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Gourmet Travel on the Garden Route

The Garden Route could be likened to the Garden of Eden for all its temptations on the culinary front. When breakfast lasts all morning and dinner goes on well into the evening, you know you've hit the right balance between relaxation and indulgence.

Good food can be a delightful reason to travel, and a trip through the Overberg and along the Garden Route fulfils every culinary desire. Who’d have thought of starting the search for seriously good food at De Hoop nature reserve? Their Fig Tree restaurant exceeds expectations and so does the accommodation, newly renovated and now managed by De Hoop Collection. Under the expert tutelage of roving Food & Beverage consultant Judi Tyson, they offer sophisticated cuisine and excellent service. Even though the cottages at De Hoop are self-catering, why bother when the Fig Tree offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner at excellent prices?

Another unexpected dining experience is in Swellendam, whose best-kept secret is porcini mushrooms growing wild in the pine forests. You’ll have to be up at 4am though, to beat the locals on days when conditions are perfect. Some mushrooms find their way into local eateries, and La Sosta Italian restaurant serves them carpaccio-style: thinly sliced with a sprinkle of extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon. Simple and perfect. While Christiana Minori is in the kitchen creating vitello tonnato (veal with tuna sauce), homemade ravioli or scottata de filetto al tartufo e camembert (beef filet with truffle oil and camembert), her husband Giovanni is waiting tables. Formerly an ophthalmologist, he and Christiana chose Swellendam over Milan, to realise their dream of running their own restaurant.

Another home-based restaurant run by a dynamic couple is Kilzer’s Kitchen in Knysna. Everybody is talking about their ‘Cook and Look’ evenings. With elements of comedy and farce thrown in, Jenny and Albin Kilzer invite everyone to gather around while they cook a 4-course meal for a maximum of 60 diners, whom they treat like guests at a very large dinner party. Jenny is all sauce and spice, telling scandalous jokes, while Albin compares her to the rack of lamb for dinner, which he says has a good layer of fat. One guest who had participated in a Kilzer’s Kitchen cooking course was challenged to an onion chopping competition. He never really stood a chance against these two, who have over fifty years of professional onion-chopping experience between them. Needless to say, the food is cooked to perfection and is a fine-dining experience in a jovial atmosphere.

Knysna is not short of good eateries, and one of the most popular breakfast/brunch/lunch spots is île de païn (island of bread) on Thesen Islands. Make sure to reserve a Companio loaf on your way in, as there might be none left as you leave. People travel miles for their breads and pastries and the chance to imbibe this European café culture. Owner Markus Farbinger says the Companio is best when it’s one day old, his wholegrain bread peaks at three days, but the French baguette should be devoured as soon as it’s cool, when still ‘making music’ as you bite into it.

Knysna is famous for its lagoon-cultivated oysters, and about 15 500 of them will be consumed at the Pick n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival from 3-12 July. At only 100 calories per dozen, you can eat as many as you like. Just one note of caution, the Knysna Oyster Co. say that opening the shell is so tricky, that concert pianists, surgeons and artists are warned not to attempt it. Rather just hop onto the Featherbed Explorer at the Cruise Café dock, where they are served ready shucked while you enjoy a cruise around Knysna lagoon.