Andries Stockenstrom - Articles

The oasis that is the Andries Stockenström comes as more than a surprise. The gigantic house with its wide, yellowwood plank floors gives on to a spacious stoep and a garden crammed with fruit trees. A delicious smell of rich wine sauces, herbs and fruity pud wafts through the house.

Beatrice won the Full Service Guesthouse Award this year for her 14-seater restaurant and five guest rooms. It's hardly believable that this (Paris) Ritz-trained, qualified cordon bleu chef would come to hang her hat in a town 700km from Johannesburg and make a reputation which reaches right into France and Belgium.

Frans Karoo is the way she describes her food - top-class local ingredients treated lovingly and presented with true French flair. Barnard doesn't mince words either. She's a perfectionist who sneers at cooks who can't tell the difference between a galantine and a ballotine. 16 fig trees, apricots, lemon, plum and orange trees and a splendid vegetable garden supply the fresh ingredients of her picture-perfect salads and spectacular desserts, such as figs with rum and creme fraîche.

Citrus sauces are a foil for the rich, dark meats such as loin of kudu, ostrich fillet and swartwildebees.

Her passion for fresh food, authentic French taste and local ingredients, such as the incomparable Karoo lamb, has made her a legend among serious eaters. Her establishment is featured in several French and Belgian tourist guides and one Frenchman made the 700km journey from Johannesburg to eat at her table, returning the next day. "They know how to eat," she says.

His breakfast would have been figs and apricots or a bowl of prunes...yeah, poached in port and cloves. An omelette would have included garlic and fresh herbs, or at special request, a succulent bit of kudu liver pâté. "My food is for the strong of heart," she explains.