a0 The Manager Nadia\u00a0said she recognised me, and had been the Tweeter.\u00a0 She was helpful in providing information, and coming to my rescue at the boom.\u00a0\u00a0 The chef is Alicia Giliomee, who previously worked at Sand at The Plettenberg hotel and at Fairlawns in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

The menu has ‘footnotes’ on almost every page, some of which are repeated, and one is the pay-off line: “Laborie – where yesterday and today meet…”, not a bad description, the ‘yesterday’ aptly describing the service, and the ‘today’ the excellent cuisine, not quite what the owner had in mind, I am sure!\u00a0\u00a0 Another note warns one not to be in a hurry: “We are passionate about delivering delicious food and quality service, and thank you in advance for your patience”.\u00a0 The note that impressed me was the following: “Laborie Restaurant is passionate about reducing our carbon footprint.\u00a0 We support accredited suppliers within a maximum of 150 km radius and only serve seafood on the SASSI accredited green and orange list.\u00a0 Our meat and poultry products are all free range and grain fed to add to your\u00a0taste experience.\u00a0 We also support small industry producers that can provide a product of quality”.\u00a0 They write that they recycle waste too, as part of this policy. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The menu has\u00a0a number of options: ‘Light Lunch’ includes salads ranging between R55 – R68, a Laborie Winelands platter of charcuterie, pat\u00e9s, cheeses and pickles (R85), a seafood platter of pickled calamari, mussels, tiger prawns and linefish (R92), as well as a mezze platter (R82).\u00a0\u00a0 A quick business lunch, entitled “Pronto! Pronto!”, consists of a Laborie salad, Cape Malay chicken curry and wild berry Vacherin, at a cost of R145.\u00a0\u00a0 A Food and Wine Tasting menu costs R245 for four courses, with a wine paired to each course.\u00a0 Then follows the a la carte menu.\u00a0\u00a0Flora brought the bread basket with wrapped butter portions.\u00a0 I liked the bread with raisins in it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I ordered the prawn and pineapple tian (R62), and felt it to be a generous portion as such, and also in terms of the number of prawns that it contained.\u00a0 I was a little disappointed that there was little avocado in it, one of my favourites.\u00a0 It was set on thin strips of cucumber, sprinkled with coconut flakes, decorated with cherry tomatoes, a miniature apple on top, and\u00a0drizzled with a sweet chilli vinaigrette, almost a meal in itself.\u00a0\u00a0 Other starter choices include an onion tarte tatin, \u00a0steak tartar a l’Americaine, springbok carpaccio, and a salmon and spinach\/basil cream roulade, all costing around R60.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>For the main course I had the slow roasted duck, with a crispy skin (R118), two pieces served with mash, peach slices, raspberries, an orange slice, and topped creatively with the thinnest potato wafer, a twig of rosemary, and a branch of basil, giving it a decorative touch.\u00a0\u00a0 It was the best duck I have had in a long time.\u00a0 However, I was unimpressed with the side dish of mixed stirfried vegetables, so old-fashioned,\u00a0and ‘done before’, consisting of red and yellow peppers, mushrooms, carrots, beans, corn cob, red cabbage, courgette\u00a0and mange tout, being superfluous, given the generous duck portion.\u00a0 None of the main courses exceed R129, and average at about R100.\u00a0 One can also order linefish (silverfish on Thursday), roast chicken, artichoke and green olive gnocci, Cape Malay chicken curry, Chateaubriand, beef fillet, rolled stuffed loin of lamb, and Karoo lamb shank (I am not sure how the 150 km radius links to this item on the menu).\u00a0\u00a0 Desserts range from R30 – R45, and include a raspberry souffl\u00e9, truffles, cinnamon br\u00fbl\u00e9, frozen mint mousse, and a summer fruit savarin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The wine list has an introduction to the Laborie wine estate, and is named after the La Bri district in France.\u00a0 In 1685 the farm was awarded to the first French Huguenot farmer Jean Taillefert, and the manor house was built in 1750.\u00a0 The wines made by him on this farm were subsequently described as being “the best in the colony and similar to our small wines of Champagne”.\u00a0 The wine list also\u00a0states the following about the restaurant: “Your visit to Laborie Restaurant will allow you to reminisce about the Cape as it once was hundreds of years ago”.\u00a0\u00a0 The winelist is proudly-Paarl, or\u00a0rather proudly KWV\/Laborie.\u00a0 Cap Classiques offered include the Laborie Blanc de Blanc (R40\/R135), its Brut (R35\/R125), and Brut Ros\u00e9 (R35\/R125).\u00a0 KWV Cuvee Brut and Pearly Bay Celebration (also by KWV) cost R85.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0KWV Roodeberg is available at R95.\u00a0 The Laborie Shiraz 2008\u00a0is very reasonably priced at R35\/R105, while the Laborie Limited Collection Shiraz 2008 costs R135.\u00a0 The flagship Laborie Jean Taillefert Shiraz 2006 costs R 295.<\/p>\n

