A visit last Saturday night to 96 Winery Road for their 10th birthday celebrations. Ten years doing anything is remarkable these days, even more the capricious business of running a restaurant. It turns out that the “96” does not indicate the street address, but the founding year. In those days, there were hardly any restaurants worth any time in the Stellenbosch area – and strangely there is still only a handful. The locals are always lamenting the “where to dine” theme tune. It seems part of a cultural conundrum – South Africans are not very happy to pay for food unless it is the most inexpensive burger and soggy chip. Your farmers are very prone to this kind of thinking, and there are many farmers in Stellenbosch.
For the occasion, 96 Winery presented a few of the classic dishes over the decade, and got the three chefs that had worked/still work to collaborate. Green tomato tarte tatin, wild mushroom cappuccino, miso-style Norwegian salmon, crispy roast duck and their rich dessert platter, followed by cheese. Happily, all was tasty in the rustic house style, I particularly enjoyed the salmon (my wife’s even better as it was rare) with a wasabi mayo. The duck was damn tasty too, on a potato and pear dauphinoise, a fun idea.
At the end of the day, 96 Winery is still a good winelands bet for some home cooking. And as other places (slowly) get their act together, their superb winelist will add an x-factor that’s going to take some beating.
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