Exploring Stanford. Picture: Jim Freeman
Drive along the R43 from Hermanus to Gansbaai in the Western Cape and, midway between the two at the junction with the R326, you’ll find Stanford.
There’s nothing that immediately catches the eye other than the local cooperativer but turn off the arterial and you’ll feel like Alice who travelled down the rabbit hole to Wonderland.
I can almost guarantee you will return completely entranced and, if you spend any length of time there, several kilograms heavier.
Stanford, a verdant home to some 14000 people a mere 140km from Cape Town, is emerging as a gastronomic getaway… hospitality heaven in the province that is already widely acknowledged as one of the culinary capitals of the world.
Apart from the dozen-odd restaurants, bistros, and bakeries that line the main road, visitors can visit 11 wine estates, three breweries and distilleries, and two multiple award-winning cheese-makers.
Me and my Chery. Picture: Jim Freeman
The village was founded in 1857 and is named after a retired British officer turned farmer, Sir Robert Stanford, whose main claim to fame was victualing a convict ship, the Neptune, in Simon’s Town much to the fury of the local population.
This was at a time when the British government had proposed turning the Cape into a penal colony along the lines of what is now Australia.
Another ship that features large in Stanford’s history is HMS Birkenhead (also the name of one of the breweries), a troopship that was wrecked nearby with the loss of 450 of the 643 people on board.
There were insufficient lifeboats for everyone and the soldiers stoically awaited drowning while women and children boarded first.
On a lighter nautical note, the Lady Stanford offers cruises down the Klein River… although its entire course is about 70km, its source and end-point are only 10km from one another in a straight line.
Bring your own refreshments for the idyllic two-hour expedition; the skipper provides glasses and ice.
I was fortunate during my previous visit in 2021 to meet Harry Poortman and Steyn Jacobs of Haes Farm (www.haesfarm.com) and could not wait to introduce my partner Rose-mariè to their two-bedroom guesthouse and dinner table.
Harry, a sprightly 77-year-old Hollander who has been in Stanford for the past 12 years, is not only the main protagonist in the kitchen but also an extremely engaging and knowledgeable host.
Dinner was exquisite, comprising a two-cheese (Parmesan and Gruberg from Klein River Artisan Cheese) soufflé as starter, followed by pork fillet medallions dusted with fresh nutmeg and served with a carrot, cardamom, honey, and rosewater sauce with horseradish-infused mash and pickled beetroots.
The meal was completed by Steyn’s signature fluffy Lindt chocolate mousse with almond flakes and fresh berries. The entire meal was perfectly complemented by Raka’s merlot based dry rosé.
A leisurely breakfast on the Haes Farm stoep overlooking Stanford and the more distant Walker Bay was followed by a couple of hours’ exploration before we dutifully reported at midday to Madre Malan.
Haes Farm breakfast. Picture: Jim Freeman
Madre restaurant (www.madre.stanford.co.za) has been at the forefront of Stanford cuisine for the past seven years and is possibly the main reason the village has become so popular among foodies.
Rose-mariè and I have adopted the habit of sharing plates, so we opted for the prawn and chorizo risotto as well as butternut gnocchi with burnt sage-butter as starters. The risotto was absolutely out of this world.
Main courses were panfried kabeljou served with a creamy caper and dill sauce, and duck confit accompanied by potato gnocchi and a creamy mustard sauce; both dishes being light and delicious. We finished off with a slice of tastebud-popping lemon tart.
Once again we opted for a merlot-based rosé wine, this time from Lomond. Interestingly, the accents emanating from the tables around us were Irish, German, Scottish, and American – testament that Stanford’s appeal is not just local.
Lunch was followed by a cruise on the Lady Stanford (with chips and a Springfield Pinotage) before heading to the village green for the monthly Stanford market.
The market, held over two hours on the last Friday evening of every month, is popular with both tourists and locals.
Stanford Market. Picture: Jim Freeman
You can tell the former from the latter because out-of-towners hire glasses and hang out mostly around the Stanford Valley Wines stand, while locals bring their own chairs and cooler-boxes while soaking up the atmosphere before heading to one of the many stalls serving food.
Rose-mariè and I opted for a couple of thin-based takeaway pizzas from the Stanford Kitchen where we were lucky enough to encounter owner William Stephens who treated us to the latest village skinder over a rather nice Cabernet Franc.
“Proper” Italian food is served at La Trattoria by the father and son team of Corrado and Lionello Giovenetti. Across the road is “new kid on the block” Janine van der Nest’s Agteros which has really raised Stanford’s fine-dining bar since opening last year.
Janine, however, is well known for running the Stanford Valley Manor House restaurant, one of the most popular eat-out spots in the Overberg for several years.
LaTrattoria. Picture: Jim Freeman
My good lady and I booked into the Stanford Valley Country Lodge for a couple of nights – a bucket list destination for me for quite a few years – and preceded checking on a Saturday afternoon with lunch at the venue that had previously been Van der Nest’s stamping ground.
By this stage we were pretty replete and ordered three starters between us (a mussel potjie with leek baguette; calamari with a pawpaw, chile, lime, and coriander salsa, and baked camembert with honey-baked grapes) while overlooking horse paddocks and the Klein River Mountains.
The camembert, incidentally, came from Stonehouse which specialises in the “softer” cheeses.
Stanford Valley Country Lodge (www.stanfordvalley.co.za) is based about 10km outside the village on the Akkedisberg Pass, It features six cottages with kitchens and 10 en-suite rooms on a 440-ha property that is crisscrossed with hiking and biking trails.
One of the more endearing touches is a “swimming dam” in addition to the requisite swimming pool for hotter days.
There is a spa that offers a range of treatments as well as a wood-fired sauna, steam room, and plunge pool. We found it equally soothing to sit outside our room with a bottle of Boschrivier Cabernet Sauvignon during the late afternoon while the mountains turned gold and the welcome cooling breeze rustled the silver leaves of the poplar forest below.
The only thing disturbing our mental placidity was the knowledge we were going to need to choose where to go for dinner…
NOW READ: You’re royalty in bush kingdom
Download our app
