One of the perks of being a wedding planner in Cape Town, apart from the obvious glamorous events and stunning weddings that we’re lucky enough to be a part of, is that every now and then venues, restaurants, and even hotels invite us for a complimentary visit to experience what they have to offer. This week, we happily accepted an invitation from the renowned Buitenverwagting restaurant, situated on the rolling hills of the picturesque Klein Constantia Estate.
What I like about considering a wedding at this venue, is that while it is situated on a beautifully manicured wine farm, it was still a unique location in terms of it not being your standard Stellenbosch wedding venue. The location also means that the venue is closer to Cape Town, which is generally where a lot of overseas guests stay before and after weddings that they’re attending during their visit, so already this venue had a couple of items in the “pro’s” column before we even got there.
We’re not strangers to Buitenverwagting. We love the venue and often suggest it to couples due to the restaurant’s understated class, the fact that the food is out of this world, and with the neutral classic-modern colour and décor scheme, almost any bride’s chosen wedding colours would work in this venue.
And to top it all off, Buitenverwagting is also affordable. It’s pretty much a wedding planner’s dream venue and that’s saying a lot with the abundance of sophisticated venues at our disposal in the Cape Town area. We’ve also planned a wedding here before, and it was a truly well executed, successful and classy day for the bridal couple and all their guests. This is why we were so excited to go back, and to be the guests this time.
Our visit was fantastic! Right from our arrival we felt like we were on vacation. From the entrance we could see the majestic manor house of the estate and after a short drive past some vineyards, large open fields, and a couple of grazing horses, we arrived at the restaurant and were welcomed by the calming fountain situated in the middle of the modern courtyard entrance.
We were then greeted and taken to our outdoor table on the veranda, overlooking the fountain, it was the perfect day to be outside and we were ready for our wine and menu tasting!
After we’d had a little chuckle over these adorable little napkin jackets on the tables and ordered our starters, we were treated to some delicious amuse bouche which consisted of a tian of grilled vegetables and goats cheese, accompanied by a black olive tapenade. It was as delicious as it sounds and paired perfectly with the tasty Buitenverwachting Buiten Blanc.
After our palettes were sufficiently amused (“amuse bouche” directly translates to “amusement of the mouth”), we couldn’t wait to tuck into our starters which consisted of a gourmet Ceaser salad with pan-fried Norwegian Salmon, poached Quail eggs, white anchovies and the most delectable paper thin pancetta,
as well as pan fried wild Argentinean Prawns which included its own bisque, avocado with chilli, and mint-citrus marinated cucumbers.
Since our starters were so good, we considered just stopping there and leaving our experience on a high note, but how could we?! After ordering our mains we were treated to some red current palette-cleansing sorbet which was the perfect way to prepare for the feast ahead of us.
For mains we tucked into a steak tartare, including a selection of chopped shallots, egg yolk, egg whites, anchovies, capers, gherkins, red pepper and a tabasco jelly, as well as the fennel, rosemary and thyme Porchetta, which was accompanied by a pea purée, potato gratin, and a dark gravy. It. Was. Amazing!
This was possibly the best way I could think of for two wedding planners to spend a Tuesday afternoon!
Since we were almost full to breaking point, we politely declined dessert. That was until our friendly and efficient waiter told us about the Buitenverwaghting Chocolate Variation (for the serious Chocoholic), complete with mini white chocolate grand piano. I’ll repeat that; mini, white-chocolate grand piano. We were sold!
And to put the cherry on the white-chocolate grand piano, we enjoyed our dessert with a glass of the Buitenverwachting late harvest dessert wine. It was truly delectable!
The grounds were beautiful, the food was incredible and Buitenverwachting safely secured their spot as one of our top recommended wedding venues in Cape Town. We love that couples can enjoy the serenity of the winelands closer to Cape Town than having to travel to Stellenbosch, we love that wedding ceremonies are hosted under the ancient oak tree on the immaculate green lawns of the garden, and we have once again been blown away by the culinary delight that Buitenverwachting has to offer bridal couples and their guests. We had a truly fantastic time during our visit to this wonderful wedding venue, and even walked away having made a new friend there.
Till our next blog post, cheers!
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