Fun dining, not fine dining is the focus of the Nguni Café pop up at Vergelegen Wine Estate. The café has been put up temporarily in one of the pastures that is home to the farm’s herd of Nguni cattle, with long views to the mountains and the herd companionably munching hay at the fence right by the café. The menu is simple - loaded hotdogs: three gourmet styles designed by Chef Michael Cooke. Known for his ingredient-focussed fine dining at Camphors Restaurant on the estate, he’s taken that attention to detail and applied it to creating tasty, messy eating, finger-licking good, proper hotdogs.
First wooed by the Asian - sophisticated with kimchi, kewpie mayonnaise and sesame, I was then swayed to the more classic German, which topped hotdog and sauerkraut with crispy bacon bits and mild mustard. The French was gorgeous with truffle aioli but I found the Dijon mustard a little too piquant for my palate, even though it balanced the richness nicely. The default sausage is a classic pork and cheese griller, selected from a local German butcher, and you can substitute it with either a beef or a vegetarian sausage on request. We tasted both of these and they were excellent quality – this may be fast food but it’s certainly not junk food. At R80 for a generously sized hot dog, piled lavishly with toppings it’s a steal, and the sides of crispy fries, cut at a happy medium between chunky or skinny, at R30 including a tub of homemade mayonnaise are worth ordering even on their own.
The open air café makes an ideal outing for local families. Kids get a simple unfussy hotdog for R40 and make full use of the ride on plastic bikes parked at the entrance, roaring up and down the farm road, in between talking to the cows and running around within sight of the outdoor tables.
The Nguni herds take turns being on duty at the café, so they don’t get bored hanging out in one place all day. Usually they roam a vast expanse of pasture land, which they rehabilitate with their nomadic grazing, encouraging a greater variety of indigenous grasses and insects. When we visited it was the young steers curious and jostling for attention, other times it’s mothers and young calves.
The single dessert on the menu is a luscious éclair filled with milk tart cream and topped with dark chocolate sauce R35, absolutely delicious, although I was already full from my hotdog! My advice would be to stretch out the afternoon – go for a leisurely walk around the stunning farm roads and gardens of the estate after your hotdogs and wine, then return for coffee and eclairs as a final treat.
The café is a temporary conservatory-style structure, designed to be moved easily to the next pop-up venue on the farm (the word is it’s going to be by the river and have a sparkling mountain stream fish theme – look out for the changeover early in September) It’s ideal for open air pandemic dining with most tables outside, some on a covered deck, some under umbrellas, and the inside has glass walls opening wide for ventilation with high ceilings, furnished with couches and tables for wintry weather days.
We also got a sneak peek at a brand new offering at Vergelegen – they had just taken delivery of a safari vehicle which they plan to use for wine safaris exploring the estate. I hadn’t realised quite how far back into the mountains the Vergelegan farm extends – we went up and up into their biodiversity nature reserve to meet the eland, soon to be joined by a breeding herd of quagga, then up another road to the wine cellars with stunning views out over the dam to False Bay and Table Mountain.
Vergelegen has always been a lovely place to visit with its ancient camphor trees, gardens, homestead and restaurants, but these new additions to the offering are adding another couple of reasons for locals to visit even when they don’t have overseas visitors to entertain.
Did you know that locals can join the premium loyalty programme for R300 a year, to get free admission any day for themselves and up to six people – Perfect if you enjoy walking the 8km loop of farm roads or just to hang out in beautiful gardens. Now I wish we lived close enough to Vergelegen to truly call ourselves locals!
The Nguni Café pop-up runs Wednesday to Sunday (and public holidays) 10h00-17h00 for walk-ins and takeaways until the end of August. Max 50 people at a time.
Admission to the estate is R10 per person or R5 for scholars and pensioners.
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