Ou Meul farmstall (slight return)

 29 August 2021

 

OU MEUL FARMSTALL

R45, Simondium (Franschhoek area)

 

I’ve written about the Ou Meul Farmstall before but it’s well worth recommending again.

 

Like, apparently 110% of the people in the Western Cape over the weekend, the wife, I and our two Yorkies took a Sunday drive out to the lovely Franschhoek valley to “look at snow.”  We did see snow on the majestic mountain tops surrounding the valley and it was hugely picturesque and awe inspiring, and we also saw the thousands travelling the same stretch of road or parked next to it and ambling about in puffer jackets and long coats. It almost felt communal.

 

Before this, though, we ate lunch at Ou Meul Farmstall, seeing as how we got up quite late and were a tad peckish by 14h00 when we arrived. Fortunately, they close at 17h00.

 

The tables in the garden on the side of the building were fully occupied so we sat at our usual spot, at one of the long tables on the front stoep, not only because there was space but also because we wanted to keep the younger Yorkie, Prinses, away from other patrons. She is fiercely protective of the wife and almost continuously yaps and snarls when strangers are around, even if they’re 200 metres away. She is something of a social embarrassment. You can literally not take her anywhere public if you want peace and quiet. The older, alpha Yorkie, Lucy, could care less about other people unless they have food. She loves all people anyway, but people with food, and who share, are her favourite people.

 

To their credit, none of the few other patrons, who dared share the stoep with the yapfest, complained, and our server seemed quite amused and entertained by Prinses, which kind of defeated the purpose of her aggressive protection.

 

The menu is your basic deli/bistro type stuff. Breakfast is served only to 11h45 and lunch things from 12h00. There is a good selection of sandwiches, burgers, salads, and other light items and we’ve always found the quality to be of a high standard.

 

The wife ate her customary chicken mayo toastie on chunky sourdough (R65,00), with French fries (R18,00)

and I ordered the roasted vegetables and lentil salad (R80,00)

, always a winner for me here.  The rocket leaves on the side of the warm items seemed a tad wilted, and I wasn’t sure whether this was because they’d been next to the warm elements for too long, or whether they were no longer of today’s vintage. For the benefit of the doubt, I’ll go with the first possibility, as the salad was otherwise quite delicious. Lucy sat next to me while I ate, irately growling her demands to be fed. She’s an omnivore.

 

The wife was quite happy with her meal too. The only minor gripe was that our medium flat whites seemed to be rather small for the R29,00 charge, but the coffee here (Bootlegger, no less) is always good, as is the friendly service.

 

Sadly, the deli was sold out of pastries and we couldn’t indulge ourselves with something sweet with a second coffee.  Apparently, Ou Meul had done triple its usual weekend turnover on these two days. I bet they’re praying for snow every weekend from now to Christmas, and maybe beyond.

 

The wife took an XL flat white (R35,00) away for the rest of our drive.

 

The Ou Meul is cosy and homey, not chic or ultra-sophisticated at all, with good, honest fare and is one of the better options for a light meal in the area, if you don’t want to test the pricey waters in Franschhoek itself, and they’re quite dog friendly. Ii they can tolerate Prinses, Ou Meul deserves five stars for that alone.