My wannabe chef son and Great dining at Terrior

Cameron with his grandmother at TERROIR

Cameron, our middle child has decided to show an interest and flare in the kitchen department to the degree that we thought it would be best if he had a hands on working experience in an actual restaurant and from there he could decide if this is the path he wanted to choose for his profession in life.

Having said that, the opportunity arose last June holidays where he was given the opportunity to work in the kitchen under Michael Broughton at Terroir on the Klein de Zalze Estate just outside Somerset West. He jumped at the challenge and soaked up the knowledge gained as he was roped into helping at the various work stations within the kitchen - needless to say his interest for the culinary world ignited.

Obviously he must have shown some form of enthusiasm during the brief June appointment, because when the December holidays came along, Michael Broughton contacted me to see if Cameron would once again like to work in the Terroir kitchen and this time he would give him he's own work station - making the bread and rolls. As an unskilled and untrained young chap I thought this was a pretty terrific gesture on Michael part offering this position to my son. Once again and to my surprise my son abandoned the thought of hanging out with friends during the holidays and jumped at the opportunity of working a 5 day week in the kitchen of Terroir. as promised, Cameron was positioned by the bread making station and was also in charge of cooking the staff lunch everyday (roughly 40 of them).

As a treat and to see things from a different angle we took Cameron to dine at Terroir on the night of his birthday. What a tasteful adventure that turned out to be. Michael went out of his way to make it a most wonderful dining experience - starting off by coming to the table to say hello and wish Cameron on his birthday, then sent our table a complimentary butternut and cinnamon soup starter. We then had our ordered starter of salmon with bacon and avo foam - 3 days later and my taste buds are still longing for more.

When Michael originally came to our table to greet I had mentioned in the passing of conversation to him that my wife was a little disappointed that scallops were not on the menu so before our main meal arrived, our master chef ensured that all at the table received another complimentary serving of scallops - Michael Broughton - what can I say but thank you. Then our main course arrived followed by our dessert - every single course was out of this world delicious. Anyone in the area of Stellenbosch and Somerset West - treat your wife, girlfriend or partner for a really lovely and unpretentious dining experience - and do comment on the bread rolls in a positive way.

Father and son at Pomegranate

My 2 sons

In contrast I just have to add that for my daughters 19th birthday we also went to a well known restaurant - Pomegranate Restaurant on the Vergenoegd Wine Estate - well as much as I rave about Terroir in the most positive light, I can say nothing much about Pomegranate.  On the particular day we went to eat there we were a table of 9. In total there was only us and 2 other other tables of 2 sitting outside on the lawns. Talk about pretentious, unsmiling and uneager to please. The bill came to just under R2000, the service was null and void, we were each given 1 small bread roll to nibble on and when asked for more we were told that the rolls are freshly made to order and 1 roll per person only - HELLO - my son makes the bread rolls at Terroir , they are also freshly baked and there is certainly more than 1 per person. To top it off, they must have heard us sing happy birthday to my daughter. Neither the manager/owner (chef) or any of his staff came over as a courtesy to wish my daughter nor did they even send her a complimentary sugar cube as a gesture from the restaurant. Even the 12 Apostles (see my blog) made an added effort to bring a little complimentary something to the table when we went for my mothers birthday. Both thumbs down for Pomegranate - although we could not actually fault the food it was overall one of the worst dining experiences we have had in a long time and I do doubt very much that we will ever go back there, nor would we recommend it to any of our guests staying at Mooring House