Situated on the iconic wine estate of Buitenverwachting in Constantia South Africa, is Peter Tempelhoff’s restaurant, Beyond. This fine dining establishment focuses on diverse produce which allows them to support small scale farmers, producers and growers.
Summer Dinner Menu at Beyond
The summer menu (February 2025) offered us a choice of a 2 course meal for R675, a 3 course meal for R795 or the 6 course tasting menu at R1350. Wine pairing as an extra R975 per person. We arrived earlier than our booking, to be able to enjoy a drink before our meal, in the lounge. However, we were taken straight to our table which afforded us a view over the vineyards. Pre-dinner drinks were ordered and enjoyed with artisan bread platters (R80 for 2). The parmesan grissini and ciabatta were served with a delicious sweet potato hummus, and a mountain sage butter.
To start
We all chose the two course meal, leaving the option to add dessert if we wanted to. Our meal started off with a chef’s course. An amuse bouche of seasonal vegetables. For starters Dave, Bev and I had the gamefish tataki which was served with steamed Japanese rice, fresh seaweed, chirizu sauce, and Cape rough lemon aioli. Everything about this was amazing, and Dave is quite keen to get his hands on some yellowtail to replicate this at home. Eric had the tea smoked duck breast which was served with pickled beetroot and nectarines, chicken liver parfait and candied walnuts. The parfait was as perfect as the name could suggest and the sauce it came was sublime.
The main course
Dave and I had the slow cooked pork belly for our main course. This was served with a barley and sorghum tabbouleh, prenia leaf, kuri squash and roasted apricot and ginger seeds. The coal seared pork was amazingly tender. Eric had grilled Karoo beef which was served rare, together with charred baby gem salad, cremezola, smoked onion and mushroom marmalade and Lyonnaise potatoes. Bev had the sheep’s milk cheese risotto. This extremely rich plate of food was accompanied with roasted and raw figs, smoked aubergine fondue, fig leaf gremolata, and truffle toasted seeds. Had my pork not been so rich, I might have finished off what Bev did not eat.
Service and more at Beyond
From the moment we walked in, to ordering coffees, the service was excellent. But, the petit fours that were meant to come with our coffees did not materialize, and we had to summon someone to come to our table to make sure we got them. And then when trying to get the bill, all the staff seemed to disappear. I find this so frustrating as service should start when you walk in, and end when you leave. Especially when a discretionary 13% gratuity is added to the bill! Since our visit last month, the menu has already changed, so look at their website if you are menu driven. Bookings are essential and need to be done online, and a deposit will be requested.
See the links below for blog posts I published on March 27:
- 2022: City Of The Dead
- 2020: Fig Tart
- 2019: Casa Bella
- 2017: Speculoos Spread
- 2015: Fig Tarte Tatin
- 2014: Sugar Free Nougat
- 2013: Dinner Divas
- 2012: Tuna Green Curry
Lovely to see a tasting menu from South Africa bring totally ignorant as to what might available. Interesting offerings obviously dependent on your raw ingredient availabilities. Thanks for the clear photos. Would have liked to taste quite a few of the dishes but also would have put the tataki first. Glad you enjoyed! Driving-wise, roughly how far from home?
Here, we talk about time when we go driving – so, an hour and 15 minutes. It is 63km which is not too bad considering most of it is on a highway 🙂
Hi Tandy. I agree with you about service and staff disappearing when you want the bill seems to be the name of the game in SA. This is not the case elsewhere in the world.
I don’t understand why it happens here!
The main courses sound really great. I certainly would go for Karoo wagyu :-))
The wagyu we get here is amazing!
I am horrified to see that ‘discretionary’ tips are even starting to come into play here in australia. They tell you that you don’t have to pay it, but of course you feel mean if you don’t … Love the look of the fish, and the duck breast!
sherry
Tipping here is the norm, but last year I spoke to someone who said that the worst tippers are from Europe, and their money is worth 20 times as much as ours! And in comparison, eating out here in much cheaper than anywhere else. However, I also don’t like being told how much to tip! If the service had been amazing, we would have tipped 20% 🙂
I live in the Miami Beach area and the tips of 18-20% are automatically included with the bill. We are a melting pot of nationalities in the winter and tipping Is not customary in many of them. I do think tipping should reflect the service. Sounds like you had a lovely meal and lovely service until the end. Would you go back?
We would most certainly go back, but I want to try another of his restaurants rather than go back, to see the differences. I can remember my grandmother getting so upset by discretionary tips when we were in New York. She did not agree with them, as usually the service did not reflect the tip – sometimes it was awful.