There are many beautiful things in life, but, for me, few beat the luxury of a good lunch with wine, an exceptional view, and good & friendly service. Luckily, you can enjoy all of these at the Werf Restaurant at the Boschendal Wine Estate.
If you regularly follow I Love Foodies reviews, you’ll know that I’ve written quite a few pieces on Boschendal lately, all based on one spectacular weekend away filled with picnics, lunches, drive-in movies, horse riding, farm tours, and the most serene garden cottages.
You can also read about:
- The beautiful Boschendal picnics, of which there are summer and winter experiences.
- The Boschendal farm & accommodation as a whole, with some insight on the cottages, dining, and activities the estate offers.
This article on Boschendal’s Werf Restaurant is the last in the series. So let’s get to it.
The Werf Restaurant
The Werf Restaurant is situated in the revamped original cellar of the Manor House, with wide-open spaces and one side of the restaurant leading out to the extensive terrace, which overlooks the Werf Food Garden.
We talk about the gardens quite extensively in our Boschendal article, but, in a nutshell:
- Most of the ingredients used in the restaurants at Boschendal are grown on the farm directly.
- They focus on sustainable & ethical farming and gardening.
- The garden includes a wide range of herbs, vegetables, and some fruits.
- The farm also has Black Angus beef, forest-reared Duroc pork, and free-range layer hens for fresh eggs.
Other ingredients are sourced from nearby farms (as much as possible), and you’re likely to get a real taste of Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, and surrounds when dining at Boschendal.
This means that everything on your plate is seasonal, fresh, and superbly tasty, as every soil-to-fork dining experience should be.

The restaurant boasts comfortable inside seating, as well as a large terrace overlooking the estate and gardens
The Werf Restaurant Menu & Prices
This soil-to-fork focus also means that the Werf Restaurant menu changes regularly. Basics may remain the same, but individual flavours may be amended due to seasonal availability.
The Werf Restaurant menu focuses on sharing plates, and you can choose to dine tapas-style or divide the items up into starters, mains, and desserts, whichever you prefer.
Portions are quite large, though, so you’re unlikely to need more than 3 dishes for a filling experience.
Prices range from approximately R70 – R135 per dish, which is pretty reasonable considering how large the portions are and how few you need to have a rich experience.

All dishes are served on the most beautiful crockery
I Love Foodies Werf Restaurant Review
Because we at I Love Foodies tend to try a range of different items to give you the best and most comprehensive feedback, we tried a few items as starters and mains, plus a few sides.
Our starters:
- Deep-Fried Camembert (R85): With farm plums, seed crackers, pecan nuts, and rocket oil
- Yellowtail Ceviche (R110): With farm plums, radish, coriander, chilli sago crisps
Our mains:
- Seared Angus Fillet (R135): Slow-cooked flat rib, charred cauliflower puree, pickled turnips, nasturtium, and bone broth
- Roast Pork Belly (R120): With crispy pork terrine & farm plums
- Lamb Soutribbetjie (R120): With polenta porridge, salsa verde, lamb jus
Our sides (R55 each):
- Farm plum salad: With feta, rocket, French dressing
- Crispy potatoes: With garlic emulsion
And, finally, our dessert:
- Honey rosemary roast farm figs: With almond cake, almond streusel, home-made frozen yoghurt (R65)
As you may have noticed, it was the height of plum season when we went, so every dish included some element of plum.
They were all different though, so at no point did you feel “plum-overwhelmed” – definitely hat’s off to the chef for showcasing one ingredient in such remarkably different ways.

Our selection of starters – yellowtail ceviche, deep-fried camembert, and plum focaccia
The Starter Options
For starters, Sabine had the camembert while I opted for yellowtail ceviche.
Sabine, as you may know, is a low carber. Occasionally, this makes eating out a little more difficult but she always finds a way to eat around what’s available to accommodate her lifestyle.
She loved that the camembert dish was served with seed crackers and not bread, as it usually is, so she could enjoy more of the dish.
She also particularly enjoyed the roasted pecan nights, which added that slight sweet tinge to the dish and went really well with the creaminess of the cheese.
My ceviche was quite thickly cut and probably one of the best ceviche dishes I’ve ever had. The flavours were spectacular – tart with just the right amount of creaminess to break some of that acidity. And the plums added that perfect, unique element of freshness.
We paired this with some Boschendal Brut Rose MCC (which we started enjoying as a welcome drink) and the Boschendal Chenin Blanc 2020 (Sommelier’s Selection).

Our selection of mains – seared Angus beef fillet, roast pork belly, and lamb ribs, with a side of crispy potatoes and a smoked plum salad

The Angus fillet was served with a beautiful bone broth sauce

Roast pork belly (left) and a side of crispy potatoes (right)
The Main Portions
Sabine and I shared the selection of meaty dishes – beef fillet, lamb ribs, and pork belly – as our mains.
I could not tell you which was our favourite as they were all spectacular.
My only note would be that the lamb ribs were quite “lamby” in flavour – and you’ll know exactly what I mean if you regularly eat lamb and have experienced this before.
If you’re not particularly fond of that strong taste, I’d recommend going for the beef or pork belly instead, both of which were wonderful.
We paired the mains with the Boschendal Merlot 2017 and the Boschendal Shiraz 2017. The Merlot was probably our favourite, a very gentle, happy wine that’s medium-bodied and easy-drinking.

The farm plum salad had a gentle smokey flavour, which was divine
The Side Dishes
We also really enjoyed the side. Emphasis on that really. These were spectacular.
The crispy potatoes were perfectly crispy.
As some of you may know, I’m half German, and one of my favourite things in life is Bratkartoffeln, which Google translates as “German fries”.
Basically, these are thinly sliced potatoes fried to a crisp in fat, often served with bacon and onion. They’re a German staple and, if done right, enormously delicious.
My granny used to make the most amazing Bratkartoffeln, and I have not been able to find anything that comes close to what she made.
The Boschendal crispy potatoes may not be Bratkartoffeln in style, but their crispiness brought back fond memories of delicious home-cooked meals. And that’s always worth gold.
The farm plum salad was also divine with a unique smokey flavour that was as surprising as it was delicious.

Not too sweet & not too sour: the honey-roasted plums with almond cake and yoghurt ice cream
The Dessert
And, finally, the dessert.
I’m never a big fan of overly sweet desserts, but do enjoy some well-balanced flavour – and that’s exactly what the honey-roasted fig dish does!
The figs bring in the sweetness, the almond cake that soft & gentle marzipan flavour, and the yoghurt ice cream, which was quite sour, balances it all out perfectly.
This dessert was wonderful.
Boschendal Contact Details
Boschendal’s Werf Restaurant really is quite spectacular.
The views alone are worth driving out for, but the beautiful farm-to-table restaurant experience adds that extra tick to everything Boschendal has got going for itself.
Prices are reasonable, portions are large, and everything tastes phenomenal.
I can highly recommend visiting the Werf Restaurant at Boschendal Wine Estate.
You’ll find all of the Werf Restaurant’s contact details, links, and social accounts below.
Werf Restaurant at Boschendal Wine Estate
Address: Boschendal Wine Estate, Franschhoek (turn-off from the R310)
Werf Restaurant Opening Hours: Monday – Sunday (12:00 – 17:00)
Website: https://www.boschendal.com/eat-drink/the-werf-restaurant
E-mail: reservations@boschendal.co.za
Call: +27 21 870 4274
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Written by Benike Palfi
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Article Date: May 2021
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