Brunch at Four Cousins in Robertson

 8 November 2021

 

FOUR COUSINS                                  

Kromhout Street, Robertson

 

It must be four years since the last time we ate at Four Cousins and then it was lunch, an occasion of which we have fond memories. Today, the wife, the in-laws and I visited the restaurant for brunch-slash-lunch as part of the wife’s birthday celebrations. 

 

The Four Cousins building is a landmark on the left as one enters Robertson from the direction of Worcester, a large, handsome, ultra-modern, rectangular building amidst a small forest of trees. It could be an art museum, or it could be brand new municipal offices, but it is a delightful restaurant, with a minimalist,  elegant interior that houses two eating spaces as well as a wine boutique and tasting room, with more tables outside under umbrellas.

 

Our table was in the front dining room, just past the tasting room and wine boutique, on a raised section adjacent to the huge windows facing Kromhout Street.  The large room has a double volume ceiling and large windows on either side for an abundance of natural light and views.

 

 

By the time we sat down at our table it was already almost 12h00.  Supposedly breakfast can be ordered only until 11h00, which was a crushing blow for those members of our party who’d been keen on brunch. Weeping and wailing helped. Our waitress undertook to twist the chef's arm to allow us to order from the breakfast menu.

 

Now, typically, once we’d received the hard-won breakfast menus, it turned out that perhaps not all of us were going to eat breakfast after all. I was there for lunch anyway, but the other three vacillated and fretted over their options. In the end though, it was three times breakfast, and one times lunch. 

 

The wife ordered the eggs Benedict (and added a cheese griller),

her mother chose an omelette with bacon, mushroom and cheese,

her father elected to have scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on an English muffin,

and my lunch was a Mexican wrap with roasted vegetables (rather than fries or salad.)

 

The father-in-law had two minor bumps on the road to a satisfied mind. The first one was the customary cold cup of decaff. He only drinks decaff and, according to him, wherever he orders it, it’s always stone cold, and Four Cousins was no exception, but the waitress took the offending cup away and returned with a steamy drink. In a general defence of restaurateurs or baristas, I must emphasise that the decaff is not truly as cold as an ice person’s feet but just lukewarm, merely a lower temperature than the optimum degree of scalding hot the father-in-law prefers.

 

The second issue was odd, in that the waitress confirmed with him that his eggs and salmon would be on an English muffin, yet when the dish was presented, the English muffin was glaringly absent. This error was also quickly corrected to his satisfaction and after that he was pretty happy with his dish. 

 

The omelette was so substantive in both the egg and filling departments that the mother-in-law could eat only half of it and took the rest home. 

 

The wife was super happy with her eggs Benedict, which ticked all the boxes and was a welcome return to Benedictine normalcy after the bizarre twists on this classic dish we'd recently encountered in the Southern Cape. 

 

I almost applauded my dish when I received it because, utterly astonishingly, it consisted of two large, crisp tortillas (in a Mexican dish I can’t get it over my heart to use the faux term “wrap”) bursting with a glorious abundance of nachos, cheese, guacamole, salsa and sour cream. Everywhere else, without exception, a wrap dish consists of one single, solitary, sometimes undersized, item, perhaps sliced in half to create the illusion of generosity.  The well-cooked vegetables were still slightly al dente, which is how I prefer them. All in all, a splendid, filling dish.

 

Given that it was a birthday brunch, a sweet treat was in order. The cake of the day was a Bar One cake (it seems that the humble Bar One is the sweet element du jour),

and the wife and her mother shared a slice of this luxuriously decadent cake. 

 

My choice was the peppermint crisp tart. Once again, I was taken aback by the abundance on my plate: not only a substantial wedge of tart but also three balls of ice cream (vanilla, chocolate and mint), which seemed almost excessive. I generally experience desserts like this tart as cloyingly sweet and I was extremely pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t, with just the correct undertone of sweetness yet yummily creamy, chocolaty and minty on a crunchy biscuit base. The ice cream was good without being spectacular.  A perfect way to finish off a delightful meal.

 

The coffee was good, and the service was friendly and efficient.

 

Robertson doesn’t suffer from a shortage or eateries, though the quality is variable, and Four Cousins holds its own amongst the best of them, a beautiful place to eat and with excellent food in substantial portions and pleasingly plated, for a highly satisfactory dining experience.

 

I can’t comment on the prices, as I didn’t pay and therefore took no note of them, but my recollection is that they are reasonable and good value for money, given the quality and quantity. Four Cousins is well worth the visit.

 

Not only does the wine boutique offer a wide range of wines from Van Loveren Estate, plus some craft gins and a selection of Boet Beer, but there is also an 8-year-old whiskey. 

 

Look, if you drive into Robertson on the R60 from Worcester, you can literally not miss Four Cousins.  I’d suggest you don’t.