Recently I was lucky enough to be invited to taste the new Spring menu at La Petite Ferme in Franschhoek. The venue consists of a luxury boutique hotel as well as the restaurant which I’d heard of before and had always wanted to go to!
The restaurant offers a truly unique culinary experience. Each dish is meticulously prepared using international techniques and flavours while making sure to use only the best, freshly sourced ingredients grown locally in the valley of Franschhoek. This ensures that the menu is perfectly in season. Presentation and flavour take top priority and you can rest assured that each dish not only delivers a flavour sensation like no other but is also picture perfect. Definitely Instagram worthy 😉
I was able to bring along a plus one which was a win as we both ordered different dishes and then shared so I was able to have a taste of more of the menu. There are still so many dishes that looked absolutely incredible that I definitely want to go back and try!
We started off with the Ostrich Carpaccio and the Saffron smoked lime and chilli prawn. Both were delicious but my favourite would have to be the prawns. They had such an incredible depth of flavour and were paired beautifully with spring onion and jeera egg fried rice; pickled ginger; char grilled red pepper and tomato gel and a basil pesto soil. The Ostrich Carpaccio came with fresh apple, candy-striped beetroot, kohlrabi salad, smoked artichoke cream and wholegrain mustard. I absolutely loved the smoked artichoke cream and wish there had been a little more of it as it really brought some necessary flavour into the dish.
For mains we had the Ginger & Chilli Pork Belly and the Duo of Line Fish. The absolute standout was the pork belly which was my favourite dish of the day by a long way! This dish is definitely one of the best I’ve ever tasted and left me very sad that I had to share half of it! Accompanied by a sweet, tangy apple cider reduction, a deliciously creamy roast pumpkin puree, hazelnut praline dust and the most glorious clouds of crunchy black salted crackling. Then to make it extra special the pork belly had a thin layer of apple tart ta tan over the top of it which just married everything together. I’m salivating just writing this it was that good!! The duo of line fish was trout and tuna and I must say I was slightly disappointed by it. Don’t get me wrong, it was still good, but after having the pork belly there was really no comparison. The line fish came with potato scales (which looked suspiciously like packet bought Lays chips), avocado spuma, smoked tomato dust, black rice, grilled pineapple and a bacon and Gorgonzola sauce which came poured over the tuna.
After we had indulged in the starter and main we went outside to relax on the beautiful lawns, drink wine and let our stomachs digest some of the food before attempting dessert. We chose to share the Rose and White Chocolate Mousse which came with raspberry jelly, lychee compote, crisp meringue shards and raspberry powder. This dessert was definitely a win and I could have eaten the whole thing! The mousse was perfectly light and airy so as to balance out the indulgent sweetness and paired with the crisp, crunchy meringue it was the perfect pairing of textures on the palate.
I can’t wait to try out their Summer menu in December!
A xx
The Food Snob 