Steenberg Farm #visitSteenberg

I was recently invited to spend the weekend at Steenberg Farm out in Constantia. Even though I lived just around the corner for about a year, I never really visited the farm. You know how it is. Sometimes we don’t notice the beauty right under our noses. I was blown away by the five star luxury (especially the incredibly friendly service), delicious food and wine and the natural beauty. Spring is a great time to visit, since the immaculate gardens are in full full bloom.

I am obsessed with yellow pincushion proteas so I was in my element the entire weekend. They grow wild all over the farm. We stayed in the hotel, which was fancy but very homey. Huge plush beds and thick heavy curtains provide the kind of sleep you can only get outside of the city, even though it’s only a 15 minute drive from the CBD. Throughout the hotel huge bunches of king proteas provide colour and life and outside the sprawling lawns make you feel like you’re in a Victorian love story.

The food! Oh man the food was amazing. On Friday night we drank what the next day felt like hundreds of bottles of wine and ate a selection of small plates at Bistro1682 – the farm’s lunch and early dinner venue. Asian sticky pork belly, toasted cheese and truffle sandwiches…it was all just so good!

The restaurant is inside the tasting venue, where we went through the farm’s range of wines. Outside there are rolling lawns where you can relax with a bottle of whatever’s your favourite. Steenberg has just released their new bubbly and I took a real liking to it. I ended up buying a couple of bottles to take home, as well as the Nebbiolo red for my wine rack.

On Saturday night we had dinner at Catharina’s Restaurant. Once again, I was blown away by the food. I had beef fillet with mushrooms and truffle sauce and Keenan had duck. Delicious!

You could easily spend the entire weekend on the Steenberg property. Wine tasting, walks through the immaculate gardens, a game of boulle on the lawns, a quick visit to the Tokai market on Saturday morning, a nap in your enormous bed in the afternoon, a picnic lunch packed by Cathrina’s Restaurant, a cycle through the vineyards and dinner over a couple of bottles of wine. Of course there’s also the spa, where we had a steam bath and massage on Sunday morning before heading home.

 Steenberg is close to Cape Town, with delicious food and wine, lots to do and glorious natural beauty. Definitely a place I would recommend to visitors and locals alike.