If a great Sunday lunch is your thing then head over to Bot River in the Overberg and take a drive down the country lane on Wildekrans Wine Estate to Forage. Forage opened on 2 November 2016 and replaced the previous on site eatery that was destroyed by a fire five months earlier. The fine dining restaurant takes its name from the practice of foraging for botanicals on the 1170 hectar farm. Chef Patron Gregory Henderson was not in the kitchen on the day of my visit but local Sous Chef Fatima showed her steel and energetically plated artworks for lunch. It seemed as if the Forage secret is out as familiar foodies were seated at three of the tables.
Forage has a seasonal menu that changes to reflect the flavours of what’s on offer in the Overberg. An à la carte menu has 2, 3 or 4 course options accompanied with the estate’s wine of your choice or paired with selected wines at R25 per wine. For the brave with no waistline restraints there is a six course degustation gourmand menu that should be ordered by at least two people at the table.
My selection for starters was Tales From The Pond. Wild duck liver brulé with burnt caramel, duck egg mayo, seed crumble and slangbosbessie caviar was accompanied by Espresso Grappa. Rich. The grappa was good but next time I’ll call on the chenin to deal with the luscious creaminess. Next up was The Cow On Dandelion. Beef short rib with butter poached egg yolk, smoked parsnip, onion crisps, sweet corn poppers and dandelion creamed maize. Wildekrans Barrel Select Cape Blend 2013 was just perfect with this meal. I could have no more after these beautifully served coursed but eagerly took pictures as my friends went all out to finish with the “sweet remembrances”. The Common Sugar Bush was no common dessert. Served to replicate a closed flower a hot jasmine sweet milk is poured over a chocolate pavé and the sugar petals opened slowly. The Apple Orchard was just the most photo friendly dessert with salted caramel pop corn, toffee drops and apply jelly.
The decor, staff, surrounding country views, food and wine all exceeded expectations and we nodded in agreement that we will all be back for more Forage fine dining.
Forage is on Wildekrans Wine Estate, R43, Botrvier, South Africa and you can phone them on +27 28 050 0397. The restaurant is open from Tuesday to Sunday.
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