I grew up on the edge of Klein Constantia, so this valley is home ground for me. When guests want one meal in Cape Town they will talk about for years, this is where I send them.
La Colombe began in 1996 on a Constantia wine farm, under a French chef, and quickly became one of the best-loved tables in the country. In 2014 it moved up the hill to Silvermist, a small organic estate at Constantia Nek, with forest and fynbos all around and the valley falling away below.
The kitchen calls its food theatre, and it is. Courses arrive in tins and porcelain animals, sauces are poured at the table, and every plate has a small surprise in it. But none of that would matter if the food weren't so good. French technique, a bright thread of Asian flavour and the best of what grows in the Cape. Lunch here is an afternoon in itself.
John Sparks
Course after course of small surprises
The menu changes with the seasons. There is a lunch menu on weekdays and a longer Chef's Menu, and both come in a vegetarian version cooked with the same care, not as an afterthought. One dish never leaves: the tuna, served in a little tin that you open yourself. It has been on the menu for years, and guests ask for it by name.
The porcelain pig, and other friends
Part of the fun is never quite knowing how the next course will arrive. It might come on the back of a white porcelain pig, painted onto a plate as the animals of the farm, or wheeled to the table on a little cart. It is playful without ever being silly, and it gets the whole table talking.
James Gaag
James Gaag runs the kitchen as executive chef, and his story is a lovely one. He came to La Colombe as a student in 2010, was running the kitchen within a few years, then went to England to cook under Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons before coming home in 2014.
Being up on the mountain matters to him. Much of what garnishes your plate is grown or gathered right here, and his cooking travels freely, borrowing from Mexico, India and Thailand, always with one aim: that it tastes wonderful the moment it reaches you.
More photographs, to look through
Twenty-seven photographs of the table, course by course. View them large and download any you like.
Open the gallery ↗One long lunch in the valley where I grew up.
Before you go
Where
Silvermist, at Constantia Nek, on the road between the Constantia Valley and Hout Bay, about twenty-five minutes from the city.
Booking
Tables go months ahead, and a deposit holds them. We book yours when we plan your days in Cape Town, so there is nothing for you to arrange.
Allow time
Lunch runs to many small courses. Give it most of the afternoon, and plan nothing too energetic afterwards.
Dietary needs
Both menus come in a vegetarian version. Tell us about anything else when we plan, and we will pass it on well before you arrive.
Children
The restaurant welcomes children from the age of eight.
Pairs well with
A morning at Groot Constantia, the drive over the Nek and along Chapman's Peak, a night at Tintswalo Atlantic, and, later on the journey, lunch at Creation.