Spookfontein in the Hemel & Aarde Valley

 2 May 2023

 

SPOOKFONTEIN

Hemel & Aarde Valley, Hermanus area

 

The wife brought her parents and me to this quite lovely restaurant to celebrate her mother’s birthday. We’d been here once, on our own, many moons ago shortly after the establishment opened and was so fresh off the boat it didn’t even have a wine license yet.

 

The face brick, barn-like  building is the same but the fynbos garden around it has been well established and there is a ribbon of lawn on the valley side of the building. The views over that valley to the low mountains beyond are stupendously picturesque and reminds me of a similar view from Guardian Peak restaurant in the Hidden Valley outside Stellenbosch.

 

The room is vast and with a double volume space. The roof is supported by strategically placed and wooden-clad and there are huge picture windows on two sides to frame the magnificent view. The open plan kitchen is on the left-hand side as one enters, so the kitchen personnel can also be inspired by the view.

The lunch menu is small yet perfectly formed (and seems to change from time to time) with six starters, five mains, chips or corn chilli bites as sides, and four desserts.

 

The others shared two bottles of Full Moon (a blend of Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc) and raved about it. Ever the less refined drinker, I opted for the Old Harbour lager, a local product. 

 

The wife and her father ordered the gnocchi starter, with carrot puree, butternut en goats’ cream (R95).  

The mother-in-law chose the fried calamari with mussels, pea puree and salsa (R125) . 

 

and my selection was seared yellow fin tuna with corn salsa, Asian dressing and wasabi (R135)

Each starter was absolutely splendidly toothsome. I tasted a tidbit of calamari and it was the lightest, crispest morsel of fried seafood it’s ever been my blessing to taste. The gnocchi melted in the mouth and the accompaniments were swooningly yummo. My tuna was perfectly cooked (rare) and the Asian flavours were in perfect balance.

 

Each of us could happily have eaten main dish portions of our respective starters.

 

The wife ordered the beef fillet (R275) with roasted onion, garlic puree, bordelaise sauce and fries. She was well happy with the tender, succulent meat that was cooked exactly the way she wanted it (medium rare).

 

The father-in-law ordered the fried hake (R165) with mushy peas and fries and was equally content with his food.  The portion of fish (two golden brown fillets) was so generous  he couldn’t finish all of it though. 

 

The mother-in-law and I both went for the pork ramen. (R255) with a chilli ginger broth and noodles.

 

I was a tad surprised by the ramen dish, which didn’t quite look like the ramen I’m used to, such as the one I recently had at Genki in Stellenbosch, in that the pork was two large bricks worth of meat, there was only half a hardboiled egg, the noodles were thin ribbon noodles and most of the broth seemed to have evaporated while being transported between kitchen and table. 

 

However, the belly pork was absolutely tender and juicy and perfectly combined with the rather spiky broth whose bite lingered on the palate for a while. I’d’ve preferred more noodles for substance but, on reflection, it was probably a good thing that the carbs didn’t compete with the protein.

 

I’d say this was a pork belly dish, with broth instead of a jus, rather than standard ramen but it was damn tasty.

 

The wife and I shared the Tunisian orange cake dessert (R75), with a moist crumb, reminiscent of  a polenta lemon drizzle cake with extreme drizzle. Subtle and satisfying.

 

The bill came to R2060,00 before tip.

 

The service was efficient and cheerful (our service ambassador laughed at the father-in-law’s jokes), the atmosphere was cosy and elegant, and not noisy despite a well-filled room and we dined extremely well. Highly recommended.