http://www.dekloofrestaurant.co.za/
Address: Waterkloof Golf Estate, John Rissik drive, Waterkloof, Pretoria.
Cuisine : Contemporary, French, South African
Operating Hours: Monday: Lunch on request for groups of 12 people or more, dinner from 18h00
Tuesdays - Saturdays: Brunch 10h00 - 12h00
Lunch 12h00 - 15h00
Dinner 18h00 - 22h00
Sundays: Brunch 10h00 - 12h00
Lunch 12h00 - 15h00
What an experience I mean from the second that we walked in the service was excellent, friendly staff greeting us with the dark wooden tables and chandeliers hanging from the roof in the background, as we make our way to the outside where I requested a table on the "stoep" (as they call it), I sat down with big expectations thinking will this place be any different from all the other restaurants I`ve been to?
I can easily claim this as a Jem of a restaurant, which could easily become one of my favourite eating spots, they boost an impressive Wine list with local and international Wines, from Stellenbosch to France and even Spain is listed here, the front runners being the two Bordeaux blends, Chateau D`Armaillhac 2001 Pauillac AC and the Chateaux Palmer 1995 Margaux AC, they also have a special array of Dessert Wines which compliments the desserts in an unforgettable way.
Each dish on the menu can be paired with a glass of wine if you wish, I order a bottle of Boekenhoutskloof Semillon 2006 seeing that its a hot summery day we can sip away a nice well balanced white, unfortunate the vintage on the menu said 2006 and the bottle we received was a 2009 but nevertheless we still had it anyway.
After having a look at the menu we ordered our starters and mains, I decided on a Pan-grilled Squid, Squid Ink Spaghetti, Mango Red Onion & Chive salsa, we were surprised with a trio of olive, basil and sun dried tomato butter and amazing freshly baked breads to nibble on before our starters arrived, taking in the beautiful view of the Groenkloof Nature reserve hills in front of us and the most perfect place to have some sun downers on hot day!Our starters arrived and I can`t wait to start eating this well presented very colourful dish, it was truly amazing, the freshness of my squid was simply fantastic all the flavours merging together to where my mouth probably thought its Christmas again.
We order mains and my brother and I decide on the Coffee- Crusted Loin of Springbok accompanied by glazed Parsnips, Melange of Baby Vegetables and a Port & Chocolate Jus and my Mother for the Pan-grilled Lemon & Rosemary Marinated Lamb of Loin Cutlets, served with Grilled Mediterranean Vegetables, Crisp Potato Wedges, Red Wine and Rosemary Jus, the dishes were amazing my springbok cooked to perfection and my Mothers Lamb was packed with flavour!
We ordered some desserts and dessert wines to go with that and even that didn't disappoint!We finished the day with some coffee and a drive through Fort Klapperkop before we head back home, and my way back I realised that everything was either perfect or very close to perfect, we had a fantastic lunch at De Kloof and to be honest I cant wait to go back!
