The old Cape Dutch building has been refurbished to create a contemporary, country feeling. Photo supplied.

Chef Eric Bulpitt – formerly of the Restaurant at Newton Johnson – has opened a brand new fine dining restaurant today at biodynamic and organic farm, Avondale, in Paarl. Called FABER, the new restaurant is named for the Latin word for artisan – a reflection of Eric’s belief that all chefs are craftsmen.

At this new venue, veggies will be grown on site at Avondale’s organic and biodynamic food garden, fruit will be supplied by the farm’s orchards, and eggs will come from the estate’s free-range chickens. (In time, there are plans to source chicken meat and free-range beef from the farm, too.)

On the menu, Eric promises simple but nuanced dishes like pasture-reared beef sirloin with whole roast spring garlic and bitter mustard leaves and line-caught yellowtail cured in kombu and served with amasi and lemon-verbena-infused compressed apples.

Eric Bulpitt. Photo supplied.

As for the dining space, the Cape Dutch building has been renovated by Avondale owner Johnathan Grieve working with interior designer Annie Dower. Bar counters, tabletops and wooden planters are all crafted from stone pines felled from the farm after a fire. Outside, tables on a shaded terrace offer views across the farm to Table Mountain in the distance.

Stay tuned to Eat Out for our first taste of FABER’s menu.