IN my defence, I hadn’t had sushi for several months; yes, shocking I know. So when we got to Glenwood in Franschhoek for lunch, I’m not even ashamed to say I pigged out.
Glenwood serves gourmet sushi from Wednesdays to Sundays in the daytime only, but will be closed for July. That’s the thing with Cape winters: either a place will close, or it will offer specials to entice diners. No doubt sushi always goes down well on a sunny day, with a chilled glass of wine, but even the weather can’t put a damper on Glenwood. To wit, it was grey and rainy the day we were there, but the roaring fireplace kept us toasty, and the sushi was superb.
Our hosts had laid out generous mixed platters for us, prepared by master sushi chef Lungani Ntuli to showcase his menu. It was immediately clear I was the biggest fan at the table, and once the platters were empty I found I still had space for more. So I ordered more. I was the only one. No regrets.
On this trip to the Franschhoek valley we also dined at Le Bon Vivant, an award-winning restaurant in the village where chef patron specialises in the Dutch delicacy bitterballen as well as dishes inspired by his classical French training.
Huguenot Fine Chocolates is a Franschhoek institution. We attended the Chocolate Experience where Allistair and Weadon (pictured above) gave us an informative presentation about how chocolate is made. It never ceases to amaze me that over the centuries, humans discovered they could take that strange looking seed pod and ultimately turn it into something so delicious. It took a while, but still. Look where we are today. Allistair demonstrated how they make their hazelnut praline-filled truffles and we all got a chance to try our hand at piping. It’s not as easy as he made it look but I don’t think it detracted from the taste at all.
There’s a beautiful shop with a dazzling array of chocolatey goodness to be prettily packed for yourself, or gifts.
And then we come to the wine (which is not to say there wasn’t wine with the sushi and the dinner). Wildeberg is a farm I’d never heard of before (but I didn’t need to feel too bad because the first vines on this mountainside were planted in 2018 which was just the other day), and in fact I wasn’t aware of the delights held by that entire part of Franschhoek. The takeaway here is to explore further and farther because even though you’ve visited more times than you can count or remember, there is still more to discover, and that’s pretty awesome.
Winemaker JD Rossouw took us through a tasting from this boutique winery, which exports most of its product. You can still taste by appointment (and purchase) and they can put on a fabulous pre-lunch spread. The rest of the group headed off to the new bakery at La Motte for lunch lunch, where I went by myself the next day and spent a wonderful hour with head baker Ricardo Slawers. It was his first interview since the bakery opened a few months ago, and I’m sure not his last. I’m saving that for another story next week, it’s delicious. There’s going to be another piece too, about my dinner at Ōku, and it all goes to show there is so much to do, eat and drink in Franschhoek that I should probably go stay there for at least a month at a time.
PHOTO CREDIT: Bianca Coleman ©
