La Liste’s hidden gem in Hermanus: Perlemoen Restaurant
Perlemoen Restaurant, situated in the first abalone hatchery in Hermanus’s Old Harbour, has been recognised as a “Hidden Gem” in La Liste’s 2023 awards. La Liste is an online restaurant guide and app that aggregates recommendations and reviews to put together a list of the best of the best. Perlemoen Restaurant is only the second South African restaurant to be awarded this honour – all in its first year of business. Husband and wife team Jannie and Anabella Malherbe opened Perlemoen Restaurant in May. Since then, chefs and owners Jannie Malherbe and Ryan Scholefield have worked tirelessly with their team to create a dining experience that is truly worthy of hidden gem status. HIK Abalone Farm, one of many thriving abalone farms in Hermanus, supply the restaurant with live produce twice a week, bringing you the freshest abalone to experience at Perlemoen Restaurant. Abalone is a mollusc – specifically a…
FEATURE | Tesselaarsdal: It takes a village
Berene Sauls has no airs. How I met her in 2020 is how she is today, and I bet will always be. Back then, she loaded me into her white Polo Vivo (like mine) and took me to the 16.5ha property she purchased in Tesselaarsdal, her hometown, in October 2019. I remember her navigating the dirt roads, puddles and potholes everywhere, driving right through, with mud water spraying high up around us, talking the whole way – she drove that Polo like she was driving a Land Rover Defender with a safari hat on. I loved it. ‘When I sucked at au-pairing’ Wine found Berene. She started out as an au-pair for the Hamilton-Russells in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, but soon found that she had more business sense than child sense. She laughed when I asked her about the failures in her life: “When I sucked at au pairing!” And what…
How seafood restaurant Perlemoen in Hermanus is uplifting its community and tackling sustainability
The historic Old Harbour has been Hermanus’s main attraction since it became a fishing port in the 1850s. Now, there is a fresh incentive to head to the water’s edge as it is also home to an award-winning seafood restaurant that is taking the local area by storm – and making waves on the international scene. Perlemoen Restaurant, opened by co-owners head chef Jannie Malherbe and his wife Annabella in May 2022, offers a unique opportunity to taste the delicacy abalone while drinking in the spectacular views of Walker Bay. “It’s about tasting seafood fresh, combined with the sights, sounds and smells of the ocean,” says locally-born Jannie. “Eating perlemoen in another setting wouldn’t be the same. There aren’t many other places in the world offering anything similar.” The stone building is also where Hermanus vet Dr Pierre Hugo first experimented with breeding the molluscs in captivity in 1984. Perlemoen…
Chef Shane Sauvage of La Pentola Hermanus on National television – 19 January 2023
Spyskaart (Menu) is a South African television show that celebrates ingredients that are in-season and local to the region where the filming takes place. It’s an exciting competition style show where the two chef-presenters create a two-course menu. The show features chefs from different restaurants and towns around South Africa weekly. During the week of 18 January 2023 La Gratitude Villa in Hermanus hosted the SABC 2 show, featuring Shane Sauvage of La Pentola Restaurant. Shane showcased some of the most precious food treasures of Hermanus and prepared a menu including blueberries from Haygrove Heaven and Abagold while touring Heart of Abalone in Hermanus New Harbour. It was an exhilarating episode where the chef-presenters cook their hearts out to impress Chef Shane with the local ingredients that he knows all too well. On the menu created by Yolani Abrahams and Kevin Reed you were to find:Main Course• Lemon Risotto• Tempura…
Hemel-en-Aarde Chardonnay
The most grown white grape on earth, Chardonnay is an eager-to-please cultivar that grows in almost any soil and provides enjoyment at every level. Emile Joubert ponders the qualities of this most versatile of wines. A grape-skin’s throw to the south-east of Elgin lies the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley near the town of Hermanus, which has taken the importance of terroir expression to a new level. The division of this 20km stretch of vineyards into three appellations – Valley, Upper and Ridge – was the brainchild of Anthony Hamilton Russell from Hamilton Russell Vineyards, who introduced vines and Chardonnay to this region in the late 1970s, launching the first Chardonnay here in 1983. “Hemel-en-Aarde is blessed with three distinct borders of geographical differentiation,” says Anthony, “and due to the expressive nature of Chardonnay and our other signature grape, Pinot Noir, the three parts of the valley display a variety of specific features in their wines.…
