A brand new fine dining restaurant in the capital city is a grand thing. It’s even better when they snag a smart executive chef to get things rolling.

Called De Kloof and sitting pretty on one of Pretoria’s fine golf estates, the restaurant is owned by siblings Leon and Charl Whitlock. Born and bred in Pretoria, they’ve both just returned from London where they have lived for the past nine years. They wanted to bring some of the fine wine and dining they experienced internationally to their city of birth.

At first they battled to find the perfect spot, but once the building on the golf estate was secured – and, as a bonus, a room with a spectacular view – they could proceed. By chance they discovered that former Granny Mouse chef, Leanne Roberts, was in town and they quickly hunted her down and enticed her into their kitchen. Freshness and quality are priorities in the kitchen, with regular changes to a menu that’s kept small but with enough variety to charm diners. “If I didn’t keep changing, I would become bored,” says Leanne, who’s thrilled to hear both good and bad comment on her cooking.

Not that there’s much of the latter. Our starters included a melt-in-the-mouth tempura of soft-shellcrab with a red curry and coconut sauce and pineapple salsa; a slow-braisedveal brisket with pan-fried porcini mushroom, rosemary butter sauce and jus; and a glorious assiette of Norwegian salmon consisting of salmon and avo nori roll, salmon tartare with olive oil sorbet; and sesame and orange salmon ceviche. All completely divine.

Mains ranged from the innovative pan-grilled kingklip with sweet corn, leek and potato chowder and crispy chorizo to a magnificent black olive-crusted rack of lamb with garlic pommel purée, fresh broad beans and sundried tomato; and a superb springbokWellington with a mélange of delicate vegetables and port and chocolate jus. My choice of whole-roasted deboned quail with duck mousse, a smoked parsnip roti, shitake mushroom, caramelised red cabbage and truffle jus was a complicated, if not fully successful, experiment. While I loved the quail on the whole, it was a touch too dry in the middle to warrant only praise.

De Kloof’s innovative desserts included vanilla pod and thyme panna cotta with macerated strawberries, sorbet and black pepper toile; Valrhona milk chocolate délice with raspberry and merlot sorbet, hibiscus syrup and chocolate tuile; Amarula crème brûléewith hazelnut biscotti and spun sugar; and a fig and apple tarte tartin served with cinnamon crème anglaise and praline ice cream taking the final bow.

The interiors of De Kloof have a quiet masculine slant with strong lines and muted colours, and an inside wall painted with a hint of Jackson Pollock madness. A fine wine list is another of the restaurant’s attributes and it’s clear when talking to Charl that this is where his passion lies. They are in fact planning some spectacular food and wine pairing evenings.

It’s early days, but our first experience was quite spectacular – and definitely a smart addition to the city’s fine fare brigade.

By Diane De Beer