Pete Goffe-Wood

Food

Chef David Higgs opened Rust en Vrede and took it to giddy heights (which in 2010 included Eat Out Restaurant of the Year). Chef Fabio Daniel, who has been cooking here since those glory days, is now at the helm. While continuing David’s legacy, he has also stamped his own personality on the establishment.

Drawing on his world travels and his Brazilian and Italian heritage, chef Fabio is set on taking Rust en Vrede to new heights. Diners are offered a choice between a four- and six-course menu. The six-course menu is heaven-sent and studded with dishes that will live in your culinary memory bank for eternity. The bread board begins with Brazilian pão de queijo – the lightest of cheese puffs made with tapioca flour.

The sea bass with avocado and sesame is sublime, presenting simple ingredients at their absolute finest. Tête de Moine tortellini, walnuts and pickled peach is an exercise in flavour balancing. Pan-fried langoustine, pickled turnip, cabbage and sauce Choron makes up the kind of dish that dreams are made of.

Doce de queijo, snow and butterscotch is a simple dish, a creamy type of Brazilian sweet cheese with the iced snow and rich butterscotch making for two bites of absolute bliss. This is followed by a white chocolate marquise, coconut and frozen honey yoghurt that’s nowhere near as sweet as it sounds and the perfect end to the perfect meal.

Drinks

The wine list at Rust en Vrede is one of the finest in the country and is overseen by sommelier James Mukosi, whose recommendations throughout the meal are stellar and are not aimed at up-selling but rather at enhancing your dining experience.

Service
In a word, faultless.

Ambience

Rust en Vrede has always been the complete dining experience from the moment you’re met outside on the path, through aperitifs on the terrace, being taken to your table and introduced to your servers, being run through the menu and the various permutations, all the way through to the delivery and execution of faultless food and service. What used to be an old functional farm building has been transformed into a tranquil and sophisticated restaurant where attention to detail is everything – from Riedel glasses to Laguiole knives and bespoke crockery.

(August 2019)

Eat Out critics dine unannounced and pay for their meals in full. Read our full editorial policy here.