Bartholomeus Klip is one of the Western Cape’s hidden gems. Situated a mere 90 minutes away from Cape Town, this beautiful farm is located in the midst of the 4000ha Elandsberg Nature Reserve, which safeguards a remaining swatch of two highly threatened renosterveld and fynbos plant communities.
“Bartholomeus Klip has signed up with Cape Nature’s Stewardship programme to safeguard the reserve in perpetuity,” explains Lesley Gillet, the estate’s General Manager. “We offer our guests a variety of guided nature drives, day trips and on-site activities throughout the year, and we have now decided that it’s about time that we combine our love for our region’s fauna and flora with our resident chef’s flair for creating fresh, imaginative dishes using ingredients and produce from our farm and those of nearby makers.”
Louise Gillet, the resident chef in question, just so happens to be Lesley’s twin sister and has a sincere love and appreciation for food that celebrates locally-sourced ingredients without overshadowing it with a bunch of unnecessary hoopla. “It’s about the quality of ingredients,” says Louise, a self-taught chef who plied her trade in the kitchens of celebrated restaurants throughout South Africa and the UK before settling in as Executive Chef at Bartholomeus Klip 19 years ago. “Our menu at Bartholomeus Klip Farmhouse features a bit of everything. There is a strong French influence in the way we prepare our dishes, as well as lots of Italian inspiration. My mother is Italian and over the years I’ve learned much from the folders of vintage recipes left to her by our grandmother.”
The food that will be served at the series of upcoming pop-up dinners, however, will be a different kettle of fish entirely. Well, a different kettle of fish, guinea fowl, wild boar and home-grown springbok and Wagyu beef, to be accurate.
