Get peckish

30 Jun, 2015

If I was to compose a list of The Very Best of The Long Lunch, the table at Café BonBon below the oak tree would be close to number one. This farm restaurant must have one of the valley’s most exquisite settings. The backdrop is a circle of dramatic mountain ranges while the immediate scenery takes in fruit trees, lush lawns, ponds with ducks, huge old trees with a resident pair of owls and an officious rooster manning the proceedings. Take breakfast or lunch either on the veranda or in the pretty courtyard and blink at the beauty. Dine inside at night in the generously decorated space. Café Bonbon has managed to create a stylish and tasteful ambiance that is at once special yet relaxed and chatty. Breakfast here is taken very seriously by staff and very slowly by the patrons. The environs encourage unhurried lingering accompanied by more coffee and maybe just another home-baked croissant. I have heard that some global travellers use eggs benedict as a universal dipstick of quality. It seems the team at BonBon have decided to dominate this category and aim to sweep the prizes by offering three winning ways. Try to decide between traditional with bacon, royale with salmon trout or florentine with spinach. Dinner and lunch present equally difficult dilemmas but you cannot go wrong with their bestselling roasted pork belly. For me, they win another award for the best cooked salmon trout I have ever tasted and Friday’s prawn velouté made me want to lick the plate. Winning wines are produced by the neighbours and these are what to order from the wine list. Dreamy creamy chardonnay from Haute Espoir, the bright and shiny sauvignon blanc from Stony Brook and any happy bubbles from Colmant.
If you are too full to move, the farm offers luxurious suite accommodation and if the beauty of the moment overcomes you and you decide to pop the question, Café BonBon is the ultimate in wedding venues.
Bookings are essential.
Call them on 021 876 3936 or visit their website www.lapetite.co.za