Bar Bar Black Sheep, Riebeek Kasteel.

Mynhardt Joubert.

After a schlep out to the countryside that takes 90 minutes, instead of the promised 45, the last thing you want to experience is a second rate restaurant. And let’s face it, unless you are aiming at Stellenbosch or Franschhoek, there’s a high probability that you’ll end up somewhere that is gastronomically challenged.

So to end up somewhere that overdelivers on this score is a welcome relief.

Riebeek Kasteel is a cutsey town set in a beautiful valley in a beautiful part of the world – The Swartland.

Bar Bar Black Sheep is a cutsey restaurant, located in the centre of this town.

It’s down the end of Short Street, tucked away in a tree shaded courtyard.

Mynhardt Joubert IS Bar Bar Black Sheep.

His pleasant demeanour,cheerfulness, level headedness, measured tones and character, translates directly into the food he prepares. Checking my reservation with him at mid day I asked if the pork belly, featured on his website video, was on that night. He chided me gently,” No there’d never be enough time to prepare that”. Slow food indeed.

Sitting under a starry sky in the courtyard we ordered the soups as starters. I had the onion and garlic soup. The onion and garlic had been slow cooked in butter and added to home made chicken stock and then reduced with white wine. That all takes a long time, and a lot of care and

Persian Chicken.

attention to prepare. Make the stock, slow cook the ingredients and then reduce. It was then warmed with  a shot of brandy and served with a creamy roasted gorgonzola slice of toast.All that for R38. Amazing.

Needless to say it tasted so good that I don’t really have the vocabulary to describe it.  

My partner had Cacik, and ancient Turkish recipe for a cold soup with thick yoghurt, mint, cucumber and garlic. It was served with chilled grapes, dried figs, pomegranates and olive oil. That was R36. Stupendous.

For mains I had Swartland Skaap Nek Bredie, lamb neck slow cooked with wine, bay leaves,tomato, coriander, orange juice and rind and finished with black olives. It was served with ’stampkoring’, which is pearl barley.

Just look at the photograph, it says it all.

My partner had the Persian Chicken, oak smoked chicken breasts, pan fried with peppers, grapes, figs, masala, chilli, paprika and slow cooked and reduced in coconut milk. It was served on a piece of cumin flat  bread, with thick Greek yoghurt and dried pomegranates. What a melange of flavours! And then you get to soak up the juiced with the bread.East meets West meets Asian meets Mynhardt.

Swartland Skaap Nek Bredie.

All the while our service was impeccable. Really impeccable. Everything happened at the right pace, the right level subtle intervention, attentive without being intrusive. 

Dessert comprised an Old Cape Brandy Pudding with ice cream and butterscotch sauce. Comfort food at its best. And there was lashings of brandy in the pudding. It was very tipsy, as a South African friend commented.

I had the Fresh Figs with Cream Cheese Honey and Pine Nuts. Everything tasted fresh, natural, clean, sublime. I tasted a fellow diners Affogatto!, an expresso and ice cream drinkable dessert, served in a coffee cup. How simple and delicious is that?

The food at Bar Bar is playful and simple, slow cooking at its best, honest flavoursome food.

Chef Mynhardt Joubert is hewn from the Swartland countryside where he comes from, and so is his food.

We paid the bill and added the service.

Melusi Magodhi, the man who said Thank You.

Then something extraordinary happened, something that has never happened to me before in a restaurant in South Africa.   

Our waiter, a smiling gentle fellow from Bulawayo, came to us and thanked us, in all sincerity, “for the gratuity”.

Bar Bar Black Sheep, a special place, special people, and special food.

Bar Bar Black Sheep, Short Street, Riebeek Kasteel.

022 448 1031. bbbs@telkomsa.net www.bbbs.co.za

Starters R22-R48. Mains R68-R94. Dessert R35.