Michael Broughton is wearing shorts underneath his apron. “I don’t really know what you’re having”, the Terroir head chef tells us as we take our seats in the leafy courtyard. Smiling and relaxed he is totally at odds with my idea of a chef behind one of Eat Out’s top ten restaurants in the country. Maybe Gordon Ramsay is to blame, but I was expecting more cussing and sweating.

The master of classic slow-cooking, Broughton opened Terroir on the Kleine Zalze wine estate in October 2004 after running the successful Broughton’s in Johannesburg, and doing a stint in Magaliesberg at Mount Grace. Broughton’s current venture champions local produce and seasonal food, changing its chalkboard menu as ingredients come in and out of season. With a reputation as an expert sauce maker, and a signature pork belly dish which sparked something of a pork belly phenomenon, Broughton has had no shortage of success. Despite this, there’s something very laidback and down to earth about the man.

“I’ve decided what you’re having”, Michael tells us, returning to the table a few minutes later, to the great relief of Lise, his PR rep. He then proceeds to rattle off five courses, starting with a prawn risotto with rice noodles. The dish will be served with calamari, “If I can get the calamari right…” he adds thoughtfully, to himself.

The food, when it begins to arrive, seems to have absorbed the chef’s personality. The very first thing to pass my lips, the olive tapenade and bread, is humble yet confident; and possesses the most intensely concentrated olive flavour.

Despite the chef’s self-doubt, the calamari is present and correct: perfectly tender in fact, while the rice noodles make for a firm, and unusual alternative to Arborio rice in the risotto. The chicken liver and Foie gras parfait which follows is heavenly, and has the whole table sighing collectively.

Then there is salmon in a sweet and sour sauce, with a perfect tempura Rosa tomato, and a fillet of beef rolled in porcini dust with pumpkin ravioli, and a parmesan froth that is simply sublime. The dessert – Hazelnut and chocolate bar, with almond praline ice cream – is how all chocolate desserts should be; rich and indulgent without being sickly. We also get a taste of the beautiful passion fruit parfait with delicious coconut sorbet, and swirls of bright mango and douglas fir puree, which is a feast for the eyes.

This is honest, confident food – quietly brilliant without being arrogant. Clearly there is a level of precision behind it that is not visible in the chef’s demeanour.

Indeed, when quizzed on the details, the laidback Broughton is replaced with a thoroughly focused expert. Even the visuals get a scientific level of scrutiny. “The colours we work hard on – it’s a real mission to get real true colours,” Broughton says. For the beautifully green Apple Snap – apple sorbet in a syrupy dry vermouth – the apples are frozen before being pulverised in Broughton’s thermo mix, which sets the green in the skin. “Franck [Dangereux – formerly of La Colombe and now with the Food Barn] taught me so much on a plate. His colours were so good.”

Then there’s the Austrian tree glue Broughton uses – a snip at R1000 a kilo, used for gluing proteins together, and his all-time favourite kitchen gadget, the thermo mix, which allows him to heat and cool things very rapidly to retain colours.

Currently, Broughton is busy filming what is tentatively being titled ‘Seasons’, a six-part documentary with Cooked’s Justin Bonello. “The first day of being filmed it feels like you have to strip naked in front of the camera” says Broughton.

From the sounds of things, it’s going to be the polar opposite of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. “We don’t have much drama here”, Broughton chuckles, amused at how this is making life difficult for the show’s producers. Perhaps there is an alternative to the passionate diva chef in fine dining. Or perhaps Gordon Ramsay needs to buy a pair of shorts.

By Katharine Jacobs