Sunday afternoon at Chardonnay Deli

 11 February 2024

 

CHARDONNAY DELI

87 Constantia Main Road, Constantia, Cape Town

 

Another Sunday, another dog friendly establishment.

 

We took a chance and drove out to the Constantia Wilds on a beautiful summer’s day. The traffic was hectic; no doubt all and sundry were on missions similar to ours and we prayed that our journey wouldn’t be fruitless.

 

Well, heck, not only did we find an extremely convenient parking spot but also a choice of available tables, both amongst the small tables out front, with a lovely view of the road, and in the garden area at the back, the preferable space to be.

 

I still recall the premises as housing the original Old Cape Farmstall back in the halcyon days when a farmstall sold home-made produce and fresh fruit and vegetables, and there was no chance of having coffee much less a full on meal and the merchandise wasn’t “artisanal,” “craft,” “bespoke” or “curated.” 

 

I didn’t spend much time examining what this deli offered but then, seen one deli, seen them all these days.

 

The space at the rear of the building is quite lovely, under huge trees and surrounded by the Constantia woods.  On the other side of the kitchen building at the rear,  completely separate from the main building, there is more seating, not so much in the garden though and apparently that’s for smokers.

 

I don’t understand why smoking is still allowed anywhere on restaurant premises, inside or outside.  

 

Our first table was at the side of the kitchen, uncomfortably close the nearest other tables, given that we had Lucy the Moocher and Prinses the Fierce with us, and it was also set on a dangerously narrow ledge, and when a larger table opened up at the far rear of the garden space, almost hidden behind a huge tree, we scurried across tout suite. Not only did we have a larger table in a more isolated space but we were surrounded by the splendid greenery of a mini forest.

 

We’d ordered our coffees when we were at the first table, and they were served quickly though at a lukewarm temperature which was odd, given that we’d been next to the kitchen. Our original server then went off on a frolic of her own for a bit and we ordered our lunch from someone else before we changed tables.

 

The wife ordered the chicken burger, fries  (R145) and   a  carafe of rosé (R120) and I opted for the Bali bowl (R145) and a Zwakala Lager (R45), which I mention by name because, if I understand the label correctly, it originates from Limpopo, a long way away from the Constantia green belt. It travelled well; hugely quaffable on a hot day. 

We hadn’t ordered drinks when we ordered our meals, because we needed some time to study the beverage list.  When we’d decided, I had to go looking for a server to order the drinks.  No-one came to us to enquire after our alcoholic needs. The wine and beer arrived half-way through our meal.

 

The Bali bowl had a good variety of well-cooked vegetables, a few ribbons of fresh ginger for perkiness and a lovely dressing to bring it all together. A good, light meal.

 

The wife said her burger was tasty enough but lacked wow factor.  It was just a basic chicken burger with some iceberg lettuce, a slice of semi-melted cheddar cheese and some tomato slices. The wedges served with it were very good.

 

Once again, service wasn’t what one would call attentive, in fact it was what one would epitomise as relaxed and laidback to the max. The wife took it on herself to seek out a server to place our dessert orders, an apple crumble (R62) for me and lemon meringue (R62) for the wife and one more coffee.

 

I bet the iceberg that Titanic crashed into was smaller than my slice of apple cake. It was astonishing. It was also very good, with  lots and lots of perfect apple and a soft, crumbly crumb.

 

The lemon meringue wasn’t as successful. It was far too sweet (hardly anyone manages that optimal combination of sour and sweet; mostly it’s just a sugar overload) and the wife thought the base of it wasn’t properly cooked, so she left quite a bit of it on her plate. 

 

The second cortado I’d hoped to drink with my dessert arrived about half an hour after we finished the desserts and also after I had to enquire about it twice from our server.

 

The bill came to R679,00 before tip.

 

The garden setting of Chardonnay Deli is superb and the food is decent if unspectacular but, for me, at this kind of place the best you can expect is what it says on the box and it’s hardly likely that any expectations will be exceeded. If today’s experience is anything to go by, don’t go there if you get tense and nervous because service, if amiable, is not on steroids.