When you arrive at La Petite Ferme restaurant in Franschhoek, you arrive with expectations. In a region famous for its food, this restaurant ranked No. 1 out of 61 restaurants in Franschhoek the last time I checked an online ranking, so I was curious to find out why.
Completely surrounded by mountains, the restaurant is the centerpiece of a 17-hectare vineyard. It sits on Middagkrans (translation: afternoon cliff) Mountain overlooking Franschhoek valley and the Franschhoek mountains beyond.
It’s a good thing I made a reservation. When we arrived, the weather was balmy. A soft mist had taken the edge off what is, by all descriptions, a magnificent view, and it would have been a travesty to sit inside. Luckily, we got an outside table under shady oaks overlooking the vineyard, where we proceeded to eat our hearts out. That’s because the location, setting, ambiance and general awesomeness of the place make you wish you could stay forever.
The home-made bread, baked fresh onsite every morning since the 80s, arrived first with butter. This was followed by a starter of creamy snoek spring rolls with salsa verde, tomato and cucumber salad. Main courses included curried chicken skewer with peanut stuffing, curried peanut sauce, papdum and mango salsa. Also on the menu: springbok loin, baked prosciutto, and whole oak-smoked rainbow trout from a local trout farm.
La Petite Ferme started out as a place where families could come for a picnic lunch. Then the establishment started offering cakes, teas and sandwiches. In the 90s, it became a full-fledged restaurant. Trout and slow-roasted lamb are the signature dishes at the restaurant, which is open to the public for lunch only.
Guests who are booked at the 15-room, four-star La Petite Ferme guest house get to eat dinner and breakfast there too. Sadly, I was not one of those, but lunch made me want more.
Mark and Josephine Dendy Young are the owners of La Petite. Mark harvests the grapes, makes the wine, and greets diners at the restaurant, “and he’ll do it with grapes still stuck to his sleeve,” restaurant manager Purdon Rhodes told me.
When the thatched-roof restaurant burned down in 1996, a loyal staff rolled up their sleeves and helped rebuild in three months — record time, Rhodes said. “There was a concrete mixer in one room and food being served in another,” he said.
Mark’s father, John Dendy Young, offers a 1.5-hour wine and cellar tour at 11 a.m. every day — reservations are required and the group is limited to 12 people.
Mondays are the busiest at the restaurant. That’s because other top area restaurants are closed on Mondays, Rhodes said. “Everyone flocks to us,” he said. The restaurant is open 365 days of the year for lunch only but starting in December, the plan was to also be open Fridays for dinner with live music.
We didn’t want to rush our meal at La Petite Ferme. Instead, we enjoyed a glass of wine grown right where we were sitting, and checked out the dessert menu which included a coffee-and-nutmeg biscuit with black cherries in a merlot sauce.
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When you arrive at La Petite Ferme restaurant in Franschhoek, you arrive with expectations. In a region famous for its food, this restaurant...
When you arrive at La Petite Ferme restaurant in Franschhoek, you arrive with expectations. In a region famous for its food, this restaurant ranked No. 1 out of 61 restaurants in Franschhoek the last time I checked an online ranking, so I was curious to find out why.
Completely surrounded by mountains, the restaurant is the centerpiece of a 17-hectare vineyard. It sits on Middagkrans (translation: afternoon cliff) Mountain overlooking Franschhoek valley and the Franschhoek mountains beyond.
It’s a good thing I made a reservation. When we arrived, the weather was balmy. A soft mist had taken the edge off what is, by all descriptions, a magnificent view, and it would have been a travesty to sit inside. Luckily, we got an outside table under shady oaks overlooking the vineyard, where we proceeded to eat our hearts out. That’s because the location, setting, ambiance and general awesomeness of the place make you wish you could stay forever.
The home-made bread, baked fresh onsite every morning since the 80s, arrived first with butter. This was followed by a starter of creamy snoek spring rolls with salsa verde, tomato and cucumber salad. Main courses included curried chicken skewer with peanut stuffing, curried peanut sauce, papdum and mango salsa. Also on the menu: springbok loin, baked prosciutto, and whole oak-smoked rainbow trout from a local trout farm.
La Petite Ferme started out as a place where families could come for a picnic lunch. Then the establishment started offering cakes, teas and sandwiches. In the 90s, it became a full-fledged restaurant. Trout and slow-roasted lamb are the signature dishes at the restaurant, which is open to the public for lunch only.
Guests who are booked at the 15-room, four-star La Petite Ferme guest house get to eat dinner and breakfast there too. Sadly, I was not one of those, but lunch made me want more.
Mark and Josephine Dendy Young are the owners of La Petite. Mark harvests the grapes, makes the wine, and greets diners at the restaurant, “and he’ll do it with grapes still stuck to his sleeve,” restaurant manager Purdon Rhodes told me.
When the thatched-roof restaurant burned down in 1996, a loyal staff rolled up their sleeves and helped rebuild in three months — record time, Rhodes said. “There was a concrete mixer in one room and food being served in another,” he said.
Mark’s father, John Dendy Young, offers a 1.5-hour wine and cellar tour at 11 a.m. every day — reservations are required and the group is limited to 12 people.
Mondays are the busiest at the restaurant. That’s because other top area restaurants are closed on Mondays, Rhodes said. “Everyone flocks to us,” he said. The restaurant is open 365 days of the year for lunch only but starting in December, the plan was to also be open Fridays for dinner with live music.
We didn’t want to rush our meal at La Petite Ferme. Instead, we enjoyed a glass of wine grown right where we were sitting, and checked out the dessert menu which included a coffee-and-nutmeg biscuit with black cherries in a merlot sauce.