Moveable Feast Jean-Pierre Rossouw
OF course, food should mix with art and wine at every=20 street corner of the Cape. Unfortunately, this is a popular=20 legend that no longer holds any reality. It may have been=20 true a couple of decades ago, but we Capetonians have to be=20 honest, and say that much now rides on long-cooled=20
One restaurant that makes an effort to recapture some of=20 the old Cape culture, or rather style, is Ralph’s at the=20 Guinea Fowl, which is part of the Saxenburg wine estate.=20 This restaurant is testimony to one person’s willingness to=20 thrust his personality, through his art and food, upon=20 eager foodophiles.
You step into a room that is heavily draped in colours that=20 don’t sit back and wait. The paintings on the wall are=20 luminous and often lurid. The walls are paint-scraped and=20 the chandeliers are set in mirrored recesses, lavish and=20 full. Tables are elegantly presented, then offset by=20 stripped white wooden chairs, like the ones your=20 grandmother may have had on her stoep, under the acacia.
As this suggests, the whole concoction touches on the=20 fringe of kitsch, depending on your level of sensitivity –=20 but there’s no doubt it is uncompromisingly eccentric and=20 unavoidably present. Mention must go to the pianist who=20 made the whole experience feel like a prolonged elevator=20
The style of the decor carries through to the menu, which=20 was set on the Sunday we visited the Guinea Fowl. There was=20 salad as a prelude, with a fine dressing and good home-made=20 bread. Saxenburg make a light and refreshing cap classique=20 which suited the warm day like a mountain stream. Now=20 everyone who has been to Ralph’s in Stellenbosch talks=20 about the size of the portions in some awe. It’s my duty to=20 raise the red lantern once more: every portion on that=20 elevator ride was seriously sized, with the exception of=20 the dessert.
In keeping with the size of the portions was the variety=20 offered by the menu. From two soups, through marinated=20 mussels and rollmops, melon balls with port, blackened fish=20 and satays, to bobotie. The soups were stable, but not=20
Starters that we tried included avocado with sauteed=20 linefish, calamari, mussels and prawn, which was rich and=20 tender; aubergine bake, very promising but hidden beneath a=20 curtain of black pepper; and green peppers stuffed with=20 Turkish lamb mince and tomato coulis — rather dull and=20
The high point of the menu was the blackened fish, just=20 enough bite-encrusting succulent fish. The satay with=20 Indonesian peanut sauce was, on the other hand, not spicy=20 enough. Every main course seemed to be served with the=20 typically South African potato, patat and cauliflower in=20 white sauce, giving every exotic dish a local colour.
The Cape brandy pudding was mercifully light, but a bit of=20 a cop-out on my part, because after such a melange the=20 trifle was surely the obvious choice.
It’s a pity that eclecticism isn’t handled with more=20 integrity here, but there are no real clangers — a solid,=20 slightly staid meal in spontaneous surroundings.
Ralph’s at the Guinea Fowl: Saxenburg Estate, Polkadraai=20 Road, Kuilsriver. Tel: (021) 903-4308