It is almost a year since the new Kleine Zalze Restaurant opened in October 2020. The restaurant opened in the space previously home to Terroir restaurant. Over nearly 16 years of operation Terroir proved hugely successful, but the new tourism landscape and safety concerns and regulations prompted Kleine Zalze to rethink – and reboot – the farm’s food and wine offering.
To assist with the reinvention, respected chef Nic van Wyk was brought in to lead and assist the team as culinary consultant. The food I like to cook is quite timeless,” says Van Wyk. “My approach has always been about being honest, authentic and generous in my cooking. That is what we offer at the Kleine Zalze Restaurant. Not necessarily fine dining but certainly top-quality delicious food.” The restaurant interior was also transformed and now boasts a lighter and more modern look to better fit with the brand and the new lighter approach to the food.
The menu at the Kleine Zalze Restaurant changes regularly but always offers a compact selection of plats du jour; a collection of delicious dishes inspired by classic cuisine. This changes with the season but the focus remains on timeless dishes with flavours that never go out of fashion.
Alongside the plats du jour, the menu offers a selection of tapas plates, perfectly pitched for a lighter meal at the restaurant, a starter before your main course or to complement a wine tasting. “These tapas plates are a chance for the chefs to get a little more creative, a bit more playful in contrast to the straightforward plats du jour,” adds van Wyk. Delectable deserts and excellent coffee completes the menu.
For the winter season the restaurant introduced several new tapa plates alongside some of the firm favourites on the menu. Some of the new tapa dishes to look forward to are octopus with pickled red pepper sauce, aioli and smoked paprika vinaigrette; pea soup with smoked ham hock; sweet and sour bay leaf kidneys on toast; mushroom cannelloni with black pepper and parmesan cream.
The plats du jour menu also changed to introduce some hearty winter fair like Cape bouillabaisse, seafood soup with saffron mayonnaise; venison pies with cassis sauce and red cabbage and pork fillet escalope’s, lemon sauce, smoked mash and Brussel sprouts. The restaurant offers a lunch special for June and July where any of the plats du jour dishes can be enjoyed at 25% discount from Wednesday to Friday. Over the next two months the restaurant also offers a very special Celebration Menu paired with vintage wines, only available from the estate vinoteque. The menu celebrates 25 years since the Basson family bought Kleine Zalze and started Kleine Zalze Wines. To celebrate we are offering a 5-course menu paired with carefully selected vintage wines from the last 25 years. The 5-course pairing menu will be available on Friday and Saturday nights at R485pp for the 5 courses. Wine pairing at R400pp.
The 5-course menu for JULY will be:
Wood fired rolls and “vet koek” with whipped butter, smoked salt and fynbos honey
Wine: Kleine Zalze Vintage Brut 2009 – the first Cap Classique vintage produced on Kleine Zalze
Aubergine, mushroom, haloumi, seaweed, mustard dressing, wilted baby spinach
Wine: Kleine Zalze Family Reserve Sauvignon blanc 2009
Tempura prawn with bouillabaisse sauce and saffron chilli aioli
Wine: Family Reserve Chenin blanc 2013
Confit duck leg, cured and grilled duck breast, cassis sauce, Puy lentils, charred Brussel sprouts
Wine: Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2010
Braised lamb shoulder, potato green bean and onion ragu, white pepper sauce, crispy onions
Wine: Family Reserve Shiraz 2007
Quince and Apple crumble with condensed milk ice cream
Wine: Project Z NV Sweet Fortified
Booking for the Celebration dinner is essential.
E-mail [email protected] to book your table
