The Restaurant at Waterkloof in Somerset West retained its number 3 position in the Top 10 at the 2017 Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaurant Awards. Watch how chef Gregory Czarnecki did it again.

Food

Chef Gregory Czarnecki’s superlative contemporary cuisine won The Restaurant at Waterkloof the number-three spot in the 2017 Top 10. Each dish that comes out of the open kitchen is visually exquisite, technically highly accomplished, playful and inventive in conception, and does great honour to the constituent ingredients, which are of the standard you’d expect from a farm where such attention is paid to the soil and its health.

One of Gregory Czarnecki’s artfully plated dishes at The Restaurant at Waterkloof. Photo supplied.

Take the plunge and go for the degustation menu – it’s worth every cent and every bite. There are a nominal six courses, but that turns into thirteen when the amuse-bouches, sorbets, extra dessert and petit-fours are factored in. Each dish is perfectly calibrated to ensure that you feel perfectly sated when the last delicious morsel is consumed.

Each dish deserves an Instagram account and an essay-length description of its own. I can still see and taste the Dijon mustard caviar that spiced up the puffed beef tendon and crispy chicken skin; the lightly smoked Saldanha Bay oyster harmonizing with a beurre blanc sorbet; and the Egg 63 – sous vide at 63 degrees Celcius, it’s served in the shell, toast-soldier style with an emmenthaler velouté. Then there are also the slices of salt-crust baked celeriac enlivened by curry brittle and passion fruit; the sea bass, perfectly cooked and paired with the tart freshness of gooseberries; and melt-in-the-mouth tender duck breast with saffron apple.

Who would have thought that a dessert containing apricot, pomegranate, fennel, tarragon and petite balls of burnt thyme could be such a satisfactory end to a stellar meal? Bravo, chef!

A dish of sea bass, blancmange, watercress, yoghurt, and pickled onion at The Restaurant at Waterkloof. Photo supplied.

Drinks

Make it simple: accept the recommended Waterkloof wine that accompanies each dish on either the à la carte or degustation menu. You won’t be disappointed.

Service

Service is of a standard that befits the cuisine: accomplished, genial and non-intrusive.

The interiors at The Restaurant at Waterkloof. Photo supplied.

Ambience

The mountaintop setting is spectacular, and so are the views. The restaurant is elegant and unadorned other than the crisp linen and high-quality cutlery and stemware.

And…

There is a particular pleasure to visiting The Restaurant at Waterkloof when the Percheron draught horses are ploughing the vineyards.

Take a look at the rest of the Top 10 here, and the other worthy winners of 2017 Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaurant Awards here.