If you get invited by some friends to join them for a birthday supper at La Petite Colombe on the Leeu Estate in the beautiful Franschhoek Valley, you cancel all your plans and put on your best cocktail party dress and high heels.
The suspense builds as you enter the winding road up to Leeu Estates and get glimpses of manicured gardens and artworks along the way.
When you get out of the car, the peaceful and beautiful surroundings give you pause to exhale.
The gardens and sculptures dotted around estate invite you to a leisurely stroll, but a visit to the Everard Read Gallery must wait for another day, as ice cold Method Cap Classique from the area awaits on the terrace.
We are here for supper, and the restaurant has different options, all set menu’s, catering to all preferences.
Our group had The Reduced Menu (From R695 pp), optional beverage flight R435 pp
We had a slight variation on the 9 course meal below:
- Saldanha bay oyster, apple, kalamansi, soy
- Yellowfin tuna, chipotle, coriander
- Purdon wagyu, pickled fish, truffle, aubergine
- Duck liver, rhubarb, lavender
- Dry aged duck, prawn, szechuan, peanut, hoisin
- Lime, mezcal, mint
- Karoo lamb, harissa, salsa verde, chickpea
- Strawberry, bergamot, earl grey, lime
- Sweets trolley
John Norris-Rogers – Head Chef – and his team, most certainly know how to do ‘food theatre’ to elicit ‘ooh’s and aah’s from patrons. Each dish was presented in a unique and interesting way.
Cooking the salmon in olive oil at the table, before being taken back to the chefs to plate.
And the result:
Karoo lamb course cooked to perfection.
Dry aged duck, prawn, Szechuan, peanut, hoisin
The flavours of all the dishes were outstanding, and the sequence of the different tastes and textures building on the previous surprises in the mouth.
The wine list is carefully curated and sports a number of unusual wines, all on the higher end of the price spectrum. If you don’t mind forking out more than R200 for a good bottle of wine, you just have to visit Le Petit Colombe.
More about Leeu Estates:
| The pillars of the Leeu Collection are curated art collections, distinct architecture and design, manicured and detailed landscaping, spectacular views, intuitive service, and outstanding food and wine experiences, providing guests with a truly unique, unrivalled experience. Analjit Singh is the owner of this jewel. Everard Read’s newest gallery at Leeu Estates in Franschhoek augments the existing gallery in the high street of Franschhoek. The focus will be on showing monumental sculpture in the breath- taking fynbos and vineyards of Leeu Estates, as well as exhibiting important works by our artists in the purpose-built gallery on site. The Fynbosch quarter, where the new gallery is located on the farm, was designed by DHK architects, who also designed the Norval Foundation. The gallery benefits from their experience garnered there, with understated but immaculate finishes that show the art to its best advantage, while offering glimpses of the spectacular natural environment that surrounds Leeu Estates. |
More about La Petite Colombe:
La Colombe, the award-winning and world-renowned restaurant based in Constantia, one of the oldest winemaking regions of South Africa, has established a sister restaurant at Leeu Estates, run by the talented La Petite Colombe team. Talented, young Cape Town chef, John Norris-Rogers, was appointed as Head Chef of La Petite Colombe in August 2017. A 90’s child, born in Pretoria, and having lived in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, John Norris Rogers decided to make Cape Town his home after he completed school and chose to study at the Silwood School of Cookery, graduating after completing a coveted year-long internship at the award-winning La Colombe, under the mentorship of chefs Scot Kirton and James Gaag. In April 2017, John was fortunate enough to travel to Oslo, Norway to take part in a month long internship at the 3 star Michelin Restaurant Maaemo under Chef Esben Holmboe Bang. “This proved to be incredibly inspiring as I could see a different culture of food, that being Nordic cuisine, as well as the discipline involved in working in a rigorous environment such as this,” says John. When asked what his passion and vision for the cooking industry is, he says, “I love the fact that the industry is constantly evolving – especially at a fine dining level. There is always a chef somewhere in the world doing something unique and special at any given time. This keeps everyone on their toes and keeps everyone pushing the boundaries and making new discoveries in the cooking world. It’s incredibly exciting! The world of food is so dynamic. I hope to never lose sight of how important and refreshing it is to keep discovering new foods, trends, flavours, cultures, techniques, and thereby inspiring creativity!” |
