Food & Wine News South Africa

Grande Provence welcomes new chef and exciting autumn menu

Grande Provence in Franschhoek has been serving up classic and delicious French-style dishes since 2004. October 2017 saw Chef Guy Bennet take over the kitchen and instil a stronger focus on championing locally sourced produce and a more modern style of South African cooking.
“I like to know where the produce comes from, who grows it and how they go about doing that. I need to know what I’m working with and that ethical practices were involved. By working closely with producers I know what’s on offer and what is popping up with the change of the seasons.” Chef Guy Bennet
Chef Bennet has worked with some of Cape Town’s most celebrated chefs such as Bertus Basson, Reuben Riffel, and pastry chef André Steyn. He takes over the reins from Darren Badenhorst, who is opening his own restaurant in Franschhoek.

Exciting new culinary direction

I ate at Grande Provence last year and enjoyed classic, tasty, and pretty dishes, however, on my most recent visit I was quite blown away by the standard of food and exciting move in direction from the new chef.

Quiet spoilt; we were treated to two starters, two mains, and a dessert each. I would recommend ordering the usual three-course meal however, as I felt quite devastated I couldn’t clear my plate for each course (it was that good), doing so would have resulted in popped buttons and undignified waddling.

The menu is fairly small yet varied and I believe you really can’t make a wrong choice here.

We both chose the fish as a starter: trout for my fiancé and tuna for myself. The gin cured Franschhoek trout with sweet and sour cucumber, dill crème, and grapefruit foam is a beautifully light and fresh dish, it's served cold so I would suggest it's better suited to spring and summer dining then autumnal feasting. The charred yellowfin tuna with miso, labneh, black garlic, and charred cauliflower is much more robust with a beautiful blend of complementary flavours.

Autumnal eating

Luckily for us, we were also treated to the cold roast beef sirloin starter as recommended by Chef Bennet. This comes with pinenut, mustard, braised beef kromeski (a croquette), Boland cheddar crisp and sticky and sweet shallots. We both declared this starter our favourite, comforting yet exciting and so flavourful, it totally hit the spot.

This was then followed by additional main: the potato gnocchi served with cauliflower, peanut crunch, spinach, fior de latte mozzarella, broccoli and pickled carrot. Light pillowy gnocchi, complimented by the soft and creamy mozzarella and balanced by the crunchy pickled carrot, delicious and such a great option for veggies.

For main, I chose the pork belly with pearl-like crackling, kromeski, carrot textures, gooseberries and a masala sauce. Sweet and succulent I absolutely adored this course, while my fiancé preferred his rich braised Karoo lamb neck with sweetbread, butternut squash, dukkha, and BBQ jus.

After a much-needed stroll around the estate, which includes the wine tasting area, gallery, shop, and oyster bar we settled down to dessert and final course.

Sweet endings

I chose the honey parfait with macadamia crumble, passion fruit sorbet and dehydrated pear slices. Even though it’s a cold dish, because of the parfait and sorbet, the flavours incorporated are so toasty and comforting it does well as a winter option. I was truly sad I couldn’t finish it, due to an almost breaking point belly. For chocolate lovers, the 70% Valrhona fondant with peanut ice cream, apricot puree, fresh raspberries and a sesame cracker is a no-brainer. Rich, warm, and oozy; it was the perfect fondant.

Dining at Grande Provence is such a treat and with such a cracking new menu now is the perfect time to make a winter Winelands getaway to this beautiful heritage estate.

Lunch is served ala carte and dinner is R450 per person for a three-course meal and R550 per person for a a four-course meal.

For restaurant bookings, call 021-876 8600 or email. For accommodation and more information on the Heartland Offer email Grande Provence or click here to visit the website.

*Ruth Cooper was a guest of Grande Provence

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