The food was tantalising, tasty and definitely worth the plate cost. Unfortunately, served by staff that are in desperate need of training, which ranged from taking away food I was still eating, not knowing what to do with the 2 flies that decided to play in the red wine... sigh... lastly, a significant fly problem, which plagued our lunch experience. Sadly, i walk away with only memories of the fly problem

This really did not live up the standards I expect from a high quality restaurant. The food simply wasn’t flavourful and the elements on the plates did not work together as a whole. I’ve gotten a lot better for a lot cheaper. The starters were acceptable but not good. I had the ostrich Carpaccio with butternut. The dish as a whole lacked flavour and it was served with some unidentifiable pink mouse. The butternut did not really add anything to that dish. My husband ordered the gravlax. This was closer to sashimi than an actual gravlax. While I can understand the philosophy of letting natural ingredients shine, you would expect some form of cured character. My main was the line fish on Risotto Nero with bouillabaisse foam. The dish was under seasoned and element on this plate really delivered on flavour. My husband’s Lemongrass pan-fired seafood with Laksa sauce was the worst dish of the night. Some of the fish was mushy and extremely unpleasant. The dish was served on a bed of overcooked, mushy noodles. I had the rhubarb soufflé in a glass as dessert. The rhubarb soufflé was the only real success of the night. However, it did not really go with the other elements on the plate – the sourness completely overpowered the vanilla pecan nut ice cream. I ended up first eating the soufflé and then eating the sweet elements on the plate. I would not return nor recommend this restaurant to anyone else.

We took visitors from Toronto to lunch at Buitenverwagting in Constantia.

My starter was the Layered Pepper, Aubergine, Zucchini, Tomato and Creamy Feta with Rocket, Basil Pesto, Olive Tapenade, Pine Kernel-Parmesan Shortbread and Balsamico. Olives of various colours surrounded the dish, which was fresh, very tasty and scrumptious. A light starter for my main course. I paired this with their chilled Buitenverwagting Pinot Noir Rose wine.

My main course was an absolute delight (best I've had in a long time) roasted shoulder of lamb - crusty outside and pink inside. Tender and oh, so delicious - mouth waters just to think of it now. Then as a surprise there was rack of lamb as well - 3 lovely little perfectly cooked chops also crispy on the outside and pink inside. On the side was a potato croquette, crisp long beans, spinach, soft roasted garlic on top of the sliced roast shoulder of lamb and on the other side, puréed peas and whole cooked peas. A tasty wine jus completed this appetizing, well presented, tasty dish. I quaffed it down with a carafe of Buitenverwagting Cabernet Sauvignon.

My wife's main was the Kudu Entrecote Strindberg Style served with a Port Wine Sauce and Sweet Corn, Beans, Bacon and Potato Fricassee. The grilled Kudu was rare with a potato mash in a cooked potato basket, surrounded by a wine jus sauce with crisply cooked mealies and beans, cut up roasted potatoes. She said it was wonderful and I tasted it too - she was correct it was full flavoursome - a strong flavour. But I preferred my lamb which had such subtle flavours compared to the crusty Kudu.

Our visitor had the Pan-fried Wild Argentinean Prawns to start (looked good & he was
happy) and Fish and Chips for his main. The 2 thick pieces of deep fried Hake were perfectly battered. The others shared a fresh garden salad as a starter and each had beautifully grilled Kingklip as mains served with Berries, Mash and Squash. They practically licked their plates clean. This was accompanied by a bottle of rose coloured Pinot Noir grown and bottled from the terroir outside our tall glass windows.

Every dish was beautifully served and delicious in taste. The Terrace where we ate overlooked the vineyards and a better lunch could not have been asked for - it exceeded expectation as the name implies, it stood up to its name and reputation – “buitenverwagting".

As an accompaniment to our coffee, very tasty and beautifully crafted Petit Fours were served with compliments from the Chef.

So here’s my rating out of 5 stars –

1. Pushing culinary boundaries: tantalizing taste buds - ***** 5 stars
2. Ambiance - ***** 5 stars
3. Wine - **** 4 stars
4. Service - *** 3 stars

Overall would we come again - a resounding, "yes".

The bill came to R1 800 including tip for the 5 of us.

The food was excellent and the staff went out of their way to make us feel special after getting engaged on the estate. Super!

A pertinent comment written by a user from another restaurant review site, "Please Buitenverwachting! Give it a rest. These obviously fake reviews are not enhancing your reputation." Unfortunately the perfect spelling and grammar, as well as the frequent flourish of the exclamation mark at the end of every 'review', support this argument. Sad!