Die Ou Pastorie in Groot Brak River

 1 March 2022

 

 

DIE OU PASTORIE

Long Street 8, Bergsig, Groot Brak River

 

What’s more delightful and deeply satisfying than an agreeable  brunch on a lovely warm morning amidst the verdant splendour of huge trees and bountiful shrubbery and an eclectic array of  quirky garden ornaments in a paved front garden of a quite splendid Victorian mansion? Not much.

 

And here we were, the wife, her parents and I and Impi the Biever Yorkie puppy, on a recent mini-break to the south coast, on our last day in the area, ready to tuck into the culinary delights Die Ou Pastorie offer.

 

The building must once have been the rather luxurious double storey residence of the local Dutch Reformed Church minister, and most of its Victorian elegance and splendour have been preserved, though these days the interior is a labyrinth of rooms stocked from floor to ceiling with all manner of gee gaws for the tourist with a fat wallet. There is also an indoor dining area.

 

The front garden is paved but the effect of the proliferation of trees, shrubs and flowers is to create a kind of pocket jungle with many intriguing nooks and crannies. Tables are dotted around the area, some under the trees, some under umbrellas, and for me, this is where you want to sit if you eat here, not in the nicely appointed dining room.

 

The breakfast menu offers items that are a mixture of updated traditional country food and old standards with the proverbial twist. Nothing here is exotically foreign; the exoticism lies in bringing a perhaps arcane version of South African food culture to the diner unfamiliar with that heritage. That is, if you want to impress a visitor from overseas with samples of local is lekker, Die Ou Pastorie is not a bad place to start.

 

On the other hand, if you don’t fancy “braaipap,” you may want  to go to the somewhat inferior Twin Trees waffle house diagonally across the street. I won’t recommend it, but dif’rent stroke for dif’rent folks, eh?

 

One can feast on a breakfast wrap, versions of the fry up, omelettes, French toast, beef mince and eggs on toast or simply the relish on toast, as well as light meals. 

 

The two biggest breakfast bonanzas are the “Africa” and the “farm” breakfasts.

 

The Africa breakfast consists of coarse “braaipap,” 2 eggs, bechamel, beef biltong and “roosterkoek” with butter and jam. The farm breakfast is the Africa breakfast with bacon, sausage, tomato and onion relish and “boerebrood” toast. 

 

The coffee, from Brothers roastery, is excellent and the amount of espresso, in an unfathomably large cup, is plenty. Perhaps they don’t have espresso cups because too few people order it.

 

The wife ate the Africa breakfast

, the mother in law chose a quiche and salad

and the father in law ordered “Oom Llewellyn’s omelette,” f with a savoury mince filling.

 

The portions are generous, the quality is excellent and the taste full of big yum factor.

 

When I scanned the menu, the word “kaiings” caught my eye, in a dish where the kaiings (salty, crisp, rendered morsels of fat) are served on coarse “braaipap,” with two fried eggs and tomato and onion relish. Kaiings is a delicacy that I recall from my childhood, and only available at my parents’ house, served on fresh brown bread with butter and grape preserve (“korrelkonfyt.”)  I hadn’t eaten kaiings for probably more than 40 years.

 

The “braaipap” was perfectly cooked, soft and grainy, and the relish was an excellent accompaniment for the maize porridge that can become a tad dry over the course of a meal. The kaiings were crisp and salty but the relish reduced the crispness and the tomato overwhelmed the unique taste and favour of the rendered fat.  

 

My dish was quite tasty but doesn’t beat kaiings on buttered bread with grape preserve. It’s also the most maize porridge I’d eaten in a while and I think this was my quota for the foreseeable future.

 

My sweet afters were two hugely enjoyable cinnamon sugar pancakes, served with an allegedly edible hibiscus flower. The pancakes were thin and the sugar had melted to a syrupy consistency. Bliss.

 

I tried some flower power and wasn’t blown away. Not all beauty is a feast.

 

The mother in law chose the Mozart cake (layers of soft meringue, nuts, chocolate flavoured cream and cocoa ganache), which she enjoyed tremendously. I tried a spoonful and was reminded of tiramisu in texture if not flavour, and think that an entire slice of it would  probably be too rich even for me. 

 

The bill is charmingly hand written and, when the wife checked, as she habitually does, the amount was R20 less than it should have been. She corrected the bill, which came to R613,00 before tip.

 

The setting at Die Ou Pastorie is lovely, the food is good, the portions are generous, the service is friendly and efficient and the prices are reasonable. The other day my breakfast at the Coco Safar pop up came to R233, inclusive of main, sweet and coffees. Today’s brunch for four people, including drinks, was, in contrast, a steal.

 

If you’re ever in the greater Groot Brak River area and feel peckish, or intend driving there specifically to have a nibble, you’d  be best advised to stop at Die Ou Pastorie for that old time foodie religion. It’s not fine dining style refinement or exoticness, but simply honest food made real good.