One restaurant in Cape Town that I visited in 2014 was La Colombe. At that time, there was no Uber to my recollection and I had to get a taxi to head over to the restaurant in the Constantia wine region. The taxi driver unfortunately lost direction and I ended up arriving at the restaurant almost an hour late and had to dine outdoor. I still ended up having a very good meal and wanted to bring my wife Jun back for our anniversary day dinner during our Cape Town trip. I didn’t realize until we got to the restaurant that it had moved to a new location at the Silvermist Wine Estate, on a higher hilltop overlooking the vineyards of Constantia. The dining experience at La Colombe this time was just as phenomenal if not better than my last dinner, with some truly memorable dishes brought from chef James Gaag and his team.

What makes La Colombe a truly great restaurant is its flair for dramatic effect in the way food is put together while staying committed to sustainability (showcasing the bountiful produce from South Africa from the looks of the cart that a member of the kitchen brought out at the beginning of the dinner) and strong execution. Jun and I certainly have been to a fair number of fine dining restaurants, but some of the dishes at La Colombe were unlike anything we have seen. What other restaurant would offer a stunning presentation of bread and charcuterie where we were offered spreads shaped various fruit forms in their bright color? We had to choose three – wagyu biltong (a dried meat popular in southern Africa) with mushroom, springbok with cherry and salmon with green apple – and really loved the variety of flavor from all three choices.

One of the dishes that had been on the menu of the restaurant for over 10 years is the tuna ‘La Colombe,’ and for good reasons. The tuna, which came with special sauce using 20-25 ingredients at any given time, came in a can; the tuna’s texture, along with the spicy kick from the sauce, was absolutely spot-on. Another favorite dish of mine was the Namibian crab with yellowtail, Madagascar caviar and Nahm Jim (a Thai chili sauce); I could’ve eaten five of these beautiful dishes and called it one happy meal. If you feel adventurous, I also recommend adding the Wine Cellar experience in the middle of the meal (at 750 rands per person). We were led to the cellar downstairs after leaving our phones in a box; I will not disclose what we were served at the cellar, but it was indeed a special experience.

The final savory courses (you can choose either duck or wagyu beef, with the latter at 450 rands extra) were just as wonderful. After I took a bite of the dry aged duck (accompanied by celeriac and truffle sauce), I really struggled to remember having a duck meat this soft and juicy elsewhere in a long time. The Karoo dish, based on South Africa’s answer to wagyu, was also more or less perfect in terms of texture. The restaurant didn’t stop surprising us even after the savory course was over. The beautiful display of cheese and honey – in walnut, raclette and baked camembert – could challenge any top French restaurant in the world. The final dessert course was another showstopper, consisting of rose and raspberry with little balls of pistachio ice cream in a mini-garden setting. Even the petit fours at the end didn’t feel like a throwaway.

I booked a reservation at La Colombe as soon we booked our flight to Cape Town; the restaurant was almost packed during our dinner on a Monday evening, so I highly recommend booking in advance. If you are a wine enthusiast, you can’t skip the wine pairing options at the restaurant. There are three levels of pairing options, and we chose the mid-level Heritage pairing which was certainly not cheap at 3,795 rands per person but absolutely worth it. We were not as familiar with South African wines before our Cape Town trip, so the entire pairing, featuring bottles from renowned producers such as Hamilton Russell and Storm and ending with the world-famous Vince de Constance dessert wine, served as a very informative lesson navigating the endlessly diverse terroirs of South Africa and talented producers behind them. The bright, stylish dining room was another plus to our dining experience; the only slight negative is that if you are seated near the window like we were, you might need to deal with some flies likely coming from the vineyards directly below (thankfully, our server offered to close the window in the middle of our meal after seeing us struggle). The service overall was very friendly and professional without feeling stuffy. La Colombe is an absolute tour de force and the cream of the crop in Cape Town’s highly acclaimed dining scene, and for good reasons. Jun and I loved our experience from the beginning to the end, and we would certainly love to come back again next time we have a chance to visit Cape Town.     

KenScale: 9.0/10 (Jun’s Score: 9.0/10)

Address: Silvermist Wine Estate, Constantia Nek, Cape Town, 7806, South Africa

Website: https://www.lacolombe.restaurant/la-colombe

Reservation via Website