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Where To Have The Farm-To-Table Experience In South Africa

Where To Have The Farm-To-Table Experience In South Africa

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The sustainable, delicious farm-to-table trend (which will hopefully soon be the norm for dining) has made its way to South Africa, and these restaurants/inns are pulling it off perfectly.

cntraveller.com
cntraveller.com

Babylonstoren

This colonialesque homestead-turned-luxury-hotel was built in 1692, and sits in charming Cape Dutch in the Franschhoek Valley of the Cape Winelands. Each cottage suite has its own kitchen,where guests can view the eight acres of organic gardens and crops, or step right into them.

coolhunting.com
coolhunting.com

 

The food

Babylonsotren’s gardens produce thyme, rosemary, wild garlic, Cape gooseberries and mulberries. There’s a pergola walk draped in table grapes, an orchard bursting with naartjies (South African tangerines), nectarines and grapefruit, and even an apiary for honey. As for the vegetables, guests can pick their own butternut squash and beets, radishes, and peppers of every color imaginable. Guests can pick the fruits and veggies freely and cook them in their private kitchens, or wander down to the farm restaurant if they’re not in the mood to cook. The menu there changes daily.

maclarty.blotspot.com
maclarty.blotspot.com

 

The design

This meticulously planned property was designed by French designer Patrice Taravella, who was also the mastermind behind the medieval monastery gardens at Prieuré Notre-Dame d’Orsan in the Loire Valley. The property is modeled after the original garden that was planted here by the Dutch in 1652, with a formal rectangular layout and 14 distinct blocks.

66squarefeet.blogspot.com
66squarefeet.blogspot.com

 

Other highlights

Babylonstoren mixes modern ease and traditional charm in many ways. The check-in area has computers like any other hotel, but they’re hidden behind bundles of fresh produce. Sunhats and mud boots are for sale, but with designer labels. There’s a place to cool off – it’s more than a pool; it’s an infinity-style reservoir lined with lounge chairs.

rhinoafrica.com
rhinoafrica.com

 

The rooms

Fourteen stand-alone cottages, or landhuisies, make up the accommodations, each a stark-white stucco situated under pepper trees. The interiors are rustic chic with white sofas and rugs, claw-foot tubs, four-poster beds and private libraries with 50-or-so books handpicked by the owners.

franschhoek.org.za
franschhoek.org.za

La Motte

Barely 10 miles from Babylonstoren sits another property featuring the farm-to-table experience:  a 420-acre wine estate owned by opera singer Hanneli Rupert-Koegelenberg, complete with a museum and restaurant just put in in 2010.

tripadvisor.com
tripadvisor.com

The food

The La Motte property is named Pierneef à La Motte, after South African painter Jacob H. Pierneef. The owner bought 42 pieces of his work. The state-of-the-art open-plan restaurant serves twists on traditional boerekos (Boer food), with some recipes dating back to the 1700s. Diners enjoy plates like saffron fish curry, a dish that recalls food of the Malay workers shipped to the Cape; Huguenot fish pie, pomegranate-glazed pork belly and braised veal knuckle. All recipes are taken from historic books and journals uncovered from the original settlers.

spice4life.co.za
spice4life.co.za

 

The design

La Motte makes great use of its space in the rolling foothills near Franschhoek village. Arriving guests are greeted by a 13-foot bronze sculpture of a woman bearing an overflowing glass of wine, who rises out of the grape vines with the mountains behind her. Giant oaks provide shade around the museum and restaurant, both built to honor South African painter Jacob H. Pierneef. An all-glass wall display of the artist’s works face the gardens.

la-motte.com
la-motte.com

Accommodations

La Motte does not offer accommodations for overnight guests, but the restaurant is worth describing in detail. Guests dine in high-backed chairs embossed with portraits of Pierneef and his daughter. Menus mirror the same portraits. Lighting up the barn-like room are chandeliers hanging from rafters designed after porcelain replicas dating back to the Dutch East India Company era. Food is served on vintage plates, cups and saucers.

figsflowersfood.blogspot.com
figsflowersfood.blogspot.com

Other highlights

Owner Hanneli Rupert-Koegelenberg is the sister of Johann Rupert, billionaire CEO of luxury goods company Richemont (think Cartier, Piaget, Chloé and others). By visiting La Motte you are essentially visiting a property of Afrikaner royalty.