La Colombe 

Food:

Kirton is proving himself a worthy successor to the culinary heritage long established here with food that is inventive and packed with flavour, without becoming precious. The Jerusalem artichoke velouté, poured onto tiny islands of lentil puree and poached quail eggs, is a rich delight. Mains include sous vide beef rib eye served with onion tarte tatin and melting foie gras fondant, and superb grilled kingklip on buttered leeks with a lightly curried smoked snoek, prawn and salmon pie. Desserts have the triple wow factor with Tonka bean crème catalana in a chocolate collar with caramelised banana and an irresistible peanut butter and chocolate terrine.

Wine:

A spectacularly vast list, heftily priced.

Service:

In the old manner: friendly, delightful, and extremely knowledgeable of the cuisine. Such a pleasure.

Ambience:

Looking out into a tiny French-style garden with its gently splashing water feature, one could almost be anywhere in the mother country. The terrace on a gorgeous afternoon is about as close to heaven as you will get in Cape Town.

And...:

If you are with someone special and want a cosy corner in the garden, book it in advance and take the ring in your pocket. (GL, October 2011)

stephen cridland
26-Dec-2011

About 30 years, I found myself at the Georges Cinq in Dinard at the birth of "nouvelle cuisine". It was wonderful unlike SA'a pale imitations. We paid at La Colombe a fortune for food which was pretentious but no big deal like fish, quite well done, with a sauce which I am fairly certain I could have lashed using Bovril, cornflour, salt and sauce powder. None of our party were hugely impressed and the general verdict was that we would have done better at the Wild Fig.

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Jean Borgstrom
14-Dec-2011

We had lunch at La Colombe yesterday. I went with some reservation having been disappointed when I last ate there about 3 years ago. The service was superb (well done Amber - your knowledge of the dishes and pleasant manner are to be commended), the food interesting and very tasty with wonderful presentation, ambience was good and the cloakrooms without fault. Having eaten at Overture and Jordan in the past 10 days I have to say you win hands down on all scores in my book. Well done.

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Lew Rood
4-Nov-2011

After an absence of some time, I lunched at La Colombe. An outstanding tasting menu by talented chef Scot Kirton. The staff are friendly and informed and Luci who served our table had an outstanding knowledge of the wines and the various ingredients that made up the different courses we enjoyed.

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Elisbie Kies
19-Oct-2011

Three of us had the most wonderful food, wine, service and ambience ever! They eat out all over the world and agreed this was the best! My favorite is the scallops and pork belly. The peanut butter dessert is orgasmic!

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