Brunch at La Belle, Alphen Hotel

 17 October 2021

 

LA BELLE

Alphen Hotel, Constantia

 

Our second brunch in two days, not only several hundred kilometres but also a significant conceptual distance from last Friday’s venue at Rooiberg Winery on the R60 between Worcester and Robertson.

 

Today, the wife and I met three friends for brunch at La Belle on the rather magnificent, verdant grounds of the Alphen Hotel grounds, in a large room, flavoured with Cape Dutch ambience filtered through a more modern vision of casual elegance. A floor to ceiling bookcase type construction covers almost the entire length of the rear wall, and all manner of objéts are displayed there. I’m not sure whether it’s purely for decorative effect or whether these things are available in exchange for cash. 

 

We sat in a corner, with banquette seating, but the rest of the seating consists of tables of various sizes, well-spaced, not only for social distancing but to keep ambient noise to a minimum. I suppose the building hails from Cape Dutch times and the feeling of old-fashioned warm hominess is quite satisfying.

 

The group shared a telepathic consensus on the food the individuals, (well, most of them) ordered, namely two times eggs Benedict (R100)

and two times the fry up, aka the La Belle breakfast (R135).

I was the odd one out, natch, with my selection of what is described as two poached eggs on herbed Greek yoghurt (R95), but, to me, is La Belle’s take on çilbir (Turkish eggs),  a dish I like a lot and cook for myself at least once a week.

 

The eggs Benedict consists of two poached eggs on two halves of English muffin, with a generous ladleful of good Hollandaise sauce, that could’ve done with a tad more pronounced lemon tang (a common issue with Cape Town Hollandaise), and streaky bacon. She was impressed.

 

The wife pointed out that my breakfast, at only R5 less than hers, was not really value for money. 

 

Okay, so çilbir is not hugely filling and counts as a really light breakfast but it’s delicious if done right. Sadly, this dish was kind of blah, except for the sizable, well-poached eggs because the chilli butter sauce lacked the punch that elevates the dish, and the pickled green chilli relish didn’t provide it. Ideally, the eggs should be accompanied by good, fresh flat bread; I got white bread toast, not the ciabatta I’d asked for, but it was good.

 

The fry ups, with bacon, beef sausage, two egg of choice, mushrooms, fried tomato and toast, were well received and rapidly disappeared down the respective gullets.  The platefuls looked scrumptious and only the absence of baked beans detracted from perfection. In my opinion.

 

The coffee and the service were good.

 

The total bill, inclusive of sparkling water for the table and a slice of red velvet cake to take away, came to R961,00 before tip.

 

To sum up: lovely venue, tasty vittles, exemplary service. Highly recommended.