Meerendal Wine Estate — Attraction in Cape Town Ward 105

....…….Once again a stunning-lii beautiful Wine Estate, when you turn off the main road onto the estate and pass the security-boom only than are you over-whelmed by the sheer beautii and the picturesque scene-rii. The roads are tarred and every facility that is there is clear-lii demarcated by sign-boards that are professional! The gardens are well maintained and lashes-lii green, all the buildings are pure white and clean. There are two restaurants on the estate name-lii “Crown Restaurant and Carlucci’s. The estate also has a Boutique Hotel housed in the huge Manor House building which is very impressive, they also have other accommodation such as the Garden Suites. There is also facilities for cycling and a 5 kilometre running track that is located in the Vine-yards where you run on the out-skirts on the vines surrounded by the most picturesque scenes and the whole of the Durbanville residential areas in the distance surrounded by the mountain-tops in the farther distance. Children are welcome here because they provide a love-lii pleasant play-ground which has a very big Jungle-Jim wooden structure to keep them busy and on week-ends kiddies eat free with every main-meal ordered from the restaurants! Many different functions are hosted and held at this estate from time to time like on the 31st March 2019 the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra will be hosting a musical evening labelled “Mozart Magic”, they even have open-air movies here. Many food specials are offered on certain days of the week. And much, much more happens at this amazing venue! Oh yes they even have a Meerendal Wine Club and if you purchase 12 bottles of wine you qualify for membership which also comes with many more benefits afterwards. Today we are visiting “Crown” to try their breakfast menus, they offer a few variations and it all looks and sounds yummii! The break-fast menu cards are made of pine-wood pressed board and the meals on offer are printed on it and noticeable is the fact that no two menus have the same reverse-side because on every menu there is a different saying of a famous person! The restaurant building is big and offers seating inside and outside. The corner seating’s are in the form of a circular-table seating about 8 people and is very private! The inside is very snazz-ii! The place is decorated different-lii then most other restaurants that we have visited! The one wall has lots of bicycles painted white mounted on it, on the other wall is a large fire-place with its own kind of décor, “Rocks & Logs” and opposite the entrance is the wine-bar counter decorated with mirrors a big blue oil-painting! What we found very intriguing was the fact the down the centre of the restaurant the seats are “Rope-Swings” hanging from the ceiling and patrons can choose to sit on the one side of the table swinging! Very snazz-ii indeed! We choose to start with big cappuccinos, they do, do them with fresh-cream too. Our meals were a “Shakshuka” made up of two poached eggs served with a pungent (chili) pepper-tomato salsa and corn-fritters! Very different, nice and taste-tii. The Classic b-fast which is made-up of eggs, bacon, grilled-tomato and mushrooms comes in three sizes, small one egg, medium two eggs and large has a piece of beef sausage added! The meals served here was fresh and very delicious. We also found the service rendered here to be of a high standard and all the staff in attendance were pleasant, friend-lii and on point. We felt at home here and loved the atmosphere and the vibe there was a constant flow of people coming into the restaurant whilst we were here so it seems to be a popular venue. We will have to return to explore all the facilities on offer and to try the other restaurant “Carlucci’s” also the Saturday “Breakfast-Run” is very enticing!.......We will be back!!!!......1st Jan. 2020...New Years day B-fast! Divine & delicious-lii enjoyable...

Let's start with the positives: the waitress was handling everything rather well, and the coffee was excellent. Now, unfortunately, I will have to spend some more time for the negatives:

Tuesday afternoon around 14h00, only customers in the restaurant. We ordered a dozen oysters (special on the menu at Rd260, instead of individual oysters at 25each) as a starter to share together with two glasses of MCC. The waiter told us that she had to check how many oysters were left. It turned out to be a small group of 8. Ok let's go. The oysters nicely served, but we had to wait for the MCC. Happy to hear the plop of a new bottle being opened, not so happy to receive one glass of fresh, bubbly MCC... and a second one plain flat, no bubbles, i.e. from an old bottle. After looking for the waitress, she changed the glass without problems. Before I forget, the oysters were billed individually on the bill, not at the special price for the dozen. Small difference of 25Rd, but yet. Shouldn't be the client to bear ...

On we go with two "Chateaubriand 200g brandy butter flambéed..and bearnaise sauce" ordered medium-rare.

Come two plates without flambée, meat well done and yet not hot at all, sauce fluffy, but nothing to do with bearnaise sauce. After mentioning it to the waitress, she apologized that they don't do flambée for now, the staff being trained to do it in the future. Wow!

At the end, I asked for the manager. She came along quite swiftly and listened to my complaints. Said she was aware of some problems with the Chateaubriand. Well, we were the ONLY customers in the restaurant, and yet she wouldn't turn up by herself, when she was aware of unhapy customers...

We have been coming back for 9 years to this place, but this might be the end of it, unless we hear of massive...

On the 12th of October was World Sight Day. The South African Optometric Association held the SAOA BIG WALK FOR SIGHT at MEERENDAL and what a wonderful experience it was!! MEERENDAL is a beautiful estate with walking trails offering unsurpassed breathtaking views of the surrounding hills and valleys. It was the perfect location to celebrate the beauty of sight and the need to preserve good vision and prevent avoidable blindness. We partnered with NGO'S in the health space, SA GUIDE DOGS, RETINASA AND THE CAPE TOWN SOCITY FOR THE BLIND. Our CPUT students for Dispensing Opticianry participated and partnered with visually impaired students to create an unforgettable bond through assisting each other and sharing stories on visual impairment. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the walk and the opportunity for learning , it provided. The South African Optometric Association wishes to thank Michelle and her excellent staff for the wonderful service we received. Thank you Michelle for going beyond the call of duty to ensure that the logistics were taken care of and hiccups in the process quickly dealt with. Thank you for the time taken out of a busy work schedule to arrange for storage and problem solve on other fronts. Rest assured, we will be back next year to avail our selves of your kind hospitality and beautiful vistas. MEERENDAL is indeed a marvelous SIGHT...