Nadia is relatively new in managing Laborie Restaurant, and she is full of ideas.\u00a0 She has marketed the Laborie Lazy Days market, which started three\u00a0Saturdays ago, and it has become hugely popular already, being held on the new lawns – Nadia has an events consultancy background.\u00a0\u00a0 The lawns are ideal for functions, such as weddings and other parties.\u00a0 She also wants to set up a champagne bar at the far end of the restaurant, to kill “the dead space” there, she said.\u00a0\u00a0 Gourmet picnics can be ordered at R145 per person.\u00a0\u00a0 There was good synergy between the restaurant and the tasting room, a note in the billfold inviting one to visit the tasting room.\u00a0 I did not see where\u00a0it is, relative to the restaurant.\u00a0 The bill had a thank you in English, Afrikaans, German and French, a nice tourist touch.\u00a0\u00a0 I will certainly come back to Laborie Le Restaurant for the excellent food, and hope that I will strike it luckier with the service via a different waiter and in being let out at the boom.\u00a0 I\u00a0am confident that\u00a0Nadia will look at improving all aspects of the restaurant, and will focus on the service side too.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

POSTSCRIPT 19\/3<\/strong>:\u00a0 I returned to Laborie le Restaurant for lunch today, after visiting the disappointing Laborie Lazy Days market.\u00a0\u00a0 I received a friendly reception from Nadia, and was delighted to receive her excellent service throughout the meal.\u00a0 I was disappointed with the roulade of salmon and pesto, mixed with cream cheese,\u00a0feeling it to have been overpromised in its description, but loved the airy and light frozen mint mousse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Laborie Le Restaurant<\/strong>, Taillefert Street, Paarl.\u00a0 Tel (021) 807-3093.\u00a0 www.laborierestaurant.co.za<\/a>\u00a0 (The website\u00a0lists the full a la carte menu.\u00a0 The Gallery only has\u00a0a few photographs of events, and there are barely any photographs of Chef Alicia’s beautiful food presentation).\u00a0 The business card for the Executive Chef is one of the best I’ve seen in a long time, with appetite appeal, showing a delicious dessert and glass of wine, representing exactly what the restaurant is all about.\u00a0 Twitter: @LaborieResto\u00a0 \u00a0Tuesday – Sunday lunch, Thursday – Sunday dinner.<\/p>\n

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

It was the photograph of the prawn and pineapple tian that wine writer Edo Heyns took at Laborie Le Restaurant earlier this week, and tweeted,\u00a0that made me drive to Paarl to try Laborie Le Restaurant.\u00a0 I was surprised to find a restaurant with outstanding food, but sadly the service left much to be desired.\u00a0\u00a0I am […]<\/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":[124,362,20,21,19],"tags":[10034,4623,2157,4905,4779,184,2650,32378,1034,10029,10026,32396,2125,10036,10030,10039,6977,1316,10031,2429,10037,9367,10040,884,4279,10002,10025,8320,10028,32384,10041,10027,10038,252,3625,7327,7531,2938,255,10035,10032,10033,1587,277,32373,49],"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