“I can’t quite believe it’s been 17 years!” says Jean Engelbrecht, owner of Rust en Vrede wine estate, home of one of the Cape’s most respected and long-lived fine-dining restaurants. For many years, Jean travelled the world, selling the farm’s portfolio of red wines, and enjoying some of the finest international restaurants along the way. In the back of his mind, he always had the idea to reproduce something similar in Stellenbosch, but found many of the top-rated restaurants in Europe too formal and stuffy.

It was a visit to the US – and specifically Thomas Keller’s French Laundry – in the early 2000s that opened his eyes to the possibility of offering fine dining in a relaxed atmosphere. Once he had his model, he began his search for a chef – and, in one of the great culinary partnerships of the past 20 years, he was introduced to rising star David Higgs. David and Jean spent nearly two years compiling the blueprint for the restaurant they wanted to create, before finally opening the doors of Rust en Vrede Restaurant, in a beautiful National Monument building, in 2007.

To read the full story, grab your copy of the 2024 Eat Out magazine – on shelf at your nearest Woolies for R115!