Hamilton Russell Vineyards in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley
by LEON KRIEL for Stellenbosch Vision December 2021 Part 4 of Stellenbosch Visio‘s exclusive discovery of the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley’s vinous treasures… View from the stables of the Hamilton Russell Vineyards barrel maturation cellar, built by Anthony in 1992. The late Tim Hamilton Russell pioneered viticulture and winemaking in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, producing the region’s first wines four decades ago. Son Anthony took over the helm of Hamilton Russell Vineyards in 1991, continuing his father’s vision of creating world-class Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in a part of the Cape that had never grabbed anyone’s imagination as being wine country. Continue reading
Forbes on Hemel-en-Aarde Pinot Noir
Pinot noir Pinot noir, the world’s ninth most-planted grape variety. The icon wines here are from Burgundy in France. They are often relatively light in colour with high acidity and plenty of red fruits (cherries, strawberries…), often with a good dose of wood ageing. They can have notes of very ripe fruits and forestland underbrush. American versions tend to be denser and with more ripe fruit. Pinot is not widely planted in South Africa but has had great success on a small scale in the Hemel and Aarde region in Walker Bay on the cooler south coast.Harvest in the vineyards in Hemel en Aarde Continue reading
Breakfast at Marietjies
You can’t say you’ve visited the quaint Overberg village Baardskeerdersbos if you haven’t been to Marietjies. Essentially this is a pub but in reality, it is much more. It’s the local meet-up and the place for having a breakfast pig-out. Breakfast comes in half size for full. The full breakfast is R130 per person and is guaranteed to fill you up and leave enough spare for a doggie bag. Every order comes with individually plated eggs and garnish of tomato and lettuce with a second plate loaded with enough chips, bacon, sausage, cheese and bread for however many people are at the table. A farmer’s flask of coffee is given to complete the meal.Fast facts: Marietjies is popular and visited often by foodies, sporting teams and curious locals. It’s a great drive and peek at country living without forfeiting on an exceptional experience. Trout delicacies from nearby, free of preservatives,…
Cape Floral Kitchen
When visitors walk in to share their exceptional experiences at local restaurants with the tourism staff we listen. Susanne and Jürgen Schneider are no strangers to the Overstrand hospitality scene. We know them from Springfontein Eats in Stanford and were disappointed to learn about their retirement. Fortunately for foodies the retirement was short lived. News soon spread that the Schneiders were back in business in the Overstrand. This time at Bella Vista situated 8.4kms from Stanford on the Gansbaai Road. The talented couple with 40 years of experience in hotels and restaurants around the world and a Michelin Star to boot started Schneider’s Cape Floral Kitchen and already it is a big hit. Attention to detail is what this couple is known for – from booking, arrival to the first course arriving, diners know that they are in good hands. Jürgen has been cooking for 50 years and feels that…
Stanford Sweet Sponge Queen
A passion for baking stirred by her grandmother has led to Stanford local Jacoline Louw participating in the first Stanford Culinary Festival in September 2022. Jacoline was one of the foodies to present a Dine With A Local experience offering a personal, hands-on cooking class that is interactive. The guests eat the food prepared while listening to the stories told about the area, its people and produce. It is a window into the culture that is not always accessible to visitors but very much part of a travelling trend where travellers wish to engage with the people in an authentic way. Jacoline is famous for her lamingtons, squares of sponge cake dipped in chocolate and coconut. She served this delicacy recently when Irish businessman Jarlath Sweeney visited Stanford to retrace the steps of Sir Robert Stanford who was born close to Jarlath’s hometown of Claremorris. Jacoline’s baking skills support the…