Oude Werf Restaurant, Stellenbosch

 17 June 2022

 

Oude Werf Restaurant

Oude Werf Hotel, 30 Church Street, Stellenbosch

 

The wife and I stayed at the hotel for two nights. It’s a favourite hostelry and extremely well situated in the heart of the town.

 

After a long, exhausting day of work and not much pleasure, we weren’t of a mind to go out in the cold again and once we were back in the cosy warmth of our temporary abode, we headed straight to the dining room. Once, way back in the mists of time, when the place was called D’Ouwe Werf, the dining room featured lots of dark wood and discreet corners but after a serious make over some years ago, it’s modern, spacious and light, not quite as cosy as the previous iteration but still stylish and elegant.

 

Both of us had a double tot of scotch to take the edge off the stress of the day. Hers was a well-known luxury brand of the Speyside type and mine was peatier. The whiskey was an elixir if not exactly the waters of the fountain of youth.

 

The menu of yore was based around Cape traditional food. Today, we’re talking contemporary comfort food with hearty portions and good quality produce. It’s not fine dining but, if I may say so, the dining is fine.

 

We devoured the pretty basic bread course as soon as it reached the table, as we were beyond famished. No theatrics here, no esoteric experimentalism. Just bread and butter.

 

The wife ate two starters:  bobotie spring rolls (R75) and cream of wild mushroom soup (R68), and asked for an additional roti (R28) with the soup, accompanied by bread, after seeing mine. The soup had good depth of flavour and was utterly delicious; the spring rolls were crisp and the bobotie had a subtle curry tang.

 

My choice was the butter chicken with roti, Basmati rice and sambals (R175). I enjoyed it, and the rice was particularly good with the excess makhani sauce, though I’d say, with no false modesty, that I  prefer the version of this dish that I cook.

 

Our dessert was a shared slice of cheesecake with cream,  ice cream, a berry compote and schmear of sauce (R75). If there is a legendary cheesecake in Stellenbosch, it must be this one. It has that wonderful, slightly dry texture that’s my yardstick for the ultimate baked cheesecake and isn’t overly sweet. The compote was good and the ice cream serviceable.  For my money, you might as well leave the extras off the plate and serve only the cheesecake. It doesn’t need embellishment or enhancement. 

 

The bill for dinner came to R683,00 before tip.

 

We’ve eaten breakfast, lunch and dinner at the hotel for many years and it’s generally been quite satisfactory. It’s a pity that the traditional food is no longer on the menu, but our waiter told us that the chef is working on an oxtail stew pie, and this made us salivate in anticipation. Hopefully,  it’ll be on the menu this winter.

 

The breakfast, nowadays no longer a buffet, is excellent too. Over two mornings the wife ate eggs Benedict, one with ham and one with bacon, and I had the latter once. It’s an excellent dish, with perfectly poached eggs and proper Hollandaise sauce. My first breakfast dish was a three-egg omelette with cheese, mushrooms and bacon (there are a few other options to choose from too) and it was tasty and filling though the omelette could’ve been airier and lighter.

 

The Oudewerf restaurant, or lounge if you want a light meal or some very good freshly baked scones, is a good alternative to the hipster establishments in Church Street, if you want to eat in peace and quiet and prefer  unpretentious food.